In the 15th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL), Beijing Guoan lost 0-2 to arch-rival Shanghai Shenhua at the top of Rizhao in the Beijing time zone on August 26th.
After the match, Sui Dongliang, the temporary acting head coach of Guoan, reflected: "Originally, I thought the game would be in our hands, but unfortunately, we seemed to have a little less luck. Our opponents analyzed our strategy very well, and our counterattacks were even sharper. The two goals we conceded were our own mistakes, and our lack of concentration led to this loss. The players all showed great efforts today and fought on the field in full accordance with our tactical deployment, and I express my heartfelt thanks to them for their dedication."
Faced with the question of whether there will be adjustments to the center back combination, Sui Dongliang responded, "We have a number of players in the team who can play the center back position, such as Liang Shaowen and Yu Yang. The key lies in who is in better shape. Yu Dabao, as our main center back, unfortunately suffered a neck injury in the last game and also came on as a substitute today with his injury."
Talking about the 3 games he coached, Sui Dongliang summarized: "We got 6 points in these 3 games and reached our basic goal. I think the most important thing is the team's style of play has changed, we got back to our old style of playing small, fast, on the ground and pressing. I've been telling the players that we have to stick to this style of play and that we are capable of creating many chances. Today we did a good job of counter-striking and pressing forward, which is all we needed."
Talking about the home atmosphere of the game, Sui Dongliang said, "I think the fans were very excited, they all showed their support for the team on the sidelines, and the encouragement from the fans gave the players great motivation. Unfortunately, we didn't bring them a victory. I hope more fans will come to cheer for Beijing Guoan in the future."
