Do Nam: Pressure Mounts After the Opening Whistle of V-League 2026/27

In the last three matches, the PPDA index of teams once considered title contenders has dropped alarmingly. There is no need for complex xG statistics; just looking at the scorelines reveals an unusual situation unfolding in V-League 1. After FIFA's international break, Vietnam's domestic league enters its third round with an unprecedented scenario: three clubs, including a six-time former champion, have yet to earn a single point. The story is not just about the defeats, but about how those defeats are reshaping the entire picture ahead. I have spent most of my career standing in the stands, listening to the rhythm of teams from what is not recorded in the match report. Football is not just what happens in 90 minutes, but also the silences before and after each match. When V-League returned after the international break, the atmosphere at training grounds carried a different scent. Players entered the third round with an invisible pressure, the kind that only appears when people know another defeat could cause everything to collapse. At Hanoi FC, a six-time champion, starting with two defeats and conceding seven goals is a disaster. The 1-3 loss to Ho Chi Minh City Police and the 1-4 home defeat to SLNA are not just poor results. They expose a structural problem in the defensive system. Seven goals conceded in two matches is not temporary bad luck. It is a sign of a broken defensive block, where the midfield can no longer cover for the defense, and where individual errors are maximized by the pressure of the shirt itself. Harry Kewell, the Australian head coach, once a symbol of Liverpool and Leeds United, is now the center of criticism. The media questions his ability to get the team back on track. I understand that feeling. In 2026, as a 23-year-old trainee reporter in Volgograd, I mispronounced Harry Maguire's name three times in the first half of England vs Tunisia. The clip spread at breakneck speed, and I realized that in modern football, a small moment can be amplified into a storm. For Kewell, that storm is many times larger, because he represents not only himself but an entire brand built on championships. Hanoi FC's problem is not that they lose. Their problem is how they lose. A six-time champion cannot lose 1-4 at home simply due to tactical errors. There is a psychological factor seeping into this team. When you are used to winning, losing becomes a shock that is not easy to overcome. And when that shock repeats, it becomes a spiral. Players start playing with fear instead of confidence. Passes become inaccurate. Challenges lose their decisiveness. That is when a coach must work more with players' psychology than with tactics on the board. Hoang Anh Gia Lai, a club with a rich history and youth development tradition, is in a similar situation. They lost 0-4 to Nam Dinh and 1-3 to Hai Phong, also conceding seven goals in two matches. Notably, the phrase "familiar early-season problems" has appeared when discussing HAGL. This is no longer the story of a single season. It is a pattern that has repeated over many years. A team can start slowly, but when it becomes a rule, one must question the management structure and how the club prepares for a new season. Financial problems, personnel changes, and internal instability often do not appear in the newspapers, but they leave traces on the pitch. Dong Nai, the league's newcomer, offers a completely different story. Three defeats, no goals scored, six conceded. This is the classic template of a newly promoted team struggling with the gap in class. But what is notable is that Dong Nai is not a team lacking in names. They possess players who were once pillars of Vietnamese football, such as Cong Phuong and Xuan Truong. This is a typical survival strategy for promoted clubs: recruiting experienced names to compensate for the lack of squad depth. But experience cannot replace goals. And when a team cannot score in three matches, the problem is not just in the attack. I once wrote about Sancho, about the 73 million pound transfer, about how the whispers in the stands matter more than the number on the transfer sheet. The story of Cong Phuong and Xuan Truong at Dong Nai carries a similar rhythm. They returned from adventures abroad as expected players. But that expectation is now placed in a harsher context: a newly promoted team, sinking in a relegation battle from the very first rounds. Are their legs still fast enough to drag a collective out of the mud? What caught my attention most in the overall picture of V-League 2026/27 is the power shift happening very quickly. Nam Dinh, Ho Chi Minh City Police, SLNA, and Hai Phong are making the most of the gaps left by the big clubs. In football, opportunities do not wait for anyone. While Hanoi FC and HAGL struggle to find themselves, other teams are quietly accumulating points. And by the time the giants wake up, the gap may have become too large. But there is one thing I believe the media is overestimating: the power of the third round in determining the fate of coaches. The press calls this round "the round that could cost coaches their jobs." That is an editorial assessment, not a verified signal from club leadership. In football, one win can completely change the picture, but it does not solve structural problems that existed beforehand. Hanoi FC conceded seven goals in two matches. A win in round three will not erase the holes in the defensive system. I once said that one of the most valuable things in football is the moment fans realize the team needs them. In this V-League season, that moment may be approaching for Hanoi FC supporters. When a six-time champion faces the risk of being eliminated from the title race from the early stages, voices from the stands become more important than ever. And sometimes, it is the pressure from the stands that forces managers to act. There is a paradox in this story. The team under the most pressure, Hanoi FC, is the one with the most resources to solve the problem. But in football, resources do not guarantee success. What guarantees success is the correctness of decisions. And the hardest decision right now is the decision about Harry Kewell's position. Hanoi FC's leadership faces a choice that every big club has faced: patience with a process in difficulty, or change to seek a new beginning? For Dong Nai, the pressure is somewhat lighter because they are newcomers. But that very lightness can be a double-edged sword. When people do not expect much, they easily accept defeat. And in a relegation battle, accepting defeat is the beginning of all disasters. Three matches without scoring is a red signal. In V-League history, very few teams survive such a terrible start. I spent 1,500 nights in empty stadiums to learn how to listen to matches through my blood vessels. And what I learned is: the most important signals are not in the standings. They are in how players walk onto the pitch, how they look at each other after each goal conceded, and how coaches face difficult questions in the press room. V-League 2026/27 is in the early stages of a long season. But cracks have begun to appear. And when cracks appear at the biggest clubs, the entire structure of the league can be affected. The third round will be a test. Not a test of tactics, but a test of character. Which teams can stand firm under pressure, which coaches can maintain their composure, and which players can forget their fear to play their own football? The answer will not come from statistics. It will come from moments, from sighs in the stands, and from sweat on the grass. The transfer rhythm is not in the signature, but in the silence between two offers. And the rhythm of a season is the same. It is not in brilliant victories, but in how teams face their first defeats. For Hanoi FC, HAGL, and Dong Nai, that rhythm is slowing dangerously. And if they do not soon find their rhythm again, the 2026/27 season could become one of the harshest in their club histories.