Reporter Liu Xiangyu reported that Bilic's fate with Guoan was finally over, the two sides terminated their contract on January 8, and the official of the Guoan Club announced this change, although it seemed a bit sudden, but in fact most people had been mentally prepared - meeting the right person at the wrong time, after all, it was a wrong love.
He gave up his high salary and broke up with dignity on both sides
Before the end of the league, news of Bilic's imminent departure to the Turkish Super League to coach is endless, and it is not surprising that croatian coaches are very marketable in Turkey. Bilic, who once said at a press conference that "everything is a rumor", said he respected his current contract and would complete the coaching task for the 2021 season first, in fact, he did the same.
After the end of the league, Bilic took the initiative to propose an agreement to Guoan, and he had in-depth communication with the club's investor Zhou Jinhui and general manager Li Ming. Bilic hopes to return to Europe, affected by the epidemic and the format, many foreign aid and foreign teachers working in the Chinese Super League can not be reunited with their families for a long time, so many people have left the Chinese Super League, and it is not surprising that Bilic has such thoughts. In addition, a more immediate reason is that his mother is in poor health, and he hopes to be able to spend more time with him.
For Bilic's decision, Zhou Jinhui expressed full respect and understanding, and after the termination of the contract between the two sides, Li Ming also sent his blessings, "Thank you for everything you have done for the team, and wish all the best in the future." ”
Bilic still has a one-year contract with Guoan, and voluntarily terminating the contract means that he gave up this rather generous salary. For Guoan at this stage, this decent breakup between the two sides is the best result.
The most exciting and humiliating game
This season, Guoan's Record in the Chinese Super League is 9 wins, 6 draws and 7 losses, ranking fifth, and the FA Cup is out early. In the past, such achievements are difficult to justify, but given the difficulties of this year, the fifth is also justified.
Of course, when Bilic took over Guoan, the goal was to compete for the championship, and after fully understanding the team's existing playing style and staffing, he also believed that Guoan had the strength to compete for the championship, and the personnel did not need to be adjusted, but many things that happened afterwards made him a little unexpected.
A number of international players have been training in the national team for a long time, bilic has no complete lineup available in almost every preparation period; due to the epidemic and the reasons of the club itself, several major foreign aides have left the team one after another, and the main framework no longer exists; when the injury hits, Hou Yongyong, Li Ke, Park Cheng, Yu Dabao, Yu Yang, Wang Gang and other main players are more or less affected by injuries and cannot play; coupled with the small players who went to Uzbekistan to participate in the AFC Champions League stranded overseas, fresh blood can not be replenished, and when Guoan is most "miserable", there are only eleven or twelve people training, however, Even so, the team can still guarantee the daily training.
Bilic has tried to change Guoan's tactical system and began to play three center-backs, but the tactical system needs the support of players, and the change is not an overnight thing, until the end of the season, Guoan's tactical system is difficult to say that it is fully formed.
Looking back at the entire season, Guoan's performance at each stage was not stable enough, unlike a strong team. Bilic was given the first blow to two consecutive defeats against Shanghai at the beginning of the season; after the interval, the first game was won against Hebei, followed by three rounds of no wins; and in the second stage, Guoan was even more unbeaten in six rounds.
The most exciting match Guoan played throughout the season was the second leg of the match with Shenhua, who won 4-2 to reach the championship group. In that game, Bilic took the ability of the existing personnel to the extreme and won a hearty victory. Also this season, Guoan lost 0-5 to Guangzhou City, setting a record for team history to concede goals and being nailed to the column of shame.
Many Chinese Super League clubs have encountered difficulties in the 2021 season, and the same is true for Guoan, the club is facing a financial crisis, but the players are insisting, and investors are also trying to find ways. After 0-5, the follow-up may have collapsed and continued to slide into the abyss, fortunately, Bilic stabilized the team, during this period, Li Ming and the team leader Fu Bin did a lot of ideological work in the team, Guoan finally eased up, and everyone survived the difficulties together.
Bilic rejected the "rock' and roll" label
After the termination, Bilic had a conversation with Li Ming for more than two hours, and the two sides reviewed the entire season together.
"He came to get the championship, but there were a lot of disadvantages in the back, and it was not easy to get the fifth place result in the end." Li Ming said.
Bilic has a competitive spirit and desire to win, until he left Guoan, he mentioned that his most dissatisfied point this year is the results, and the most regrettable thing is that he has not experienced the fan atmosphere at the Beijing home. In addition, he said that everything was good, including the efficiency of communication with the club, the team's logistics support was even more professional than many European clubs, and he was satisfied with his short life in China for a year.
When Bilic came to China, many people called him "rock manager", but people did not see his wild side after all. In fact, what the outside world does not know is that at this age, he does not like the label of "rock" very much, and he will take the initiative to greet the club before accepting the interview, hoping that the media will not mention this topic again.
In the eyes of the club staff, Bilic can't see clearly, can't touch it, the city government is very deep, unlike the typical European coach, he understands the oriental human feelings, and there are many places where he does not compromise, but when dealing with things, he will take a more sleek approach.
Bilic's life was simple, drinking coffee in his spare time and smoking occasionally before training, and did not show too much discomfort because of the closure. From all aspects, Bilic should be a coach who can match with Guoan and last a long time, but the change of circumstances has led to the opposite, so-called at the wrong time, met the right person.
Successive foreign teachers have full rights when they teach in Guoan, including reinforcements, Bilic designated the introduction of Anderson, and now Bilic has left, and Guoan will continue to rebuild.
As for Bilic's whereabouts, he said that he would rest for half a year after returning to Europe, spend more time with his family, especially his mother, and of course, did not rule out that there was a very tempting contract to fall on him.
Young players are the biggest takeaway
When Li Ming and Bilic exchanged views on the future of Guoan, the two sides agreed that although Guoan had lost some main players, there was also fresh blood, and Bilic believed that with several good foreign aides in individual positions, Guoan still had enough competitiveness in the future.
"Gao Providence is the biggest discovery, Cao Yongjing has also made great progress, Chi Zhongguo is indispensable, Zhang Xizhe can revitalize the midfield after Vieira, Yu Dabao is still the team leader, Zhang Yuning has grown from a talented player to a decisive player..." Bilic commented on aijun one by one.
In fact, if there is any gain in Guoan this season, it is that the younger generation has gradually stepped onto the stage.
Zhang Yuning and Cao Yongjing are considered to be of the Mesozoic Generation, Gao Tianyi has been selected for the national football team, and Bai Yang also has room for growth. In the last three rounds of the competition, Liang Shaowen, Ruan Qilong and Xie Longfei finally got the opportunity to play and began to emerge.
After the start of the second stage of the Chinese Super League, young players and a team practiced together, Bilic at first worried that the young players were inexperienced and did not dare to use it, and then due to the continuous injuries and suspensions of the national security defense, they had to let the newcomers come up, and several young players also seized the opportunity.
Liang Shaowen and others are from the Guoan youth training system, and although they lack experience, they should soon be able to adapt to the rhythm of the top league. An intuitive performance is that several young players are not afraid of the field after playing, and they always maintain a sideways position at the defensive end, rarely committing fouls, which has been emphasized and required by the National Security Youth Training System for a long time, and now it has begun to blossom. After watching the youngsters play, Bilic began to use it boldly in the next few games.
Tu Shuai is actually a good choice
Instead of sending young players out to stay in the west when they do not have the ability, it is better to hire high-level youth training talents to build a complete and scientific youth training system in the country, such a completion rate may be higher, Guoan is an obvious example, the second team that was not optimistic, after polishing, there will be more players emerging, in the 2022 Chinese Super League, they will play an important role.
Guoan is facing reconstruction, and young players such as Liang Shaowen and Ruan Qilong will get more opportunities to play.
On the three lines, Guoan has reserve talents. Now it seems that the most urgent need should be left-back, after Li Lei stayed in the ocean, there is no player with similar strength to come up, Guoan needs to solve this problem, either internal mining, or the introduction of local players or even foreign aid to fill in the blanks.
The top priority is the manager candidate, the Golden Dollar Era, Guoan keeps up with the trend, but also did not burn money, and now the league is fully back to rationality, Guoan should take a pragmatic route, which is also in line with the current situation of the club.
Continuing to use foreign coaches or local coaches, Guoan has not yet determined, but there will soon be a direction. Considering the factors of epidemic prevention policy, the selection of foreign coaches must be early, set aside enough time to apply for visas, complete the isolation procedures, if the new season continues to adopt the competition system, the foreign coaches may still be uncomfortable. Local coaches are actually a good choice, local coaches represented by Hao Wei and Chen Yang have once again become a trend, and Guoan, which is in the alternating stage of new and old, choose a local coach who understands players, especially dares to use young players, in fact, it is also in line with the needs of Guoan's future development.