On the night of September 9, Guangzhou soccer team drew 0-0 with Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, who were playing with 10 players, in the 17th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL). The long match left both sides exhausted. After the match, Guangzhou head coach Fu Bo and Jinmen Tiger manager Yu Genwei attended a press conference.
Summarizing the play of the Jinmen Tigers, Yu Genwei said, "We suffered an accident in the first half of the game when a player (Shi Yan) was sent off. But overall, our players showed tenacity and managed to hold on to a point. After the loss in the last round, we have summarized the game, and I think that in this game, our spirit and will to fight have been restored, and a draw is acceptable. Even though the penalty kick was missed, I have told them in the dressing room that the last game was our whole team facing a difficult situation and we need to work together to turn it around, while this one was Beric's personal difficulty, but we are a family and brothers, we have to support each other and tolerate him. We will return to Tianjin tomorrow and do our best to prepare for the next game."
Talking about the Jinmen Tigers' adjustments in the second half, Yu Genwei added, "In the first half, we didn't expect someone to be sent off so soon, which disrupted our pre-match deployment. In this kind of weather, playing with one man less is really passive. We made adjustments at midfield, with a change of center backs and a 4-4-1 formation. The players were disciplined and executed well, and we defended well without conceding a goal. Later in the second half we had successive advantages and threats from set pieces, and would have been more satisfied if our penalty kicks had been able to break through. But that's soccer, we held our ground despite being a man short and also created chances on the attacking end, which is a positive aspect and we are still more than pleased."
Talking about the injury, Yu Genwei introduced, "Xie Weijun suffered an injury to his eyebrow bone during a scramble more than 30 minutes into the first half of the game, and the team doctor advised him to come off the field, but he insisted on playing, so we replaced him in the second half. His spirit reflects the players' desire to contribute in this game and change the last game's decline."
Fu Bo summarized the performance of the Guangzhou team, "The players in this game showed that they wanted to win the game, and after two away losses, they returned home to get points, which is also a certain improvement to the points, but the players were a little bit restrained, and the process of the game was not very exciting. And we didn't have the advantage of playing with one more player. The players are still young and after some time, they can't kick the ball in a dominant game. The team also lacked some luck, and the set-pieces were not kicked in, and in the future, especially in home matches, there is a need to further strengthen the psychological and technical and tactical success rate."
Artemisia Junmin came on as a substitute in the second half to complete his debut in Guangzhou, Fu Bo commented, "As we consider that we play more than one person, so he replaced him on the field. He was not in the plan, today there is just such an opportunity, but also let him through the game to adapt to the rhythm, to find the feeling of the game. Opponent contraction play very tight, but he came out just after the beginning of a few set pieces and corner timing is really good, we hope that the veteran players in the future can play due to their ability, they also have the ability to do so, just in terms of physical fitness needs a period of time to adjust."
Zhang Jianzhi sent a penalty and pounced on it, Fu Bo said, "This is his second game, he is still very young, this kind of game is very rare for him, pouncing on penalties is very helpful to his psychological growth. I think that before the game in the moment behind the stalemate play better, in the possession of the advantage on the contrary, it is a challenge for us. In the future, the young players need to work on more matches and strengthen in training, which takes time, and we need to communicate more with the players."
