Special correspondent Shen Jun reports On the afternoon of May 17, in the 9th round of the Chinese League, Liaoning Ironman, who had won six consecutive victories, was almost defeated by Dingnan Ganlian away, thanks to the first foreign aid in the Chinese League, Mbenza, who scored a tie in the last minute to help the Ironmen draw 3-3.

Mbenza scored a hat-trick

Before this round, Dingnan Ganlian won 1 win, 4 draws and 3 losses in the first 8 rounds, scored 8 goals and conceded 11 goals, temporarily ranked 12th in the standings, while Liaoning Iron Man was 7 wins and 1 loss, ranking 2nd with 21 points. Although there is a certain gap between the points of the two teams, the hidden dangers of the Liaoning Iron Man's back line are becoming more and more obvious, and they have conceded goals in 4 consecutive games before this campaign.

Although head coach Li Jinyu has repeatedly emphasized the need to maintain stability at the back in recent games, the Ironmen's back line in this round of games still exposed big problems, and only 7 minutes after the opening, Dingnan Ganlian was shot out of the world by Tang Shi from a long distance. After Mbenza equalised, Dingnan Gan United scored two more goals from set-pieces and quick counter-attacks to take a 3-1 lead at 72 minutes. Just when many people thought that Liaoning Irons would suffer their first defeat in seven rounds away from home, Mbenza was in full swing, first using a beautiful inverted hook to make the score 2-3, and then in the 96th minute, he hit twice in front of the goal to tie the score at 3-3 and save the team.

"Mentally defeated by the opponent"

After the game, Li Jinyu said: "The whole game was more intense, and the opponent continued to exert pressure, seizing the continuous loopholes in our defensive line, which caused us great difficulties. From the course of the game, we were under a lot of pressure. ”

Talking about the overall performance of the team, Li Jinyu said frankly: "Mentally, we lost to the opponent. It's something we have to face, especially when it's a difficult game and our mental state isn't as good as it should be. ”

Despite this, he also affirmed the team's tenacity: "After falling behind 1-3, the team did not give up and finally stubbornly tied the score. This is positive, but overall it is regrettable. ”

Li Jinyu finally stressed that the team needs to seriously summarize from this game: "We must face up to the problem, adjust the state as soon as possible, and prepare more fully for the next games." ”

Judging from the process and result of this 3-3 game, Liaoning Ironman's attack power is indeed proud of the Chinese League, they have scored 25 goals in the first 9 rounds, ranking first among all teams, especially the front trident composed of Mbenza, Bangben Yiyu and An Yien, and the local shooter Zang Yifeng has a very good sense of grabbing points in front of the goal, and has scored 7 goals. Mbenza has been scoring in recent games and his form is getting better and better, and he has scored 11 goals and is the top scorer on his own. On the assist list, Bangben Yiyu and An Yien are in the top two with 10 assists and 5 assists respectively.

The offense is excellent, but the instability of the defense has always been a big problem for the Liaoning Iron Man. In the last 5 games, Liaoning Ironman has conceded goals every game, conceded one goal in each of the first 4 games, and conceded 3 goals in a row in this game, and currently conceded 10 goals in 9 rounds. In the nine rounds so far this season, Liaoning Ironman has only failed to concede a goal in two games against Guangxi Pingguo and Guangzhou Leopards.

In addition to objective factors such as injuries, there are two main reasons why Liaoning Ironman concedes more goals: first, the back line composed of the all-Chinese team has congenital deficiencies in terms of age structure and individual defensive ability, and it is inevitable that it will be loose when playing against opponents with strong impact; The second is that the opponents in recent rounds have strengthened the pressing and packing of the Ironman frontcourt players, and they often face the central defenders directly after breaking the ball, which makes the pressure on the Ironmen's backline increase sharply.

In this situation, Liaoning Ironman needs to do a good job in improving defensive concentration. In addition to the midfielders doing a good job of assisting the defense and enhancing the overall defensive coordination, the midfielders should also actively counter-attack on the spot after losing the ball to delay the opponent's offensive speed as much as possible. In addition, the Ironmen must also strengthen the defense of set-pieces, especially the scramble for the second landing point, and must play with a twelve-point spirit.

Li Jinyu and Li Xiaopeng met in the Cup

After this round, although Liaoning Iron Man still ranks second with 22 points, the gap with Chongqing Tonglianglong, the leader who won this round, has widened to 3 points, and the score gap with Guangzhou Leopard, the opponent who ranked third, has also been narrowed to 3 points, and the competition is very fierce.

On May 21, Liaoning Iron Man will return to the home court to play the third round of the FA Cup with Qingdao Manatee of the Chinese Super League. Judging from the current situation, Liaoning Ironman, whose number one task is to surpass, may rotate in the cup and prepare for the away game against Suzhou Dongwu this weekend.

In this round of the FA Cup, the meeting between Liaoning Iron Man coach Li Jinyu and Qingdao Manatee coach Li Xiaopeng, who is also a friend and a brother, is a highlight.