Reporter Wang Wei reported that on May 10, Li Zhangsu, head coach of the Shenzhen team of the Chinese Super League, visited the "Football" parlor and talked with this reporter about the deep preparation for the new season, the story of the former Chinese coaching and his feelings about Chinese football. In the course of the online interview, Li Zhangsu's witty and profound sentences are also a revelation for the whole of Chinese football.
◆ "Football": Hello Director Li, the new season of the Chinese Super League is expected to start in early June, how is the preparation of the Shenzhen team?
Lee Chang-so: As the start of the league is delayed, the time we will prepare will also be extended, and if the opening time is further back, then it is likely that there will be more than one week in the future. The more intensive the game, the easier it is for the team's injuries to increase. And it's summer at the beginning of June, and it's certainly not the same for the team to play one game a week and two games a week, but we're going to be serious about every game. Now the state of the Shenzhen team has returned to 70% or 80%, and it can enter a fully competitive state in the next two weeks.
◆ The new season of deep foot has undergone some changes in the personnel structure, in the cultivation and use of young people, what is your main idea?
Mainly for the development of the team, some coaches hope to achieve good results when leading the team, but I still hope to cultivate some young players so that they can help the team in the future, and even help Chinese football.
◆ Whether it is Wu Xingyu, Fu Hao, Lu Wentao, who were introduced this season, or Ji Jiabao, Hu Jiajin, and Du Yuezheng, who were transferred from the deep foot echelon to the first team, they are all very young players, especially Hu Jiajin and Du Yuezheng are only 17 years old, what highlights do you see in them?
I'm very bullish on these two U17 players, training for a few years, I believe they will play a big role in the team, but only if they work hard themselves.
◆ "Football": You watched the deep foot game last season, what do you think was the main problem that existed with the team before? The feeling to the outside world is that the deep-foot lineup is very strong, but it has not achieved what it should have.
Lee Jang-so: I came to Shenzhen at the end of last year, but unfortunately I didn't watch the game on the spot, I watched the game live. First of all, I think the deep foot is a bit more in terms of points lost, which is thirty or forty percent, not so much that the other side plays well, but rather that it is caused by our own mistakes, because our players' attention is not concentrated, and some mistakes lead to the loss of the ball. If this situation occurs once or twice a year, it can be said that it is a mistake, and if it is more than three times, it is either a mistake or a problem of strength. So, the first thing we have to do is reduce mistakes.
◆ The team's foreign aides, Quintero and Kaldek have left the team, and now Wakaso can not return to China for the time being because of the new crown problem, will this affect your technical and tactical arrangements?
We originally brought in Alexandrini according to Kaldek's situation, but Kaldek changed his mind half a month ago, and we still lack manpower on the offensive end. But football is not played by one person, and it will not be impossible for a team to compete for good results because there are one or two players missing. It's certainly good to have good players, but there's no way and we won't be greatly affected. I will not make excuses because of these, and now there are teams in the Chinese Super League that have no foreign aid for the time being.
◆ Alessandrini and Lin Caimin are the new foreign aides introduced by the team, what role do you expect them to play in the Shenzhen team?
Considering that the team's center-back link is somewhat weak, the Korean center-back was introduced. If Kaldek had said it earlier, I wouldn't have chosen Alessandrini behind me, but a center forward.
◆ What is your positioning for Deep Foot in the new season? Does the team have the ability to achieve better results?
Competitive sports are definitely aimed at the championship, and although our current strength is not yet up to par, my goal will not change. Compared to last year, we are definitely striving for better results.
◆ Are you confident that you will train more international players for Deep Foot in the future?
Gao Lin and Jiang Zhipeng are already in the past tense, and we need active internationals, and we must also cultivate active internationals. It's not that players can't be selected for the national team when they're older, it's okay to work on their own. I'm not sure how big the gap between international and non-international players is, but in my perception, the players who can sacrifice for the team are the internationals of this team.
◆ How do you view the situation of the Chinese Super League? Is it really the battle between harbor and Tarzan? What role will deep foot play in it?
There are many people who think that this year's league title is a competition between Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Haigang, but we will do our best to stop them and will not let them easily win this title.
◆ "Football": In the past, when you coached in the Chinese Super League, in addition to tactics, the physical requirements were very high, and the physical fitness of the current deep footballers has reached your expectations?
Lee Jang-so: Football is not a good sport without running, you can look at the Premier League, they run a lot, the trend of world football is running longer and longer, faster and faster, we have to keep up with this trend, in order to create pressure on the other side. According to statistics, teams that run more and have a higher probability of winning the championship are higher.
Some of the technical problems have been solidified by the players when they are fifteen or sixteen years old, the youngest of our team is seventeen years old, and practicing technical things now may not help them very much. So in my position, a lot of players don't want to do things, I will do hard. That's how I do things, so I've been scolded by a lot of players behind my back, and of course I've said I'm physically strict.
◆ You have coached in China for many years, known as the iron marshal, what do you emphasize the most about the team's technical and tactical style and will quality?
We don't compare with European teams, only with Japanese and Korean teams, what we lack is running, and the players have to agree with this aspect.
Counting that I have been coaching in China for almost fifteen years this year, I often encounter this situation, once the amount of training is very large, the players will report to the leader, this phenomenon is wrong, why give the leader a small report? The head coach is a technician, and where there is a problem, he is the one who improves the problem.
But I have my goals, I don't want to compromise with the players in this regard, real professionals can't compromise, so many people always say that I have a sharp temper, say that I am stubborn, in fact, this is not stubborn, this is what I should do, so there will be some friction with the players.
◆ Now this group of players and your previous players with A and The Chinese Super League are not the same era, what is the difference in your management style?
It's changed a lot now and I have to change myself, and the players are playing different things. When I first went to Chongqing in 1998, the players at that time did not know much about the identity of professional players, did not know what the profession was like, and after the income suddenly increased a lot, they liked a few people to get together, drink and chat, or go out to drink and eat in groups. It's different now, it's just that occasionally a few players will have a meal together.
But now the biggest problem is not knowing what they're doing in their room, whether it's all about holding a phone or a computer. In my opinion, this is a bigger problem than before, before I had to sleep at the point, but now there are players who don't sleep because they play with mobile phones and computers, and I can't supervise whether they sleep or not every day.
◆ "Football": Li Dao has been coaching in China for 15 years and has done a lot for Chinese football, you are very affectionate about Chinese football, and you are sincerely helping Chinese football.
Li Zhangsu: I definitely have feelings for China, I have gained a lot here, and I have to do my part for Chinese football. I came to China at the age of 41, I am in my sixties this year, I have spent a lot of time in China, and I have also experienced the golden age before. I am also angry sometimes that Chinese football has not developed in the past twenty years.
◆ Shenzu also encountered some difficulties some time ago, how did you communicate with the team members at that time, and how did you overcome the difficulties together?
This is not only the problem of our team, but the problem of the entire Chinese football environment, many people say that the golden age of Chinese football has passed, but in my opinion, the current situation is normal, the previous decade was not normal.
In the current situation, it is normal to develop step by step, and what have we gained by investing so much in the past decade? Did it leave any traces?
◆ There are a lot of excellent foreign aid, some people feel that the overall quality of the Chinese Super League will decline, what do you expect from the Chinese Super League in the new season?
At present, many foreign aid who have left their purpose in the Chinese Super League is to make money, and they have reached the goal of leaving the Chinese Super League. I think this period is the best, because it can be developed step by step, and there are more opportunities for Chinese players. I also do not approve of the excessive use of foreign aid, which will not be of great help to the development of Chinese football, and those big-name foreign aides have returned here after making money. Of course, I am not free to work, but people always have feelings, these are also part of our lives, a process.
◆ "Football": The outside world recognizes that you are the founder of Evergrande's eight champions, do you mind talking about the past Evergrande and the current Guangzhou team?
Lee Jang-so: Yes, you can talk. To tell the truth, Evergrande signed a five-year contract with me in the Middle League, according to the plan, the first year of preparation, the second year of overtaking, the third year of preparation for another year, the fourth year of the AFC Champions League, the fifth year of the Chinese Super League championship, originally a five-year plan, when the signing of a 4+1 contract. So I planned to introduce some players under the age of 25 and 26 to the management of Evergrande, only needing three veteran players, and at that time, Zheng Zhi, Sun Xiang and other old players were introduced. Maybe if I won the championship a few years later, it wouldn't lead me out of class, maybe two years to rush over, two years to enter the AFC Champions League, to win the Chinese Super League championship, I can fulfill the contract. It may be that the champion took it too quickly.
◆ You coached in China, experienced the era of Evergrande entering the football circle with high salaries, and now coach deeply, and are also experiencing the trough period of Chinese football, if you want to give Chinese football some advice, what would you say?
I hope to create more convenience for youth and football youth training institutions, so that they can train better, first of all, we must do a good job in youth training.