The 2022 Chinese Super League champions, Wuhan Sanzhen, have undoubtedly been the center of media and fan discussion this season. However, it is a pity that they did not show the standard of the defending champions. After losing to Harbor on the road at the beginning of the season, the team struggled in the middle of the table in the following matches. In the 20th round of the road game against Zhejiang, even though the opponent only had 11 players left, Sanzhen still could not win, and did not receive any money. On the other hand, the opponents won four consecutive matches and overtook Sanzhen in terms of points, and now with 7 wins, 9 draws and 4 losses and 30 points, they dropped to the seventh place.
In terms of staffing, Sanzhen is undoubtedly the top choice in the Super League, with rising stars such as Wei Shihao and Tao Qianglong in the front line, internationals such as Yan Dinghao, He Chao, Xie Pengfei and Zhang Xiaobin in the midfield, and champions such as Ren Hang, Gao Yi and Deng Hanwen in the back line. Even so, Sanzhen was sluggish in the first half and did not improve in the second half. If you blame it on the coach, Sanzhen has long completed the change of manager, Gao Mian replaced Pedro, but the results still have not seen improvement.
Malcolm's departure may have affected Three Town's firepower up front, but the summer transfer window has seen the introduction of the 1.96-meter-tall striker Hegemony. Not only that, San Zhen also brought in Duan Liu Yu from Taishan and Jiang Zhipeng from Shenzhen joined the team. In terms of foreigners, the addition of Park Ji-soo has also energized the team. However, the team, which is based on 11 international players and featured foreigners, still lost against Zhejiang.
Not to mention competing for the title, even the qualification for the Asian Championship is drifting away. The outside world can not help but ask, just half a year, three towns actually experienced what. Although the players are the same, their mentality has changed and they have lost the aggressiveness of last season; although they have more good players, they lack cohesion. Gao Mian's arrival did not bring stable tactics, and San Zhen's style of play was vague, even worse than that of Pedro's time. Now that Malcolm is back, it is actually more suitable for Pedro's leadership.
In fact, Gao Mian is perfectly capable of learning Pedro's style of play; after all, he has been through the championships before. Although Gao Mian is the new coach, his position is not secure. Prior to this, he coached at the China B team, so his ability is also questioned. If results are poor, he could be at risk of being dismissed.
