Reporter Wang Wei reports On the evening of the 16th, after Yunnan Yuxi lost 0-2 to Yunnan Yukun, Meizhou Hakka only achieved 3 wins, 3 draws and 7 losses in the first 13 rounds of the Chinese Super League this season, ranking 11th in the Chinese Super League. Only one point has been picked up in the last five league games, suffering four consecutive defeats.

The squad is thin, and the number of goals conceded in the Super League is the highest

In preparation for the away game against Yunnan Yukun on May 16, Meizhou Hakka rotated their lineup in the last round against Chengdu Rongcheng, treating this match against Yunnan Yukun as a key relegation battle. In order to better adapt to the altitude of the Yuxi Plateau, Meizhou Hakka arrived in Yuxi on the evening of May 12 and adapted to the plateau climate 4 days in advance. However, there were still some difficulties before the game, foreign central defender Morris continued to be absent due to injury, and another foreign player, Michael, was also unable to play due to altitude sickness, and the team could only send three foreign players to play. In the end, Meizhou Hakka was scored by Yunnan Yukun foreign aid Jonicha and Ye Chugui in the first and second halves respectively, and suffered 4 consecutive defeats this season with a score of 0-2. Since the 1-1 draw with Qingdao Manatee in the 9th round, Meizhou Hakka has not won in 5 rounds and only scored 1 point in the first 5 rounds of the interval.

In the opening stage of this season's Chinese Super League, Meizhou Hakka is eye-catching. Meizhou Hakka, which focuses on high-pressure pressing and quick conversion, won 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses in the first 5 rounds of the league, ranking 11th in the standings, when they won the Henan team and Wuhan Three Towns, and drew Tianjin Jinmen Tiger away.

However, the last 5 rounds of winless have put Meizhou Hakka into a stage trough - first drawing Qingdao Manatee, and then losing to Qingdao West Coast, Shanghai Shenhua, Chengdu Rongcheng and Yunnan Yukun. In these 5 rounds of winless, Meizhou Hakka scored 3 goals and conceded 13 goals, and only scored 1 point in 5 games, which is far from the first 5 rounds of the game.

After playing 13 rounds of the Chinese Super League, Meizhou Hakka has 3 wins, 3 draws, 7 losses and 12 points, ranking 11th in the standings, however, the total number of goals conceded has come to 28, which is the team with the most goals conceded in the Super League.

The central defenders are injured and stopped, and the defensive end is full of holes

Meizhou Hakka's predicament is related to the lack of positional personnel, insufficient player reserves and overall playing style.

In the first 8 rounds of the league, Meizhou Hakka won 3, drew 2 and lost 3, scored 17 goals and conceded 15 goals, the overall performance was normal, and the turning point appeared in the 9th round. In the 9th round, Meizhou Hakka challenged Qingdao Manatee away. In the first 8 rounds, Qingdao Manatee did not taste victory, with 2 draws, 6 losses, 6 goals scored and 13 goals conceded, ranking at the bottom of the standings. At that time, the outside world was optimistic that Meizhou Hakka would take 3 points away from home, and the Hakka team also took a one-goal lead in the 12th minute of the game, but in the 38th minute, foreign aid central defender Morris left the field due to injury, and Meizhou Hakka conceded a goal in the 81st minute, and the two sides drew 1-1.

In the following 4 rounds, Morris has been recovering from injuries, and Meizhou Hakka has also been losing. In the 4 rounds of Morris's injury, Meizhou Hakka tried many combinations in the central defender position, including letting Tian Ziyi play central defender, and even using the back Jocic to play central back and partner with captain Liao Junjian, but the effect was not good, in the 4 rounds of Morris's complete absence, Meizhou Hakka only scored 2 goals and conceded 12 goals.

In this regard, captain Liao Junjian said: "At the beginning of the year, there were relatively few personnel options that could be introduced, and the new players have performed very well this year, but the depth of the bench is too important in this kind of dense schedule, and the injury of players in some positions has a great impact on the team." ”

Meizhou Hakka coach Milan said: "The team has only scored one point in the last five games, and it is a difficult time at the moment, and we need this break very much to recover. We obviously need to train to improve as a team, we didn't have time to train for the first half month, and I firmly believe that when we come back from the holidays, our main players will return from injury, including the way we started the league through the break. ”

The style of play was challenged, but Milan persevered

Meizhou Hakka's defensive holes are certainly related to the absence of foreign player Morris, but also related to the team's style of play. A clear example of this is the fact that the goalkeeper also had to press up in a style of play that emphasised high pressing and quick transitions, and as a result, he was repeatedly lobbed and conceded. "This year, our high-pressure and switching style of play is relatively new and demanding for some players, so the intensive schedule is more difficult for the players who rotate up because they don't have much time to train and adapt." "I believe that after Morris returns, our defensive efficiency will be a little bit higher. ”

Meizhou Hakka also has a little disadvantage is that the average height of the whole team is not enough, especially the backline, 1.85 meters Liao Junjian is already the highest player in the starting list. The average height of the whole team is insufficient, and the air defense ability is limited, so it is easy to be used by the opponent. After the game, Milan specifically talked about Yunnan Yukun's targeted play, "We know the opponent's style of play very well, but I have never seen a team play so many long passes in the past 40 years, and we also tried our best to defend the opponent's long passes, and tried our best, but we didn't prevent it." ”

Later, Milan also stressed that Meizhou Hakka will stick to the current high-pressure style of play, "If there are two teams here, (even) Yunnan can win all the games with this style of play, but I will always choose Meizhou Hakka's style of play." ”

Each style of play has its pros and cons, for the Meizhou Hakka team, if they continue to adhere to the current style of play, they must strengthen training during this interval, and at the same time introduce strong reinforcements in the upcoming summer window to improve the lack of defense, "Conceding more goals does need us to summarize the problem, I hope this problem can be solved through this intermission training." Liao Junjian said.

The summer window is about to open next month, however, whether it is a central defender or a midfielder, the strength of the midfield is relatively difficult to find and very scarce, which is a difficult problem in front of Meizhou Hakka.