Since the Chinese Super League entered its second phase, Henan's overall performance has been mediocre, with frequent stumbles, constant personnel adjustments, and a somewhat noticeable pain in the process of technical and tactical upgrades. I hope that this leader-killing game will allow Henan to really find a breakthrough, get through the necessary trough in the tactical upgrading process, and really get on the expected upward trajectory.
The first two losses in a row were both net losses of one goal. Henan and Javier himself are under tremendous pressure. The team's problems in both offense and defense are a bit obvious. It's getting harder and harder to realize the goal of keeping six and fighting for four. In this round, they will play against Wuhan Sanzhen, who has been at the top of the table for a long time. Before the match, no one would expect them to win on the road.
As the game began, Henan seemed to get into the swing of things faster than Tri-Town. Javier had no choice but to start with the "double card", but sat Sunic in defense with the aim of stabilizing the defense, after all, the firepower of the three towns up front was obvious. The midfield pairing of Pina and Adrian, hoping to strengthen the control, allowing Karanga to start in front of the field. Henan has sought more possession this year, but against the mighty Three Towns, Javier changed and became more concise in his play, using Karanga's individual ability to beat opposing defenses, and the entire offense worked well for the most part.
Three towns still use free kicks to first break the deadlock some time before and after the opponent's goal, Henan had been passive, the opponent strengthened the power of the midfield, but the overall defense of Henan actually performed well, the opponent did not have many chances to get a real chance.
Henan repeatedly took advantage of the inattention of the opponent's backline to create attacking opportunities, and Karanga's dominance was evident in the game, but the attack was either judged to be offside or the opponent was helped by the goalposts, and Henan failed to score until the 73rd minute, when Wang Shangyuan's exquisite cross was met with a header that Jongyi beat Wallace to equalize the score. Then Yang Shuai scored a goal, and in extra time it was Wang Shangyuan's cross in the ribs that found Carrillo with precision, who made it 3-1.
After this round, Sanzhen handed over the top spot to Shandong Taishan, Henan got 3 points themselves and "helped" Shandong Taishan to the top. The victory in this battle released the pressure of the team. Of course, for the team to be better and more stable, it needs to summarize the experience of the previous downturn and be more rational to meet the challenges in the future.
Before Henan's renewed loss, the Henan team dropped in the standings. As a matter of fact, Henan seems to be in a bit of a bad shape since the second phase of the Chinese Super League. Since the first match against Meizhou in early August, but after losing the match, the team has been up and down, winning only 8 rounds of matches. in early November, Henan touched Meizhou Hakka again and lost again, or was reversed by their opponents and Meizhou for two matches. in fact, this is a concentrated outbreak of the problems of Henan in this season, which makes people worry that a second loss to the Meizhou Hakka team will usher in a period of decline for the team again.
Compared to the first stage, the second stage of the league encountered greater difficulties in the use of personnel. Henan played against Meizhou Hakka for the first time because they got a red card early and played with one less player. Many players did not want to lose that game. In the match against Wuhan Changjiang, the team was down by two goals at the beginning and the defense problems became more prominent. Then a clash between Dorado and Maning ignited everyone's emotions and sowed the seeds for long-term use of personnel.
To fill the impact of Dorado's long suspension, the club brought in Spanish striker Carrillo. This brought up the most discussed topic during this time - whether Carrillo is suitable for Henan Songshan Dragons.
Henan has gone through two big personnel pinching periods so far this season. First, at the beginning of the season, Toure suddenly left the team, including new import Zhao Hongliu and the main U23 name in the first phase, Niu Ziyi, who was injured. Fortunately, Haikou is a blessed place where the individual abilities of the front court players match the ambitions of the entire team, and the team has achieved very good results in the first phase.
The second stage is that the team as a whole is having problems gelling. "Grooming" means that the existing personnel team is not able to match the technical and tactical system that Javier wants to establish, and it has not yet achieved the desired results, or is even far from it.
If you want to be a transmission and control system team, you need support at the personnel level. The lack of stability at wingback for a long time and the constant injuries and suspensions in the back line make everything unprotected. Javier tried many times to use the "double card" first in the attacking side, I even put Adrian or Sunic on the bench, but the result was mediocre. Not only was it difficult to open up the offense, but the problems on the defensive side of the ball were also very obvious, and this was reflected in the forward passes.
The fact is that Carrillo has no problem with his individual ability. The physical confrontation and stability on the ball is really evident. The post-game stats also explain his role. However, he doesn't have good chemistry with Karanga or even other players. Bringing in Carrillo, Javier's decision was based on the target tactical system. However, in terms of Henan's current overall staffing level, Carrillo's role is still difficult to penetrate in the middle based on preconceived ideas.
Carrillo is a completely different type of striker than Dorado used to be. Dorado can solve the goal scoring problem alone. Carrillo is more focused on working with the players around him. However, when the form of the players around him is unstable, or even when the players are constantly adjusting, Carrillo can only score goals by luck. When the playing style becomes concise and the ball is fed directly to Carrillo, his chances come out. Just like the game against Wuhan Sanzhen, Wang Shangyuan gave him a well placed ball and Carrillo capitalized on it. Such passes were rarely seen in previous games.
Henan team was not lucky to win the three headers Three Town. The team prepared well for it, found the weaknesses of their opponents and more clearly found their breakthroughs, which will be needed most in the coming matches.
Of course, in addition to clear techniques and tactics, more importantly, there is the temperament to play hardball. In the past, Henan team specialized in all kinds of dissatisfaction. It's not easy for any team to win against this team, but it seems that for a while, Henan lost the temperament of dissatisfaction. At the same time, when the game is in adversity and the team is having a period of lows, the team tends to be anxious and difficult to control.
In fact, Henan's slump in the second stage was somewhat similar to Changchun Yatai's in the first stage of the season. Both Henan and Changchun Yatai were in Haikou in the first stage. Henan achieved impressive results in Haikou. Changchun only killed Guangzhou City, which was in the Chinese class at the time. Last season, Changchun Yatai team was a horse for promotion, had passed the exam and chopped. It was the biggest dark horse in the Chinese Super League last season. However, in the first stage of this season, Yatai's offense was weak, the defense was unstable, and the ranking was not high.
Ateneo coach Chen Yang emphasized the quest for more ball control in this year's technical and tactical improvements, which are bound to go through a difficult period after the team's excellent performance last season. Chen Yang's quest is roughly the same as Javier's. The key is what attitude they will take when going through a difficult period, including the coach and even the team as a whole. Obviously, Chen Yang and his team are much calmer.
After the second match against Meizhou Hakka this season, which ended with Henan being reversed by Meizhou, Javier couldn't hide his anger when he returned to the locker room after the match and fell down. It's very uncomfortable to lose, especially the first double of the season, or with a two-goal lead.
A lot of emotion can spread through the team. During the strong early stages of the season, all the players were quite confident, well executed and optimistic. Regardless of whether the situation on the field is dominant or not, they are confident that their team will eventually achieve what is expected of them. Encountering a period of frustration, as long as some players were impatient and lacked confidence, their teammates would be affected and "infected", their actions would go out of control, some players kept winning, and Henan lost points to the bottom-ranked teams many times. In this case, the team needs to have a clear understanding that facing this trough is something that must be experienced in the process of tactical upgrading. Coaches and managers also need to step up their intervention and management.
Keeping the sixth and fighting for the fourth, Henan is working towards the season goal.
