Coach Vu Tien Thanh: 'HAGL still plays beautifully and is sure to stay in the league'

Coach Vu Tien Thanh said he has helped HAGL players improve their physical fitness so they can maintain their beautiful playing style, and believes the team will stay in the league despite being at the bottom of the 2023-2024 V-League.

- HAGL was at the bottom of the V-League table when you took over as head coach. How do you rate the team's chances of staying in the league?

- For any team at the bottom of the table, things are very difficult. But I am confident that the team will still play in the V-League next season. HAGL will definitely stay in the league successfully.

- What makes you so confident?

- Firstly, HAGL players are all well-trained, have good skills, and have played together for a long time, so they understand each other and are united like a family. Secondly, most of them grew up in the HAGL training center and love the club. Recently, I have clearly felt the anxiety of the players when the team did not play well and fell to the bottom of the scoreboard. But they are not worried about themselves, but about the impact on the HAGL brand.

LV Vu Tien Thanh (wearing glasses) directs HAGL players during training in Pleiku. Photo: Phuong Thuy

In addition, we are also lucky because the V-League has just had a 50-day break, when the team played in the Asian Cup. On this occasion, the team reviewed, evaluated and found the weaknesses that led to the poor results in the past. The problem of HAGL is that the players do not have good physical strength, they can only play for about 60 to 70 minutes. When they do not have physical strength, it is difficult for them to play confidently and also cannot implement their playing style. In modern football, physical strength is very important, to do anything, you need physical strength.

We were also lucky that only one player was called up to the national team, Nguyen Tuan Anh. Therefore, the team had enough players to practice together during the break, improving both physical strength and skills. Of course, I have only been in charge of the team for a short time, so it is difficult to say that I can create a miracle right away, but HAGL will definitely play very differently.

- HAGL is associated with the brand of coordinated, beautiful attacking football. Meanwhile, you often build a tight defense and quick counterattack style when leading Saigon FC or Ho Chi Minh City Club. So when combined, what style of play will you apply to HAGL?

- Mr. Duc and I discussed with each other, and agreed that the first thing is to maintain the beautiful football identity. But we also have to face the fact that HAGL often does not defend well. The previous team trained a generation of excellent players like Cong Phuong, Van Toan, Tuan Anh... They built the principles of attacking play, but not the principles of defense. So now I will have to do it again, in the direction of both building a more solid defense system, and at the same time maintaining the beautiful football identity. That will definitely put a lot of pressure on me, but I will persevere.

Previously, with Saigon FC and Ho Chi Minh City Club, the quality of the players was not really good, so I had to let them play defensively, counter-attacking, sometimes deploying by passing the ball long up. But at HAGL it is different now. Many pillars like Cong Phuong, Van Toan, Van Thanh... left, but we still have Tuan Anh, Minh Vuong, Ngoc Quang and many well-trained young players. At HAGL, I forbid the use of the term defensive counter-attacking. HAGL does not counter-attack. We proactively organize attacks.

- Is maintaining fair play due to Mr. Duc's intervention, or is it your decision?

- Mr. Duc talked to me and saw that I was comfortable with the idea of ​​trying to maintain beautiful football.

I am given full authority in terms of expertise. But I believe that no matter which club the coach goes to, he cannot break their culture. HAGL's culture is beautiful football. If the team does not play beautifully, there will be no spectators. Recently, HAGL had few spectators because they could not maintain that unique style of play. The players did not have the physical strength to play beautifully. But now everything will be different.

HAGL defeated Hanoi FC, had the first victory in V-League 2023-2024 on December 27, 2023. Photo: VPF

- There are many speculations that HAGL will make a big addition to its personnel when the transfer market reopens at the end of February. What do you say about this?

- The addition of personnel depends on many factors. At present, everything is just speculation. When I was at TP HCM, the team borrowed Sam Ngoc Duc and Patrik Le Giang from CAHN. Then I brought Minh Tung and Ngoc Long to the team. Now people are saying that I will bring these students to HAGL. But that is all wrong, nothing has happened yet.

For now, HAGL will have to use the team they have. We will try to get points when we visit Ha Tinh, to boost our confidence before returning home to host Quang Nam, then visit Khanh Hoa.

HAGL's only goal is to stay in the league, because right now, we are at the bottom of the table, which is very difficult. After staying in the league, we will calculate changes for the next season. Mr. Duc promised to invest more in the HAGL Academy and especially the first team. He said that the recent economic difficulties have caused little interest in the club. However, this year, there are two sponsors, Carabao and LP Bank, so it will be different. Mr. Duc said that this year we will try to stay in the league, and next year we will invest to compete for the top.

Mr. Vu Tien Thanh was born in 1964 and used to lead Saigon FC and Ho Chi Minh City. He was appointed by Mr. Duc as Director of HAGL Football Academy on December 20, 2023 and 4 days later took the position of Technical Director of HAGL Club. Mr. Duc then loaned Coach Kiatisuk to CAHN, and Mr. Thanh became the head coach of the mountain town team. HAGL is currently at the bottom of the scoreboard with only 5 points after 8 rounds.

Lam Thoa

Source link: https://vnexpress.net/hlv-vu-tien-thanh-hagl-van-da-dep-va-chac-chan-tru-hang-4712592.html