Reporter Han Bing reported that on March 5, local time, Espanyol ushered in a long-lost victory at home, they beat Getafe 2-0, which is one of the teams with the worst away combat ability in La Liga. Wu Lei came off the bench for 1 minute, and although he played continuously, it was all garbage time. From last year's La Liga to this year's La Liga, Wu Lei has had few opportunities in Espanyol for two whole years, and for Wu Lei, who has passed the age, the 2023 Asian Cup is likely to be his last chance to compete, and if he wants to stay in excellent form, then he needs more game time to prove himself. Wu Lei, it's time to make a choice.
Prior to this round, Espanyol did not win in nine consecutive regular games in all competitions after the New Year, after a 1-5 away defeat at the feet of Villarreal, the round was finally won, the team stopped falling, and is currently 10 points ahead of the relegation zone. However, the team situation improved, Wu Lei was still in a bad situation, only in the 89th minute as a substitute, although this is his first consecutive appearance after more than 3 months, but the time is too small, the last round of away games against Villarreal was 8 minutes, this time it was only 1 minute.
On the best side, Wu Lei has at least changed the situation that has been almost completely hidden for more than three months - since the beginning of December last year, he has sat on the bench in seven consecutive La Liga games, during which he has only made three appearances in the Copa del Rey, and the time is getting less and less. When Espanyol was eliminated by Mallorca in mid-January, Wu Lei also played only one minute.
Since then, in 7 La Liga games so far, Wu Lei has made 3 substitute appearances, totaling only 24 minutes. The last time Wu Lei played more than 20 minutes in a single game in La Liga was back to away to Elche on October 23 last year. In the 17 La Liga games since then, Wu Lei has sat on the bench in 10 games, with a total of only 52 minutes in 7 appearances, averaging just over 7 minutes per game.
After last year's World Cup Round of 12, Wu Lei returned to Espanyol and made three consecutive appearances, including the Catalan derby against Barca and the home win over Real Sociedad (both substitutes), in addition, in the first round of the Copa del Rey, he also started the full game.
In the first two rounds of the Copa del Rey against lower-level teams, Wu Lei scored goals and assists respectively, but still failed to impress manager Moreno, after which Wu Lei could only play on the bench in the Copa del Rey until the team was eliminated.
In early February, after failing to play seven consecutive La Liga games, Wu Lei finally played away to Athletic Bilbao, unfortunately, he failed to seize any opportunities within 15 minutes, and then returned to the bench for two games. Moreno's positioning of Wu Lei is simple, defensive counterattack player, mainly on the road - Wu Lei has made 18 appearances for Espanyol this season, 12 of which are away, and the remaining 6 home games have only 89 minutes in total. At present, the season has passed 2/3, but Wu Lei is still in La Liga, which not only hurts his confidence, but also exhausts the patience of the manager.
Previously, Moreno constantly changed formations, hoping to reverse the decline of the team, from 442, 433, 4231, 4141 and back to 442. In addition to Wu Lei's first match with De Thomas in the front, the other matches can only compete with Puado, Nbaba and even Meramed as a left winger. Against Sevilla and Elche, Wu Lei started twice but wasted excellent scoring opportunities, especially the away draw with relegation direct opponent Elche, Moreno was extremely disappointed in Wu Lei.
The harsh reality in front of Wu Lei is that in the left wing forward position, Puado has fully locked the main position, Melamede is looking at the tiger, and the winter window has loaned dutch winger Villeena from the Russian Super League, and Wu Lei has retreated to the 4th pick. Even if Puado has recently been transferred to the right side, the left side is also given to Wileena, and Wu Lei has no hope of returning to the main squad.
Espanyol's later schedule is more favorable, the home opponents are almost all weaker mid-range or relegation teams (Mallorca, Celta, Vallecano, Osasuna), only Atletico, Real Madrid and Real Sociedad are two strong opponents, there is a chance to succeed in the 3 rounds of relegation in advance, but for Wu Lei, even if the last 3 rounds of training, he may not get more opportunities. In this winter window, there have been La Liga and La Liga teams that have expressed interest in Wu Lei, but he has chosen to stick to it, and now it seems that it may not be the best choice.
At present, there are rumors that Wu Lei may consider returning to the harbor, after all, the Chinese Super League transfer window is about to open, rather than staying in the hopeless Spaniard, it is better to return to the Chinese Super League to maintain its status. Even if Wu Lei still wants to continue to stay in the Ocean, at least the Spaniard is not the best stage, so if he does not return to the Chinese Super League, he must also consider moving the nest in the summer window.
In fact, from last year's La Liga to this year's La Liga, Wu Lei has been in Espanyol for two full years. He has passed the age of establishment, next year's local Asian Cup is probably the last chance to compete, he should use excellent state to re-prove himself, rather than staying in the ocean for the sake of staying in the ocean, wasting time.