Chinese column: The new Chinese style
The EAFF East Asian Cup is now over, and we can be very excited regarding the Chinese performance and a second place. The results were good, but even more important the mentality and the style look good for the future.
First and most important of all – after the 1-5 defeat to Thailand, it was promising to see the mentality of the Chinese players in all three matches. No surrender and always fighting to the end. That’s they spirit when you play for your country and representing the people of your country as well.
Zheng Zhi is the key
As I mentioned in my last analysis from the tournament; compared to Japan and South Korea, China still needs to improve on the technical and tactical areas. China need more passing strong players and players, who “can think out of the box” and create magic on the last third of the pitch. We also have to remember that the best Japanese and South Korean players playing in Europe did not attend this tournament.
I saw the new Chinese star – Wu Lei – showing against Australia, what he has showed me for one year – a potential top player. Let him play every time in the national team and hopefully send him to Europe to improve even more. Even if China loose a few games – think long term and build up a young team ready for the next World Cup in 2018.
The head coach Fu Bo found a new style with more short passing play, more patience meaning more passes before moving the ball into the attacking phase and more speed and fewer touches per player than under Camacho. Actually this new style reminds me of the games, I have analyzed, from 2009-2011 under national coach and current SIGP head coach Gao Hongbo.
China is playing with two very offensive full backs, a central defender in 10 Zheng Zhi, who can build up the game on the ground because he is a central midfielder and a strong passing player. China has a lot of movement in the attacking phase with fast players like Wu Lei, Sun Ke and Yu Dabao + Gao Lin in the first two games. And we know other players who can manage this style of football like Zhang Xizhe (Beijing) and Xie Pengfei (Hangzhou), who are players, I would like to see more in the future.
The most interesting aspect on the pitch was the use of number 10 Zheng Zhi as a central defender. He had some position problems at crosses defensively, but with the ball, he really helped the team. He is calm, strong on the ball and an experienced player. Very interesting move by Fu Bo and let him play in this role in the future as well.
In general the Chinese team tried to control the game, the players dared to be in possession and had the confidence and flair to create chances and score the defying goal. A style and mentality, which suits the Chinese players very good. Well done by the coaching staff.
In the final game against Australia the Chinese team played very well in most periods. As a coach, I prefer to play with a left footed left full back due to it gives more opportunities in the attacking phase, and number 3 Sun Xiang showed very early in the game with his perfect run and cross that he should play instead of 4 Rong Hao in the coming games.
As a professional match analyzer, you look for patterns in the game, and I saw an interesting one against Australia. First Sun Xiang’s cross on the ground, a low cross titled back and Yu Dabao scored. In the second half, Wu Lei did the exact same low cross on the ground, when Sun Ke scored.
This is very interesting, because head coach Fu Bu has probably analyzed Australia and found out that it’s a strong team in the air with big defensive players. Therefore the Chinese team has prepared on crosses titled back and worked on timing in the running, which actually gave two goals in the match. Tactics on a high level by China.
The lack of a striker
The Chinese team still needs a classic striker. No one with a Chinese passport are scoring a lot of goals in the CSL in the striker position, and Gao Lin is better as a number 10 or even a fake winger – just like Yu Dabao. Against Australia, number 9 Yang Xu got a chance in the second half, and he did a solid performance, but his problem is now that Shandong just bought Brazilian Vagner Love, so Yang Xu will mostly be on the bench from now on.
I liked number 17 from South Korea – a classic box striker with his 1.90m and a target player, which is useful for all teams in periods of a game. China has to keep focus on this type of player in the talent development and make sure that the talent programs are solid enough to create players for all 11 positions. As I see and experience the Chinese talent development right now, the country lacks strikers and creative players in the offensive part of pitch. This is a problem, the football federation needs to take very seriously and find a solution.
MVP of the tournament
If we start from the button; Australia had a disappointing level. Classic Australian style with big and strong players, but they lack technic and football intelligence as always. Only number 19 Mitchell Duke had some skills, scored goals and has a fin age, so he was the most interesting Aussie player.
From South Korea, I really like number 22 Yun Il-Lok – the best player in the tournament. A type like David Silva from Manchester City, fast, creative, good on the ball, clever to find free spaces and a great assist player and a finisher as well. He will be interesting to follow in the future. Top potential.
In the Chinese team – I liked number 10 Zheng Zhi in his new position, but also Yu Dabao and Sun Ke played a strong tournament. Let them play together with Wu Lei and Gao Lin in the offensive part of the pitch.
From the winners, Japan, number 20 Hideto Takahashi was very important for them as the playmaker - always coming down to receive the ball from the defense and distribute it forward with quality. Also number 21 Yūya Ōsako had some interesting skills, but the team and style of Japan was the main reason why they won the tournament.
The Italian coach Alberto Zaccheroni has worked very professional and analytic with the team, so everyone knows their role and the style of their play. An example is their central striker. Three different players had the role during the tournament, but still the moves were identical.
When Japan played the ball direct up to the central striker, he knew only to use one touch. Every time the Japanese striker got the ball, he would play the ball back to a teammate on the first touch. A clear pattern because Japan wants to keep speed and tempo in the game, which is necessary for their team to have success, so if the striker used two touch – he would lower the tempo. Well done by Japan to be so clear in their style that they can change players without lowering the performance or changing their style.