V-League and the use of young players

Concerns about rankings, even the risk of relegation, are becoming clearer than ever. Besides the joy of young talents regularly being trained in the number 1 tournament, providing abundant resources for the national teams, the upcoming steps of the above-mentioned teams with a tradition of training young people are also facing countless challenges, if the competition results continue to be poor, victory is still... far away as seen?

Obviously, with the current force at LPBank Hoang Anh Gia Lai, it will be difficult for Tuan Anh or Minh Vuong to drag their juniors who are playing V-League for the first time like Quoc Viet, Duc Viet... to keep up with the fierce and unpredictable developments against teams that have invested heavily to have both good domestic players and good foreign players.

The injuries of some key players such as Thanh Binh and foreign player Martin Dzilah have further aggravated the crisis of the team in the mountain town. Besides the fact that many people believe that Mr. Duc has not been able to bring in truly good foreign players, Kiatisuk's old-fashioned playing style is also a "minus point" that makes this team struggle so much in the V-League.

Meanwhile, Song Lam Nghe An started the season with matches full of youthful enthusiasm and dedication, but also revealed weaknesses that cannot be easily overcome in a day or two. A convincing defeat against Dong A Thanh Hoa away from home proved that. Three draws against The Cong Viettel, Hong Linh Ha Tinh and Quang Nam at Vinh Stadium left many regrettable, worth mentioning and worth forgetting things.

Unfortunately, at least Song Lam Nghe An let the equalizers come in the last minute in the matches against Hong Linh Ha Tinh and Quang Nam. It is worth mentioning that the mistakes of the goals conceded all came from the opponents' central shots, when the young playersLam River Nghe Analmost exhausted by the end of the game, unable to stick with the opponent.

It is worth forgetting that Song Lam Nghe An often loses from set pieces, especially corner kicks. Quang Nam's two goals in the 4-4 draw in the fourth round both came from corner kicks. That is one of many fatal weaknesses, a team with a tradition of playing defense but now defends indescribably, as many people know.

The injuries of Khac Luong and Trong Hoang are further deepening the weakness of the Vinh team. This shows that the policy of rejuvenating the squad is to "heat up the hands and catch the ears", like the way of bringing Ba Quyen or Nguyen Hoang who just played in the U21 tournament to the V-League. Even though they tried very hard, any coach would be helpless, and the team would quickly reap "bitter fruit".

And not only the two teams mentioned above, the situation is also quite worth mentioning with Hanoi Police when coach Gong Oh-kyun recently used a series of young players and lost to Hai Phong (score 1-3). The former head coach of U23 Vietnam surprised everyone when he left out national players like Tan Tai, Van Toan, Van Duong... to launch brand new names like Gia Hung, Bao Trung, Van Phuong... and finally had to take responsibility for himself, for not understanding V-League thoroughly and objectively.

The further story is the way coach Philippe Troussier uses young players in the Vietnam National Team, with the elimination of Hoang Duc, Hung Dung, Tan Tai... to use Tuan Tai, Thai Son, Minh Trong... It is worth noting that foreign coaches all love to use young players, not caring about their names or past like coach Troussier or coach Gong Oh-kyun are doing. But with coach Troussier, it is a continuous testing process, with a reasonable basis or will gradually become reasonable like the story of Hoang Duc's recent decline that everyone knows about. As for coach Gong Oh-kyun, his haste and subjectivity were immediately paid for, so everything will certainly be gradually adjusted accordingly if he does not want to be... fired soon.

Young players who have trained and competed for many years in youth teams such as Song Lam Nghe An or LPBank Hoang Anh Gia Lai may be less overwhelmed than other teams when competing in the V-League. However, the V-League is a long-term, fierce, competitive playground, so it will be very difficult for Song Lam Nghe An or LPBank Hoang Anh Gia Lai to "squeeze in" to the top strong, high-ranking teams. There will be players who mature quickly such as Van Viet, Manh Quynh, Nam Hai or Nguyen Hoang in Song Lam Nghe An, but there will also be players who are "forced to mature" and cannot keep up with the speed of intense matches, and are left behind.

There is a remarkable detail with young players in V-League, for example in the last round 4. In Dong A Thanh Hoa, the "lungless man" Thai Son played for 70 minutes and was substituted, with a senior player coming in to help the home team win the match. Meanwhile, central midfielder Nam Hai of Song Lam Nghe An played for nearly 90 minutes before being substituted and it can be said that the fault in Quang Nam's equalizer 4-4 was in this overloaded position? To say that a large force and reasonable use of people will help young players mature, but on the contrary, will make them "discouraged" from when no one knows?