In this season's journey, the Guoan team returned to the familiar battlefield of Gongtian, full of confidence and looking forward to shine in the league. In order to help the dream come true, the team absorbed a number of domestic and foreign top players on the eve of the season. But unfortunately, the weaknesses in the defense line still cannot be ignored.
In order to speed up the team's replacement of old and new, Guoan resolutely released three core players in the back line - Jin Pengxiang, Yu Yang and Yang Fan - this season. Jin Pengxiang and Yu Yang opted for free transfers, while Yang Fan was loaned to his old club Tianjin Jinmen Tiger.
The move leaves Guan with a serious void at national safety linebacker, especially at center back. Liang Shaowen is out for the entire season due to his longtime overseas training with the national youth team, and Nguyen Chi Long suffered a serious injury before the start of the league season. In addition, Yu Dabao is no longer able to play as a center back and has been dropped by the coaching team Stanley and Suarez, leaving Guoan with only two center backs, Ngadeu and Pak Yang, in the backline.
At the beginning of the season, Ngadeu, as the most reliable of the three foreigners brought in by Guoan, demonstrated his excellent stealing, blocking and heading skills, as well as his ability to organize attacks at the back. Now, he has become the pillar of Guoan's backline.
However, the performance of Bo Yang is far from his partner. 25 years old, he should have built up his career, but Bo Yang's performance in the league is like a newcomer in the Chinese Super League. In many matches, Bo Yang made a lot of mistakes, not only failed to effectively block the opposing forwards, but also made frequent errors, and many of Guoan's goals conceded this season were related to Bo Yang.
Pak Yang has been uninjured for two consecutive league rounds recently, but head coach Luis Suarez had to settle for veteran Zhang Chengdong as a guest center back.
Guoan's biggest dilemma at the moment is the lack of center back talent, which has become a consensus. If this problem cannot be solved quickly, the results of this season will go down the drain, and the prospects for next season are unpredictable.
Therefore, Guoan club should recall Yang Fan, who is on loan, next season. Although Yang Fan's performance at Guoan was unstable, under the guidance of German coach Strikers, he had an outstanding performance in Tianjin and was even selected by Lippi for the national team.
In the past two seasons, Yang Fan has become the main center back of Tianjin Jinmen Tigers under the favor of coach Yu Genwei, and his overall performance in the league is remarkable. Compared to Bai Yang, Yang Fan's ability is more prominent.
In fact, the Jinmen Tigers had wanted to buy out Yang Fan's contract at the beginning of the season to formally incorporate him into the team. However, Guoan rejected the offer, expecting Yang Fan, after two years of training, to become the core of the team's backline. In this regard, Yu Genwei is also quite helpless.
Guoan should seize the opportunity and quickly extend Yang Fan's contract to ensure he returns next season and plays a key role in the team. We expect a returning Yang Fan to return to the team under the leadership of new coach Suarez, and quickly become a key member of Guoan's backline under the leadership of new coach Suarez in Tianjin.
