Coach Park's assistant: "Coach Troussier has not made his mark and is under a lot of pressure"

In an interview with Dan Tri before the 2023 Asian Cup, former assistant coach Park Hang Seo - expert Bae Ji Won commented that the tactical aspects of the Vietnamese team are not sharp enough and coach Philippe Troussier needs to hone them further. However, national spirit is a great advantage to wait for the "Golden Star Warriors" to create a surprise.

Hello Mr. Bae Ji Won. First of all, I wish you a happy new year 2024. Looking back at 2023, how do you evaluate the performance of the Vietnamese team under new coach Philippe Troussier?

- In 2023, many people expected the remarkable development of the men's football team with the appearance of a new head coach. However, after nearly a year, the reality of expectations has decreased significantly. The factors for Vietnamese football to continue to develop have not been clearly demonstrated.

Instead, many fans are nostalgic about the Vietnamese team under coach Park Hang Seo. This shows that fans cannot rest assured and want to see the Vietnamese team's playing style more clearly.

Vietnam is perhaps the most advanced national team in Southeast Asia under Park, through impressive achievements in regional and continental tournaments. However, the ability to compete for titles has been questioned recently.

I have worked at both club and national team levels and witnessed many changes in the Vietnamese team, so I feel most clearly the instability of the domestic tournament system.

Major football nations in Europe and Asia have maintained stable domestic league systems for decades. Vietnamese football has not had this, with many disruptions as well as adjustments to shorten or lengthen the competition schedule depending on the national team. That is something that needs to be improved.

In 2023, both the Vietnamese men's and women's football teams will say goodbye to the most successful coaches in history. For the men's football team, Coach Troussier was chosen to replace Mr. Park. What do you think about the French strategist after nearly a year of leading the national team?

- First, we need to objectively recognize that the Vietnamese team has achieved great success under coach Park Hang Seo. It is not always possible to achieve such a great leap forward.

The achievements of his predecessor also created heavy pressure and somewhat overshadowed the efforts of Coach Troussier. Moreover, in 2023, there are not many important tournaments for Troussier and his team to perform.

However, in my opinion, Vietnamese football will hardly achieve the rapid development as under Mr. Park. Such miracles cannot always happen.

Coach Troussier has not made any special impression yet. His tactical plans are not really clear. He is still in the process of changing his playing style and philosophy.

One of the manifestations is giving opportunities to many young players. That is both a way to test their abilities and to move towards a new trend. However, Coach Troussier needs to maintain the advantages of the Vietnamese team that have been gained since Mr. Park's time and adjust them based on the new coach's plans and ideas in a harmonious and smooth manner.

But we also need to admit that Coach Troussier is a very brave person when his predecessor has achieved great success. Is this French strategist under too much unnecessary pressure?

- Perhaps Mr. Troussier also feels how much pressure there is. From a coach's perspective, he may think it takes time to adapt and develop his style according to his philosophy. Of course, due to the nature of the national team, coaches cannot spend as much time with their players as clubs to get used to new tactics and strategies.

Therefore, Mr. Troussier needs to focus more on choosing the optimal method and direction of development and completing the goal. The difficulty of the national team coach is to achieve the results that the fans across the country expect in a short time. If the goal is not achieved, the pressure on the coach becomes even more terrible.

We all judge, predict and expect from the outside, we cannot fully feel the changes inside the team. The only thing that needs to be clear is not to put too much pressure on Mr. Troussier to compare his achievements with his predecessor.

Furthermore, he needs to focus and make every effort to perfect the team's tactics and formation.

If we don't talk about achievements, can we talk about personality? In your opinion, what is the fundamental difference between Coach Park Hang Seo and Troussier?

- In my opinion, Coach Troussier is a quieter person than his predecessor. Coach Park is quite hot-tempered, always showing fierce passion, while Troussier is calm and works logically. Of course, each coach will have a style, it is difficult to judge who is better than the other.

For example, the styles of Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, former manager of Man Utd and Arsenal, are completely opposite. Therefore, their tactical systems and playing styles are also different.

Coach Troussier tends to be more free and creative when building tactical systems. I see that he gives a lot of opportunities to young and energetic players. That is special. However, it must be emphasized that comparing the old coach and the new coach is meaningless, because the nature of the times is very different.

Under Mr. Troussier, many new players have been called up to the national team. The most obvious is the list of 34 players called up to participate in the upcoming Asian Cup. What do you think about this newness?

- In fact, the drastic change of the national team when changing to a new coach is a very difficult and complicated process. Therefore, most new coaches always try to maintain harmony with the old force. After that, they try to establish and perfect the personnel and tactical plan step by step slowly but surely.

In other words, instead of making rapid changes, coaches create conditions for the national team to gradually adapt to the old system. New elements or factors are seen as a natural result of the change of coach.

Personally, I feel that there is something special about Mr. Troussier giving more opportunities to young, dynamic players. Of course, it is still an experiment. Every coach needs to experiment with the formation.

However, we need to respect his decisions. People's opinions will change according to the results of the 2023 Asian Cup, so we need to wait for the final results.

Another notable personnel change is that Filip Nguyen has just been naturalized and called up. What is your assessment of this goalkeeper as well as the issue of using players of Vietnamese origin in the national team?

- Having great goalkeepers competing for places is a very positive thing. Goalkeepers are very important and play a decisive role in every match. If goalkeepers are motivated to compete for places, they will always have to show 100% of their ability.

Regarding naturalization, it is a pity that Korean football has very few naturalized players. The reason is that they are not highly regarded compared to domestic players. The naturalization conditions are very strict and fans do not accept a player who cannot speak Korean and does not have the national spirit of the Korean people.

However, the most important reason is that the quality of Korean players today is very high, with a large number playing abroad, including in top European leagues. Therefore, naturalization becomes unnecessary.

So what do you think about Troussier and his team's chances at the 2023 Asian Cup?

- The Asian Cup is the continent's biggest football tournament, with a level that surpasses all tournaments in Southeast Asia. Football is a sport that sees surprises happen regularly. Shocking results still appear at the World Cup and throughout the tournaments.

Therefore, the Vietnamese team and other Southeast Asian teams also have the potential to create surprises at the Asian Cup. However, it must be emphasized that unexpected results cannot be achieved based on luck alone. Luck only comes based on ability and after efforts of more than 100% of ability.

In recent matches, the Vietnamese team has not achieved good results. Therefore, many fans feel disappointed and skeptical. Personally, I expect that the Vietnamese players can promote strong fighting spirit and solidarity to achieve good results.

History has forged the indomitable will of the Vietnamese people to overcome many difficult times and pass that spirit on to the younger generation. The spirit will bring a great advantage to the Vietnamese team, because football is a team sport, which requires players to be united and strong to create surprises.

Thank you for the conversation!

Content: Ngoc Trung

Design: Patrick Nguyen

12/30/2023 - 08:34

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/tro-ly-hlv-park-hlv-troussier-chua-tao-duoc-dau-an-va-chiu-nhieu-ap-luc-20231228180518953.htm