As the Chinese Super League champions, Wuhan Sanzhen stumbled in the 2023 season with very inconsistent results. The team seemed to rely heavily on Malcolm, the Golden Boot striker from last season. Due to Malcolm's transfer, the tactical system failed completely and coach Pedro Morilla was unable to construct a new tactical system to maintain the intensity of the champions. Even with the good scoring ability of new signing Aziz, he could not help the team to get back on track.
In the first 12 rounds of the Chinese Super League (CSL), Wuhan Three Town only won 3 matches, drew 7 and lost 2, a significant drop in results. After the 12th round, Pedro Morilla was fired. He had hit a coaching bottleneck in Wuhan Sanzhen and had to choose to leave. More focus on the lineup as a whole and Japanese coach Gao became the new coach of Wuhan Sanzhen, under the leadership of Gao, Wuhan Sanzhen rebounded in the Chinese Super League and the FA Cup in the second line, the FA Cup beat Jiangxi Lushan 5-1, successfully advanced to the fourth round, the Chinese Super League 6 won 3 games, draw 2 lost 1 game, recovery, the standings overtake, 27 points to the seventh in the Chinese Super League, close to the goal of the season.
From 5-1 Jiangxi Lushan in the FA Cup to 2-1 Meizhou Hakka in the 18th round of the Chinese Super League, Gao barely managed to lead his team to 7 games with 4 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. He used the existing lineup system is enough to ensure the competitiveness of the Chinese Super League and FA Cup, but the team has a more difficult task to play the AFC Champions League. In order to strike a good result in the AFC Champions League, the team chose to strengthen dramatically this summer, the generals system changed dramatically with the signing of two coaches + 2 foreign aiders + young internationals in a row. at the age of 25, attacking midfielder Duan Liuyu, who has been selected for the national team several times, finished a game on behalf of Wuhan Sanzhen with an outstanding debut; two foreign aiders, Park Zhizhu and Malcolm, were quickly added to the team. Malcolm posted a photo on social media platforms and confessed, "We're back." .
Duan Liuyu and Malcolm both joined Wuhan Sanzhen on loan, while Park Zhizhu joined Wuhan Sanzhen on a permanent transfer for a fee of 700,000 euros. After a wave of operation, Wuhan Sanzhen lineup of front, middle and back line has been fully strengthened, can perfectly cope with the AFC Champions League "5 +1" foreign aid rules, but employment must make a choice. Depending on the status and position, Davidson and Wallace may be replaced by Malcolm and Park Chi-joo. Domestic media Sports Weekly also analyzed the foreign aid situation in Wuhan Sanzhen and concluded that all seven foreign aiders may be retained, but the employment strategy for each game is different. The rules of the Chinese Super League are that six foreign aiders can be registered, of which each game is "4+1"; the registration of foreign aiders in the Asian Champions League is unlimited, and the number of players is "5+1".
The media also revealed the strengthening of Wuhan Sanzhen's coaching staff and confirmed the signing of two coaches, namely William Costa and goalkeeping coach Adauto. As Gao Fei reluctantly assembled a new team of assistant coaches, Wuhan Sanzhen brought in a new fitness coach and goalkeeping coach. William Costa is a famous fitness coach in the Barclays Premier League. Last season, he helped giants Flamengo win the Copa Libertadores and Copa do Brasil. Adauto is a famous goalkeeping coach in J-League. He has been working in the J-League for more than 10 years and has brought in a number of excellent players. Wuhan Sanzhen is fully strengthened this time and is expected to play more steadily in all competitions and find the form that won the title last season.
