Hes average if we compare him to everyone else in the squad. Like Zhou Jiabao said, he used to be put as a winger, which doesn't suit him as well since he isn't pacey and has ok dribbling. Hes relatively tall so more centrally fits him. Wu Lei is great as long as he has someone else competent next to him. Expect either Gao Lin or Zhang Yuning to play beside him. Some other key points: - We cannot leave Hao Junmin on the bench. He is way too important to only play for one half. Replace Wu Xi - Ren Hang is a liability. Replace him with Ding Haifeng - No 5 in the back. Having 1 extra mediocre defender isn't going to help. We need the win. -We need to start either Gao Lin or Zhang Yuning up top in place of Sun Ke
Zhang Yuning is starting for the Iran match. if anyone has the link to the match, that would be great.
Very sloppy game so far... we haven't really strung any good sequences together. Odd that Zhang Yuning and not Gao Lin or Yu Dabao is playing with Wu Lei in such a big match.
Zhang Yuning just had a nice turn and shot from outside the box though, China's first attempt in a while. Not really a connect from midfield to the final third, Hao is dropping really deep to get balls but has no one to pass to, and it's just going to the back four to long ball every time.
HT 0-0 Honestly that display was pathetic. We are struggling to string 2 or 3 passes together before we just hoof it up and praying for Wu Lei or Zhang Yuning to get a head to it. The defense has been shaky and we are slightly fortunate to get into half time scoreless. Hopefully Gao's plan is to really push in the second half like in the Korea game.
Looked like a penalty to me, Iranian defender was nowhere near the ball and clearly caught Wu Lei. Iran got away with one there
Game ended 0-0. It's pretty much what is expected. Our midfield was shut out by Iran and too busy helping out the off-form defense, so very few attacks. Wu Lei is very fast but lacks the strength and control as strong teams - he needs a good supportive forward.
It was a draw and a point that was probably better than what most people expected, but the performance was awful. I find it odd that we have so much respect for other teams in Asia because even the best of our teams have awful defenders anyways. Gao has played both games incredibly safe and defensive tactically, but at least the players made sense in the Korea game. We had Hao Junmin play the Zheng Zhi role today and he is simply not suited for it... especially given how much of a difference he made against Korea when he came on offensively. I liked the Zhang Xizhe sub though, there was a change in tone with him at least trying to make the link from midfield and we saw some of our better chances after that. The long balls to Wu Lei really has to stop... has it ever worked against competent opponents?! He's way too light weight, and completely unsuited to the style. If we're doing that at least present a target who's used to playing that role. Zhang Yuning didn't do too badly today as an individual but there was no linkup between those two. I feel like any of our other available options would have done better for offensive flow. Either way it was a good result, but ugly, and hard to be happy about stylistically and in the way of progression of our NT. That said we have the two toughest opponents out of the way for the first half of the group stages, so hopefully we can build some momentum in the coming months.
Gao Hongbo needs to stop chickening out and stop favoring his old players from Jiangsu. These two games we played absolutely terrible when he utilised his 5-3-2 long ball tactic. Where´s the old Gao with his effective 4-5-1 counterattacking football? Ren Hang was crap in both games, same can be said about Sun Ke. Playing longballs on Wu Lei who´s one of our shortest players. Playing fullbacks with no feet out on the wings. Midfielders acting like extra CBs, essentially playing a 8-0-2 formation. If anything these two games has shown is that both South Korea and Iran are not unbeatable and i think Gao has shown too much respect to them with too much of a defensive approach. Both second halves when we´re actually trying to play football on the ground we looked far more dangerous
South Korea has dropped points just now. Syria somehow squeezed out a goalless draw. Still a chance for 2nd if we don't drop any points vs. the next 3 opponents!
A point is nice, but as I see it, its us vs Uzbekistan to fight for 3rd place and I just don't trust us to be consistent enough to claim points that we should be getting.
My observation from the game about China: China were really poor compared to my expectation, I was thinking before the game that a draw would be a good result, but now I am left feeling unsatisfied. Good news however, you got a very important point which keeps your hopes alive, and I honestly think you guys are better than Uzbekistan.
I think we feel the same way. Both of our sides had chances that should have been put away. Uzbekistan is a good team, but they are definitely beatable. On the other hand, its also definitely a losable game as well.
Syria played well. They were aggressive and went for every ball. Congrats to Syria for this deserved win. I think the Chinese side probably either underestimated their opponents and then panicked, or could not adapt to the pace and aggressive play of their opponents. For those who watch CSL, do you think the domestic league is the cause? Sadly, qualification for the playoffs, let alone the direct qualifications berth, is nearly impossible now. But it shows where our standards really lie. Not good enough for the World Cup.