Li Ke's departure from the team affected the mentality of the international players, and there were still people who were late for training but were not punished
Reporter Cheng Shan reported that in the group stage of the Asian Cup, three games, 2 draws and 1 loss, 0 goals scored and 1 goal conceded, Serbian coach Jankovic was de facto out of class after the group stage. It is reported that after the exit, Jankovic also expected that his departure would be an inevitable result, so he boarded a flight back to his hometown in Belgrade directly from Qatar.
Jankovic was officially announced as the coach of the Chinese men's football team on February 24, 2023, and he will coach for about 11 months. In the process, a total of 10 warm-up matches were played, 2 World Preliminary Matches and 3 Asian Cup group stage matches. Among them, the record of 10 warm-up matches is 3 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses, 1 win and 1 loss in the World Preliminaries, and 2 draws and 1 loss in the Asian Cup. Judging from the superficial record, it is indeed mediocre and there are no bright spots. However, to assess Jankovic, we must put the results of the national football team in the context of a Chinese football, the accident of Jankovic taking over the coaching whip of the national team, the living environment of Chinese football, the strength and mentality of the international players, these factors are mixed together, which is the real reason for the worst results in the Asian Cup.
In this Asian Cup, Jankovic's arrangement and employment strategy have been widely criticized by people in the Chinese football industry, and there are indeed many debatable points; But if Chinese football is still accustomed to throwing everything to the head coach, and feels that the head coach will solve all the problems by leaving the blame, it means that all the difficulties and ups and downs have been experienced in vain.
As for the level of the current national team coach Jankovic, the internal views of the national team are not completely unified: those who recognize him say that his professional level is not bad, especially his solid knowledge of football theory, and he can cherish the more advanced and mainstream playing styles in Europe, and he has strict requirements for training, and is a high-quality, educated, and professional coach with high self-requirements; those who do not approve of him think that his concept of leading the team is still in the stage of the youth team, especially in the formulation and mastery of some daily codes of conduct, which is too rigid and a littleThe style of "militarized management" makes many people unbearable (mainly psychological).
Before the start of the Asian Cup, Li Ke's departure from the team subtly affected the mentality of the international players. Although there are many theories about Li Ke's departure, according to the information learned by this newspaper, there are two main reasons: first, Li Ke is indeed late, and second, Li Ke's own characteristics are not the type that Yankovic needs most.
At that time, the team did communicate with Coach Jankovic to try to stop his decision, but in the end Jankovic insisted on his choice, and he was not satisfied with Li Ke's training state. Just like the reason why he kept Ackerson out of the national team - if he didn't have enough humility and 100% dedication to training, and didn't have a decent shot and goal in the warm-up games, in Jankovic's opinion, the combination of attitude and form would be judged unsuitable to stay in the national team, even if he is a naturalized player, there is no privilege.
Jankovic's arrangement during his time in charge of the national team is roughly like this: the international players have to get up at the specified time, then measure their body fat, have breakfast, have a meeting, and start training at 10 o'clock. In the evening, sometimes there are some training summary meetings, and at 10 p.m., there are rounds of the ward. The day after the loss to Hong Kong, China, it was supposed to be a rest day, but because of the loss, everyone was "punished", and they were called up at half past six to go out for a collective exercise, measure body fat, and watch the game video to analyze the reason for the loss.
Everything doesn't seem to be wrong. However, the incident of Li Ke's "expulsion" and the incident of getting up early after losing still made the atmosphere more or less "delicate": First, everyone was silent, for fear of making mistakes and becoming the target of public opinion and fans. However, even if Li Ke was "fired" for discipline, there were still a few people who were late. But with the approach of the big game, it is obviously not suitable to solve it by "expellation", so that the initial treatment of Li Ke's "strict law enforcement" seems a bit anticlimactic; second, some players are more afraid of making mistakes, whether it is training or competition, more and more "health balls" (that is, return or horizontal passes, risk-free or low-risk passes) have also appeared.
Jankovic's management idea is not wrong, but it may be difficult for such a management method to change some specific problems of the Chinese national team in a short period of time, especially before the competition, which has caused huge public opinion, and the effect is not good, making the international players more cautious and afraid of making mistakes. This approach is more suitable for the management of the youth team, but it is a bit simpler and crudeness in the national team.
In addition to the immaturity in management, in the process of the national football training camp, Jankovic has always switched back and forth between the three back and four back tactics to practice, and often does very detailed tactical explanations with the players, but what is the actual effect? Just like the Chinese team behaved in the group stage of the Asian Cup - both offense and defense are missing. Wu Lei, who plays center, can't play at all, Liu Binbin is also lost on the side in the three-center-back system, and Wang Shangyuan is not good at the No. 6 position, and he is also playing while learning...... There is a big gap between the tactical effect that Jankovic wants to play, and the actual position and ability of the Chinese internationals. Even if everyone has practiced well, they are not quite sure whether the situation of their teammates is stable.
Another very important factor is that the rhythm of the Asian Cup is far behind the Chinese Super League, coupled with the lack of skillful tactical play between each other, many times the international players do not realize at the first time that the choices they have made on the field are wrong.
Because Jankovic did not meet the performance targets specified in the contract, the Chinese Football Association can terminate the contract without any liability for compensation. The goal of the Asian Cup is the quarterfinals, so Jankovic also knew that his contract was over after the third game, so he did not return to China but returned directly to his hometown Serbia.
What does Jankovic think of the performance of the Chinese team in the Asian Cup? This newspaper has learned from some people who are familiar with Jankovic that Jankovic is mentally prepared for not meeting the standards in the Asian Cup and accepts this reality, but he is also full of regrets. In fact, he did a lot of homework before he took over the national team, and he also knew that this was a team that Lippi couldn't understand when the Chinese Super League was in its heyday, not to mention that it was already full of holes when he took over, and all kinds of dangers must be possible. Originally, he thought that when Chinese football was experiencing a trough, he could let go of some illusions and start from some of the most basic things. For example, if the ability is insufficient, the attitude should be supplemented, and the technology should be supplemented, and hardships should be borne first.
Jankovic is still very attentive to the study of China, he once said in an interview that he has a deep understanding of the history of the establishment and development of New China, and feels that the Chinese people have come by virtue of the spirit of not being afraid of hardship and sacrifice, so he believes that this is a unique innate quality of the Chinese, and it is also the most important point that the national team should adhere to. In addition, before the start of the World Cup preparations, he was also secretly determined to change the current national team from the attitude and mental outlook of the game, and in fact, he also received a certain effect against Thailand and South Korea. Despite the defeat against South Korea, the spirit and fighting spirit of the entire national team are still okay.
But Jankovic also sees some problems in the national team, he feels that Chinese players are generally more obedient, and most of them are more disciplined, but there is a general lack of sharpness and aggression in the players, which makes people feel a little preoccupied. The reason why he is so strict is to stir up the fighting spirit, and perhaps he can't understand why players at the international level are not proficient in switching between the back three and back four, which are skills that Serbian players must master as teenagers. On the issue of passing and receiving the ball, he also repeatedly emphasized speed and purposeful passing, but he still played messily in actual combat.
In fact, many foreign coaches, including Jankovic, are a little confused about the status of the Chinese national team. In Europe, players are scrambling to play for the national team, but in China, the national team is very attractive to players, and after Chinese players arrive at the national team, the responsibility is great, the risk is high, but in terms of personal career, there is not much positive related help. Unlike in Europe, a player's selection for the national team means an overnight success, both for transfers and for reputational improvement. As for cyberbullying and criticism, at this point, Chinese fans are quite restrained. For example, if you don't play well in Serbia, sometimes it's not just about being sprayed by cyberbullying and being sprayed by keyboard warriors, extreme fan organizations can do even crazier and more terrible things.
Many people don't understand why Jankovic is so superstitious about Wu Lei and many old players, the fact is that the main striker from the championship team is not something that a national team coach can easily refuse, not to mention that Wu Lei is very serious in training. Looking at the league, without Wu Lei, how many offensive players are there to choose from?
In the group stage of the Asian Cup for the national team, we can clearly see such a problem, that is, we do not seem to have sufficient response to the opponent's style of play, for example, the Tajikistan team is the same age as the national Olympic team, and there is no close pressing defense, just play their own attack, and the game experience is obviously insufficient. So for such an opponent, it seems that we still blindly adopt a passive defensive strategy, the set-pieces in the three games have no routines, and the intelligence work and set-piece training are obviously insufficient.
For Jankovic, he could get out of class to take on his share of responsibility. However, Jankovic's responsibility for the national football performance of this Asian Cup is limited, and for the future of Chinese football, the resignation of a coach cannot change everything. A new round of coach selection has started again, I hope the Chinese Football Association can learn the lessons of the past, don't take the selection of coaches as scratch tickets, and expect to win the jackpot by scratching the lottery ticket to enter the World Cup, even if you scratch the lottery ticket, you have to have a strategy and a certain principle if you want to win the lottery.