Jankovic: The national football team should create a good environment for Wu Lei and will decompress the players tactically and psychologically

In the second round of Group A of the group stage of the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup, the Chinese team will play against the Lebanese team. The head coach of the Chinese team, Jankovic, and the player Wu Lei attended the pre-match press conference today.

- Introduce the team's preparations

Jankovic: "We are preparing for the game against Lebanon with the same excitement, after the last game we analysed the problems of the team, corrected them and are ready to go all out to win the second game against Lebanon. ”

Wu Lei: "We drew in the first game, we all know the importance of the second game, I believe the Lebanese players will think the same, we are ready to face difficulties. We're going to work together as a team to get the second game right, win it and finish the group. ”

– What do you think of the game against Lebanon, and their weaknesses?

Jankovic: "Instead of talking about Lebanon's weaknesses and problems, we prefer to talk about our own problems, we didn't do well in the last game in terms of ball control, the players were a little nervous, and in the second game we had to play the football we wanted. ”

"Lebanon didn't win in the first round either, they will make adjustments in the second game, which is more friendly to neutral fans, both teams have adjusted, both teams want to get points, and the game will be exciting. As a manager, I don't respect the weaknesses of the opponent and we still think of me as the main thing and do our best. The weaknesses of our opponents have been analysed and we will try to exploit their weaknesses as much as possible and play to our own strengths. ”

INTERVIEWER Has the national football team improved in terms of competition intensity and confrontation?

Wu Lei: "This is the most basic element of football now, against rhythm and speed. I watched the first round of the group stage, and the pace of confrontation between Asian teams is getting faster and faster. Our team's physical condition in the previous warm-up games was not very good, and with the start of the main game, I believe that the form will be better and better from game to game. ”

– Are there any specific plans for older players?

Jankovic: "For us, the schedule is known very early, and there are high-intensity games in a short period of time. For those players who have minor injuries, we need them to recover and be fit to play and come with the team to prepare for the game. I'm happy that all the players are in place for the next game, so that's enough. ”

——Jiang Guangtai's different cultural background, what can his differences bring to the team?

Jankovic: "I don't really want to talk about individual players, but I can give you the answers. As a defender, Jiang Guangtai is actually very versatile, with excellent game experience, rhythm, and physical confrontation. On top of that, we have a lot of other young defenders in the team, Jiang Guangtai can use his experience to teach defensive skills, and in everyday life, he is always very professional, he can use his experience to set an example and lead the development of young players, he is an important and good team player. ”

– You said that the players felt the pressure in the first game, how do you feel about the pressure in the second group game?

Jankovic: "In the first half of the first game, as a coach I need to admit that our players had a problem with the pressure, statistically speaking, we made more mistakes in the first half than any other team combined, and that's what we faced and needed to solve. However, it can also be seen that in the second half we adjusted, the pressure was reduced, and the form of the players also improved. ”

"As a coach I can't talk about the tactical details, but we have to guide the players from a tactical and psychological level, and from a tactical point of view, we need to find better angles to receive the ball, better technical and tactical options, to get them out of pressure. From a psychological point of view, as a coach, I want to encourage them: first, I take all the responsibility for the mistakes of the players, and clearly tell them to be more daring to show up and respond in the air, and secondly, to try to get the whole team through the difficulties together, instead of running away from the problems. If we do that, then we can say that we have survived this together. ”

'As a coach, I can be the first to stand up and admit that we had problems with the pressure in the first game, but we can't run away from the problems, we have to face them all together and find a way to overcome them. Hopefully in the second game we can control the situation and solve the pressure that needs to be solved, so that we can succeed as a team and I will be satisfied as a coach. ”

——Is there a targeted deployment for Wu Lei?

Jankovic: "Wu Lei is a quality player, he is very important for us, he showed his ability and talent, and it was his goal against Thailand that kept us the chance to win, and his play is very important for the team. ”

"Considering Wu Lei's tactical position, as a whole, our team needs to create conditions and environments for him that can have the greatest impact on the game, so that he can be more calm and comfortable. In the first round of the group stage of the Asian Cup, other teams also have some excellent frontcourt players one-on-one, and our Wu Lei is also one of them. ”

– The game against Lebanon is not the most crucial game

Jankovic: "I said at the beginning that winning or losing the first game will not affect the progress of the group standings, as a team, we will focus on the next game, play well step by step, get the points we deserve, don't look further, if we do every step well, the result will be natural. ”

– You played with a back five in the last game, will you make any changes in this game?

Jankovic: "It's hard to answer your question, because when it comes to tactics, modern football requires a team to be proficient in at least two formations in the game, and our Chinese team, as one of the teams that have mastered this ability, can play different formations in the game, sometimes with four backs, sometimes with three central defenders, which can be changed in the game." ”

- Your teammates aren't supporting you and Tan Long enough, and you want to strengthen that?

Wu Lei: "Our team is a whole, we watched the video together in the first game and found some problems, and the later games will find a way to solve the problems that occurred in the first half of the first game. These are all about the overall technical and tactical coordination of the team, a team's offense is not only the forwards in the frontcourt, the defense is not only the defenders, everyone is a whole, we will be based on the problems summarized in the first game, the team's technical and tactical run-in is getting better and better. ”