In the six-point battle, neither Yatai nor Manatee could afford to lose

Special correspondent Liu Zhun reports During the May Day holiday, Yatai welcomed two consecutive visitors with a high difficulty coefficient - on May 1, they lost to the Zhejiang team 2-4 in Hangzhou, temporarily ranking second to last in the standings; On the 5th, they moved to Qingdao to challenge the deputy squad leader Manatee, who was 1 point less than themselves, and this game was a 6-point battle about relegation, and no one could afford to lose.

Before the start of the season, Yatai was aiming for relegation. However, they brought in 9 new signings in one go, which is not small. In the first game of the season, Yatai almost overturned Shenhua away, which was eye-catching. Even if it lost to the harbor in the second round, no one doubted Yatai's ability to relegate. However, when the league ended 1/3 of the schedule, Yatai only achieved 1 win, 2 draws, 7 losses and 5 points, temporarily ranking second to last in the standings, and the relegation situation was very grim.

Yatai's performance is far from the club's expectations, but compared with the most difficult season in team history 2013 and 2016 season, it is not yet the most critical moment, however, this does not mean that there is no danger, after all, Yatai is now facing a problem not only in the midfield configuration, but also in terms of strength.

This season, Yatai has played against 10 teams. From the perspective of strength comparison, Yatai faced the top six teams, losing home and away, including Shanghai Shuangxiong (Shenhua second, Haigang third), Zhejiang (sixth), and Rongcheng (first) and Taishan (fifth) at home; Facing the relegation opponents in the bottom eight of the standings, Yatai only won one 6-point game - an away victory over Meizhou, while the other 4 6-point games got 2 points - a home draw with Sanzhen and Yukun, and an away loss to Xinpeng City and InBev.

Looking back at the scene of the battle between Yatai and the top six, although some of them performed well, and there was even the possibility of grabbing points in the final period, it was this uncertainty that reflected the gap between Yatai and the strong team. Unable to upset a strong team, and unable to grab more points on a relegation opponent, it is normal for Yatai to fall into the relegation quagmire.

Next, Yatai needs to quickly adjust its mentality, personnel arrangement, and targeted play, and stop losses in time before the summer window opens.

At present, the biggest problem of Yatai being criticized by the outside world is not the weakness of the striker, but the weak midfield. In the first 10 rounds, Yatai scored 10 goals and conceded 19 goals, and there were 3 games without a goal, namely 0-2 Harbor and 0-2 InBev away, 0-0 Yukun at home, and other games were scored. On the scorer list, veteran Tan Long scored 5 goals, Beric scored 2 goals, and Omoy and Xu Yue scored 1 goal each. In addition, there was an own goal sent by the Zhejiang team. These data show that Yatai's forward line still has offensive ability, but due to the lack of forward organization and back interception, the two wings cannot quickly go down, and Yatai's goal efficiency is greatly reduced. So, the problem they need to solve urgently is to strengthen the midfield, let the ball move forward and get the tempo up.

Early in the morning of May 2, Xie Hui led the whole team from Hangzhou to Qingdao to prepare for the focus battle against manatees. In the afternoon of the same day, the whole team went into training in Qingdao. Although Yatai's problem is difficult to solve in a short period of time, this 6-point battle requires the whole team to grit their teeth and carry it over.

After a bleak start, Xie Hui also had pressure, and winning the match against Manatee was his strategic goal. Therefore, it is normal to lose 2-4 to Zhejiang in the last round. In that game, Xie Hui stayed and hid Rosic and Beric in the first half. 'Due to the heavy schedule, we made a lot of changes and some of the players who played less couldn't find their rhythm in the first half. In the second half, we slowly got back into the game and created some chances as well, but unfortunately didn't convert into more goals. After the loss, Xie Hui revealed that the rotation was a last resort, many players were at risk of injury, and he wanted to line up the main lineup in more crucial games.

Against the Manatees, Xie Hui said, "It's a six-point battle, a tough battle, and neither team can afford to lose." He hopes that the players will face the game with full spirit and fight for the badge on their chests.

Although Manatee is at the bottom, it is not easy for Yatai to get out of the way, Xie Hui also said, "Although Manatee has not won yet, it has been better and better in recent games." ”