Coach Polking's seat is shaky, CAHN Club can 'fire the general' if...

Pressure on Coach Polking

The 1-2 defeat against The Cong Viettel pushed CAHN Club down to 7th place in V-League 2024 - 2025. This is a step back for the former V-League champion, when before the season, coach Alexandre Polking and his team were considered the top candidates for the championship.

CAHN FC has not won in the last 4 matches in V-League. In 3 of those matches, Quang Hai and his teammates were held to a draw by lower-ranked clubs (Ha Tinh, SLNA, Quang Nam).

Looking at the whole first leg, the performance of CAHN Club can be summed up in the word "unstable". Only 4 wins after 13 matches (winning rate 30.7%), along with a position in the middle of the table, is not commensurate with the strength of a team with a squad value in the top group of the tournament.

Coach Polking (right) under pressure

CAHN Club owns the most prestigious foreign players in V-League (Leo Artur, Alan Grafite, Hugo Gomes, Vitao), the best overseas Vietnamese player (Jason Pendant Quang Vinh), in addition to domestic players wearing national team jerseys such as Nguyen Filip, Nguyen Quang Hai, Le Pham Thanh Long, Bui Hoang Viet Anh... Along with the best training facility (PVF Youth Football Training Center), CAHN Club has all the elements to succeed.

And when there is no success, the pressure is obviously on the head coach. When coach Polking took over the CAHN club, the team was in the top 3. However, after 1 year of training, the team dropped 4 places and was 5 points behind the same period last season, even though in theory they had a strong, combative squad and had more time to work together than before Mr. Polking arrived.

Highlight CAHN Club 4-4 Quang Nam Club | Round 13 V-League 2024-2025

Not only did CAHN FC have poor form, but the attacking, passing style of play that Polking had been waiting for had not yet appeared. CAHN FC tried to control the ball, passing the ball in a systematic way with short, smooth passes in the early stages of Polking's tenure, with a style of play similar to the Thai national team when the German strategist was still in charge.

However, the modest performance on the field (CAHN Club only won 6/18 matches in V-League under Mr. Polking) forced the former V-League champion team to change their playing style. In the match against Viettel The Cong Club, CAHN Club had to play long balls and high balls throughout the second half and could not turn the game around. Explaining this way of playing, Coach Polking said that "time pressure forced the team to change the way they deployed the ball".

Coach Polking has not made his mark in the playing style.

Another issue that raises questions about Coach Polking's coaching is that under this coach, CAHN FC has never won when the opponent is behind. CAHN can win devastatingly when inspiration is high, like the way they won against HAGL (5-0), Hai Phong (5-1), Nam Dinh (3-0) or Binh Dinh (3-0). However, when "plan A" is discovered, Coach Polking's team often turns around slowly, leading to draws and losses. The conceding goals in extra time also raises questions about Mr. Polking's physical training.

Win or go

Coach Polking is much luckier than coaches like Kiatisak Senamuang or Gong Oh-kyun. Although the German coach's CAHN club is much worse than his predecessor's, up to now, the team's leaders have not sent him any "alarm" signals.

Coach Polking is trusted because he is the strategist that CAHN Club has been pursuing for a long time. The reputation he gained when coaching the Thai team (winning the AFF Cup 2020 and 2022), along with his beautiful and dedicated playing style, is a plus point for Coach Polking. At the same time, CAHN Club is still playing well in the 2025 Southeast Asian Cup C1 with 5 wins in the group stage to reach the semi-finals.

However, that does not mean that Mr. Polking's position is "inviolable". Tomorrow night (February 23), CAHN Club will start the second leg with a match against the top team The Cong Viettel. If they lose, CAHN Club will be 11 points behind the top and will have no hope in the championship race even though the tournament is only halfway through.

CAHN Club (yellow shirt) is 8 points behind the top spot.

Coach Polking understood the problem, so he affirmed that the match against The Cong Viettel was very important and CAHN Club "must win".

In addition, Coach Polking's shield at the Southeast Asian Cup C1 will collapse if CAHN Club fails to defeat PSM Makassar in the semi-finals (taking place in April). Ensuring a deep run in this tournament is a must if the former coach of Ho Chi Minh City wants to stay in his position.

Coach Polking still has time to turn things around. Let's see if his courage can help the German coach survive this big wave!

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Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ghe-hlv-polking-lung-lay-clb-cahn-co-the-tram-tuong-neu-185250222152120382.htm