Game 2 & 3 Far Away From Perfect
A boring draw with Shandong and lucky win over Dalian, that’s a good result honestly. At least we are 2nd in group A, 2W1D. However, what I would like to talk about is the strong & short part we need to improve in this season.
In the first game VS SD, before Tamas Kardar sent off in the second half, both team seems has no intend to control the midfield or find a goal. Although we know the coach would eventually sub Teixiera and Eder, but he chose to let Santini off became a bad idea especially when the team has the man advantage.
It became more confusing when our coach decide to use Santini as sub when facing DL in second game.
We all know how DL defending line afraid of air ball, even they set a 5 men defending line. Teixeira made an easy header , get us in the lead.
After Santini sub in the DL game, he quickly made an important header in the box and win a penalty leading the team to the victory.
Miranda is perfect, he nearly win every header and tackle no matter it’s Felleni or Rondon, reliable and indispensable. I am quite sure no matter which foreign attackers should start-up is controversy, he surely should be the best start-up defender.
Wakaso proved he is a good ball winning mid, just like what he did in Spain. 9 tackles in two games shows he is in good morale, and has the ability to be a defending midfield start-up. However, I need to point out that he also made two shots in the game with SD(most in team), three shots in with DL(2nd in the team). That is way too much for his position, and most of his shots made no threaten to the goal keepers.
In my point of view, when you facing with strong opponent such as Guangzhou/Shandong, Wakaso could help you to get the ball back, have the ball possession, but without Santini in front line, it’s difficult for Teixeira or Eder to have enough space, and the space become even smaller when these two attackers stack together. Considering the regulation, there are only 4 foreign players allowed, when we face stronger team, we should keep Santini on the pitch with Wakaso, Miranda, and one between Teixeira and Eder depending on the opponent’s formation. Anyway, it’s our coach’s call to make the decisions who should be start up and who should wait for his chance. The season just start, we need to carefully figure out how to better use our players.
There are also some other interesting details in and out this two games. The new signing DL Zhang Cheng was replaced by Zhou Yun after only one game, seems he need more practice with new teammates. Hamit post a twitter “Work hard and leave the other things to the God’s will”, “God’s will” is Gao Tianyi, another young decent player’s name. Unluckily, Gao was injury just a few mins after he subbed Hamit on the pitch. Xie Pengfei was also injured in the game VS Shandong. Best wish our players could get well soon.
*Tks for reading and give us a like
**Pics and GIFs via PP sports / Transfer Market / Club official Weibo
