What's happening with Taishan Team? What should Taishan Team do?

Journalist Chen Yong reports After having their win-loss points cleared in the first two rounds of this season, Shandong Taishan suddenly fell into a slump: in the subsequent 5 rounds, they achieved 2 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses, stumbling along the way. Just as fans were feeling conflicted, Taishan Team collapsed outright in this round: in the Chinese Super League Round 8 away match against Qingdao Hainiu, Taishan Team suffered a heavy 1-4 defeat. This was a game that collapsed both in process and outcome. What's happening with Taishan Team? What should Taishan Team do? Everyone is asking.

In the first half of this match, Taishan Team performed very poorly. Besides the 0-2 scoreline, Taishan Team also made numerous mistakes in the midfield and defense. Hainiu, apart from scoring two goals, actually had several other good scoring opportunities. Only during the stoppage time of the first half did Taishan Team begin to find some sense of the game.

This marks the third consecutive match where Taishan Team has been in a slump during the first half. The previous two matches were the home game against Shanghai Port and the away game against Tianjin Jinmen Tiger. In the match against Port, Taishan Team conceded a goal in the first half. After adjustments in the second half, their performance rebounded somewhat, ultimately equalizing the score. In the match against Jinmen Tiger, Taishan Team rotated their lineup, resulting in conceding another goal in the first half. Fortunately, after adjustments in the second half, they scored two consecutive goals, finally completing a reversal. Although these two matches resulted in one draw and one win, maintaining an unbeaten record, fans were still very dissatisfied.

In this round against Qingdao Hainiu, Taishan Team not only conceded two goals in the first half, but their performance in the second half did not rebound either; instead, they conceded another goal, falling behind 0-3 by a large margin. At this point, Taishan fans' anger was ignited. During stoppage time, although Taishan Team scored a seemingly face-saving goal, Hainiu scored another direct free kick. Ultimately, Taishan Team suffered a heavy 1-4 away defeat.

Fans' dissatisfaction was completely ignited. After the match, words like collapse, disgrace, and humiliation flooded every corner of the internet. More fans posed a soul-searching question: Is this still our Taishan Team?

Is this still our Taishan Team? Facing fans' soul-searching question, Taishan Team, from top to bottom, needs to provide answers, needs to come up with solutions, and more importantly, needs to genuinely love this team that concerns the people of Shandong from the heart. Only with genuine love can the problems truly be solved.

Taishan Team needs to confront two issues. The first issue is: from last season's 11-round unbeaten streak to this season's 3 losses in 8 rounds, what exactly happened here? In fact, many fans had momentarily forgotten the heavy defeat in the final match of the winter training period, when against Shanghai Shenhua, they were once behind 0-7 within 90 minutes, ultimately suffering a 1-8 defeat. Regardless of the perspective, such a heavy defeat should not have occurred. And after Taishan Team lost 1-4 to Hainiu, the two seem to echo each other.

The second issue is: after having their win-loss points cleared in the first two rounds of the season, in the subsequent 6 rounds, they achieved 2 wins, 1 draw, and 3 losses. The carelessness during matches, the frequent mistakes during matches, the haphazard play during matches... The process of the matches is even harder to accept than the results.

It can be stated definitively that the past winter training period was a significant failure for Taishan Team. Without a failed winter training, such embarrassing results would not have occurred. More importantly, without a failed winter training, Taishan Team would not have such poor match content.

Unlike other teams, Taishan Team does not have an independent coaching staff. If last season's coaching staff was temporarily assembled and unavoidable, then during this season's preparation period, Han Peng's actual position was merely as a club employee. He is not the leader of an independent Taishan Team coaching staff; the coaching staff was not assembled by him. The conflict between foreign coaches and Chinese coaches in the Taishan coaching group during the Beijing-Shandong clash merely publicized this issue.

It cannot be said that the foreign coaches' ideas were wrong, nor can it be said that Han Peng's ideas as a Chinese assistant coach were wrong. But with such a patchwork coaching staff, conflicts occurring within the same coaching group, the team's situation is可想而知, and the winter training situation is可想而知. Later, the club adjusted the coaching staff, but the series of problems caused by the failed winter training could no longer be truly reversed.

The problems are不止如此. At the start of the season, the club's planned Mount Tai climbing ceremony, fan carnival, and Linyi trip were all canceled. The itinerary might have been somewhat fatiguing, but when the tradition of climbing Mount Tai is disregarded and canceled, how can glory be传承?

After the match against Qingdao Hainiu, some fans discussed Han Peng's感情问题 towards Taishan Team. In fact, if he did not have感情 for Taishan Team, he should not have accepted such an awkward position.

On the technical and tactical level, the three-center-back formation固然 has its shortcomings, but it is绝不是 the original sin. The previous 11-round unbeaten streak also used the three-center-back formation. The core of the technical and tactical困境 lies in the entire team lacking fighting spirit, lacking confidence, and lacking sufficient desire. Even with a four-back formation, the results would likely be similar. In fact, we have mentioned多次 before that Taishan Team's technical and tactical system有必要提升, but now the tactical approach has not improved; instead, due to changes in the team's mentality, it is漏洞百出.

Objectively speaking, Taishan Team's recent youth-oriented approach has also affected the team's technical and tactical approach. For example, the three-center-back formation is related to protecting young players, and the three-midfielders setup is also related to protecting young players. But from another perspective, fans are generally tolerant towards young players. If the team displayed a positive and upward面貌, then even if young players had shortcomings, even if they made mistakes leading to not winning or even losing, it would not trigger such anger.

For Han Peng, the future choices are simple: First, become the true负责人 of the coaching staff, possessing权力 equal to other team head coaches, including the power to change coaching staff personnel, adjust the local lineup, and adjust foreign players, etc. Only with权力和责任对等 can this work; otherwise,免谈. Second, on the above basis, ensure the team's拼搏精神 before the secondary transfer window to守住 Taishan Team's底线, while also daring to continue using young players. Third, during the secondary transfer period, adjust foreign players, ensuring at least strengthening one midfielder to enhance the transition ability from defense to attack. If necessary, appropriately strengthen local players. Fourth is the adjustment of technical and战术, further refining the three-center-back tactic, as well as the切换 between three-center-back and four-back formations. Of course, for the club or higher management, they also have多重选择.

If Taishan Team's losses were solely Han Peng's责任, then everything would反而 be simple: just change to a真正的意义上的 coaching group and start over. But from 2024 to now, every season has seen heavy-score defeats, different reasons, same结局,连续三个赛季的蹉跎,消耗了太多泰山球迷的热情. This深层的原因才更应该重视,才更应该解决.

Ultimately, this is Taishan Team! This is the Shandong Team!