At the end of 10 rounds of games, Dalian Ren had 1 win, 3 draws and 6 losses, and was at the bottom of the table. Although the result is almost the same compared to last season's first 10 rounds of 1 win, 4 draws and 5 losses, it is obvious that the team is not enough momentum, and the sense of pressure to the opponent is much weaker.
What is the reason then? Personally, I think there are roughly three aspects that have little to do with Xie Hui's coaching ability.
The force is going down instead of up.
This season, Dalian Ren's squad has barely been replenished after a number of key players such as Sun Guowen, Tong Lei and Dong Yanfeng left the team. Only two players have been added to Dalian Ren's first team, both young players without any experience in the top league and temporarily without the ability to play. In addition, the club has not made any moves, either with veterans on the bench or rookies.
The foreigners are not good, with the exception of Tesonev's acceptable performance, who is of average ability. Especially Mamba and Manzocchi, there is no distinctive features, limited help to the team. As a striker, the impact, foot skills, experience and awareness are not outstanding, and can only be regarded as the strength of an average local player.
In fact, the team's overall strength is significantly down from last season.
The stronger the opponent, the better.
Last season, many teams lacked help in employment and faced varying degrees of personnel shortages. Hebei and Guangzhou, for example, not only played with all Chinese teams, but also with old and weak lineups that basically scored for the boys. Except for a few teams such as Wuhan Three Towns and Shandong Taishan, which have maintained strong lineups, other teams have more or less gone through a phase of shortage.
This season is different, the configuration of each team has been greatly improved. Not to mention the foreign aid, after the Guangzhou City Hebei team was disbanded, the "Player Supermarket" added a lot of teams, but Dalian people did not even drink the soup. Even clubs in poor economic conditions have upgraded their lineups, and Dalian is an exception.
This fade has widened the gap between Dalian's strengths and those of their opponents, and it's no surprise that they're currently ranked.
Morale is no longer like a rainbow.
Last season, Dalian returned to the Premier League through additions. Without the burden of thought, the players could let go and often played over the top. High morale is an indispensable key factor for the strength of the Central League to play in the Super League and succeed in relegation. But this season, the team's temperament is gone, and the players' excitement is not as high as before.
As the old saying goes:Work hard, then get exhausted. A team must be motivated in various ways to maintain morale. For professional players, apart from mental encouragement, material is also indispensable. However, due to the club's financial problems, it is difficult to pay salaries on time (most players are not paid well).
If you want a horse to run, you have to eat grass first, and if the grain is not secured, there is no way to talk about morale.
All the above problems need to be solved by the club. As a manager, Xie Hui can't do anything about it. He is not the manager or investor of the club. Careful fans will notice that Xie Hui has been a lot more emotional off the field this season, and his expressions are no longer as rich as they used to be. He's become much calmer, but he knows full well that he can't possibly play his way out of a fight like he did last season in the current situation.
