Tien Linh's performance is not good, how does coach Troussier calculate?

It can be affirmed that this is the most difficult time in Nguyen Tien Linh's career. At Binh Duong, he is no longer the main nucleus of the Go Dau team in the attack. In the Vietnam national team, Tien Linh also lost his unique position as a striker.

According to Sportbase statistics, in the last 6 matches of Tien Linh under coach Philippe Troussier, this player has only played for 26 minutes. He has worrying statistics with 0 goals, 0 assists, and not even a single shot on target. Tien Linh also received a direct red card after a foul on center-back Tyias Browning in the match against the Chinese team during FIFA Days last October.

Before joining the Vietnam national team, Tien Linh played a total of 110 minutes in 2 matches. In the opening match of V-League 2023 - 2024 against Binh Dinh, he played 75 minutes, but his performance was not as expected. In the match against Hai Phong, coach Le Huynh Duc even left Tien Linh on the bench for more than ⅔ of the match. After entering the field, instead of playing in his usual position, Tien Linh was assigned to play deep to develop the ball, playing behind foreign player Prince Ibara, from which he did not have much room to perform.

The last time Tien Linh scored was on May 27, 2023, in the match between Binh Duong Club and Hanoi Team in the V-League last season. That means the player from Hai Duong has not "scored" for more than half a year. In the national team, the last time Tien Linh scored was on January 13, 2023, in the AFF Cup final between Vietnam and Thailand. Since then, Tien Linh has not scored any more goals for the national team.

As the 2026 World Cup qualifiers are approaching, coach Philippe Troussier must come up with possible options to replace Tien Linh. Among the names called up, there are up to 5 players capable of playing in the striker position including Nguyen Hoang Duc, Nguyen Van Tung, Nguyen Van Quyet, Nguyen Van Toan, Pham Tuan Hai.

Van Tung (left), Tuan Hai (middle) in Hanoi Club jersey

Among them, Nguyen Van Tung is a true striker. The rest, Van Quyet, Hoang Duc, Tuan Hai or Van Toan would be more suitable if coach Philippe Troussier used them in the false 9 position. Van Quyet or Tuan Hai used to play false striker at Hanoi FC under coach Chun Jae-ho.

In 2021, Van Toan was also planned by coach Kiatisak to play as a striker in a 3-4-3 formation, and he was arranged to play alongside Washington Brandao on the left wing and Cong Phuong on the right wing. Also in that season, Van Toan scored 7 goals after 12 matches in the V-League. Regarding Nguyen Hoang Duc, if coach Troussier has tested the Viettel player in the striker position in the last 4 matches of the Vietnam national team, it is likely that he will still stick with this experiment.

Although coach Philippe Troussier has many options to replace Tien Linh, it is expected that it will take a long time to integrate false strikers like Tuan Hai, Van Quyet or Van Toan into the 3-4-3 tactical system. If Mr. Troussier trusts Van Tung, it will be a big gamble. Therefore, it is not impossible that the 68-year-old coach will be forced to trust Tien Linh, even though his performance is not good.

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