Quang Hai can join a strong Austrian club

A lot of information says that Nguyen Quang HaI can move to Austria to play in May with the destination of the club (CLB) LASK.

With a neutral tone, this potential destination of the former Hanoi FC midfielder is quite faint on the European football map.

European Cup patrons

LASK once won the Austrian championship, but that’s the story from 1965. This team went bankrupt in 2012, but rose strongly in the lower division with the consensus of the players and the leadership team and promoted in the 2017/18 season after winning the First Division.

Since then, LASK has maintained its position as one of the most watched football teams in Austria. This club won a place in the European Cup in the first season after promotion when it ranked 4th. During 4 consecutive seasons from 2018/19 up to now, LASK has always attended the European Cup, from Champions League, Europa League to UEFA Conference League. .

LASK held a draw against Tottenham with Son Heung-min with a score of 3-3.

Attending many arenas helps LASK have memorable battles with famous teams of the old continent. In the 2018/19 season, LASK defeated the famous Besiktas of Turkey at home in the Europa League qualifying round.

In the 2019/20 season, Quang Hai’s potential destination won PSV 4-1 in the Europa League group stage and met Man United in the 1/8 round (lost 1-7 in the end).

Last season, LASK drew Tottenham with Son Heung-min, Gareth Bale and Jose Mourinho on the bench with a score of 3-3. This season, the Austrian team entered the UEFA Conference League and stopped in the round of 16 after losing to Slavia Prague with a total score of 5-7.

In the domestic arena, LASK maintains its position as one of the top teams in the tournament. Last season, this club also reached the final of the Austrian National Cup and only lost to the “boggart” Salzburg.

However, things change for LASK this season. The Austrian Championship is divided into two phases. After 22 rounds, 6 teams in the top half of the standings will participate in a round-robin match to get the championship team. 6 teams in the bottom half of the table will play the same way to avoid relegation.

Up to now, LASK is second in the relegation group. This means that the 4 consecutive seasons in the top 4 of LASK’s tournaments will come to an end. However, if it keeps its current position, LASK still has the opportunity to participate in the UEFA Confrence League through the play-off door.

LASK’s decline this season is due to the departure of a series of quality players in the early transfer window of the season. They parted ways with Johannes Eggestein, a striker with 12 goals and 7 assists, when the loan contract with Werder Bremen expired.

In addition, LASK sold 4 key personnel, ranging from central defenders, central midfielders, wingers to strikers.

They earned £ 4.5 million from the sale of players, but only spent 1.35 million to strengthen the force. The LASK recruits acquired this season all cost less than £360,000 and are all mid-range quality items.

Many LASK rookies did not live up to expectations this season. Proof of that is the drop to the group that competes for relegation instead of championship. Therefore, LASK looks forward to a new season from the end of April, but the addition named Quang Hai is what this team is aiming for.

Basically, LASK gained more than lost with Quang Hai. There is no transfer fee for this transaction. The expertise of the Vietnamese players is worth testing and above all, the automatic LASK will attract commercial and attention from the potential and football-loving market like Vietnam.

Where will Quang Hai kick?

In previous seasons, LASK played with a 3-4-3 formation and had certain achievements thanks to its speed of play. However, after a big change at the beginning of this season, the Austrian club struggled with the old style of play.

In Europe, this style of play is still effective, but in the Austrian championship, many opponents seem to catch this layout of LASK.

Quang Hai’s potential destination kicked off the first 10 matches of the season with this scheme, but won 2, the rest lost 5, drew 3. After this series of disastrous matches, LASK switched to a 4-2-3-1 scheme. and stick with it until now.

It is not easy for Quang Hai to get the same position as at Hanoi Club if he comes to Austria. Photo: Minh Chien.

This will be a disadvantage of Quang Hai if he joins this club. In the Vietnam team, he played too well in the 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 formation. At the Hanoi club, Hai is the best midfielder in the V.League, but in a 4-3-3 diagram, with the role of central midfielder skewed to the left.

LASK did not play with any scheme that suited Hai’s habits. If joining a new stop, Hai will have to adapt from the beginning. The midfield position of the Hanoi club can be aimed at the public or the left midfielder. Hai’s opponents in these two positions are not few.

LASK currently has an attacking midfielder, Sascha Horvath, one year older than Hai, has scored 13 goals, provided six assists for the Austrian team this season and is worth £1.35 million. It is not easy to compete for the position of the player who is only 1.68 m tall, if there are no unexpected events such as injuries.

In the position of left midfield, LASK has 3 people ready to compete with Hai: Rene Renner (29 years old), Husein Balic (26 years old) and Keito Nakamura (21 years old). All have good height, run fast, cross strong, suitable for the tactical goals of this team.

The midfielder who plays creatively and needs a lot of balls like Hai was not born to play in this position.

Another position Hai can target is the central midfielder who plays behind the defense. This is also the position LASK has 3 players available. Hai’s main opponent if aiming for this position is Peter Michorl. This is a midfielder who has certain similarities with Hai when he passes well, knows how to take free kicks, knows how to make the ball from the bottom line.

However, Michorl is not “easy to eat”. The player born in 1995 is valued at 1.35 million pounds and is an indispensable pillar of LASK having played 39 games in all competitions this season. In addition to force majeure reasons such as being infected with Covid-19 or getting a penalty card, Michorl almost always takes the main kick.

We look at the reality at LASK to see that the competition for positions in this team is not simple. This team is indeed empty number 19, but that does not mean that Hai will receive the same privileges as at Hanoi Club.

However, as Hai himself admits, such a challenge is what the midfielder wants to achieve when he decides to leave the Hanoi club.

According to Zing