In the fourth round of the Chinese Super League, Tianjin Jinmen Tigers lost 2-3 at home to Chengdu Rongcheng, suffering their first defeat of the season, and the team's unbeaten home record across the season came to an end.
Although there is too much unwillingness for the players of the Jinmen Tigers after losing, it is also a gain after the defeat to recognize the gap and identify the problem by playing against strong teams.
Especially in the second half of this campaign, the coaching staff used the tactics of double center strikers for a long time for the first time, and the Jinmen Tigers still need to adapt to different tactical play styles as soon as possible.
Facing Chengdu Rongcheng at home, Tianjin Jinmen Tigers continued to use the starting lineup that beat Changchun Yatai in the last round, and the main formation was still 4-2-3-1.
However, in this game, according to the team's tactical play and formation changes, it can probably be divided into three stages. They were before Xie Weijun came on the field, Xie Weijun came on the field to before Kompagno scored, and then in injury time.
After the start of the game, in the face of Chengdu Rongcheng, a strong opponent, the Jinmen Tigers still chose to take the initiative.
In the stage when the Jinmen Tigers organized the attack, it was obvious that Wang Qiuming appeared on the right side of the team, which should have been the position of the right full-back tomorrow.
Wang's retreat, and tomorrow's attraction to the Chengdu wing-backs, paid off in the fifth minute of the game, when Wang sent the ball in the back and Ademi found a chance in the ribs of Gulfinkel and Yang Shuai, but unfortunately the cross could not help the team score.
Tomorrow's promotion will make him basically a winger for the team, and his ability to cross will help activate Kompagno in the middle.
However, there are risks associated with such an arrangement. In the 8th minute of the game, Gulfinkel grabbed the ball and drove straight all the way, and Guo Hao paid a yellow card to prevent the side breakthrough.
Due to Chengdu Rongcheng's targeted deployment on the defensive end, the strategy of the Jinmen Tigers to use the wings to open up the situation did not work, and even the game was played until the 20th minute, and only completed a cross in the midfield tomorrow.
At the end of the game, there were four crosses tomorrow and only one was successful, the one that set up Vincent Kompagno's goal.
Among the rest of the starters, Su Yuanjie made 1 successful cross out of 3, Ademi failed all 4 crosses, Barton failed 3 crosses, Fioririch made 1 unsuccessful cross, Škorić did not succeed in 1 cross, and Wang Qiuming and Guo Hao did not cross.
After failing to convert a single goal from 16 crosses, Yu Genwei opted to replace all of his starting midfielders before the 80th minute, hoping to help the team find their groove.
With Felipe's brace to take a two-goal lead, the Jinmen Tigers coaching staff made their first substitution in the 56th minute of the game, replacing the defender Guo Hao with center forward Xie Weijun.
The formation also changed from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2, with Fioriic and Wang Qiuming in charge of attacking and defending in the middle, Ademi and Barton still on the left and right wings, and the quartet in front of the two central strikers of Kompagno and Xie Weijun.
Less than three minutes after the completion of the substitution adjustment of the Jinmen Tigers, Gulfinkel broke through the right side of the Jinmen Tigers and assisted Wu Lei to score the third goal for the Rongcheng team to seal the victory.
From the perspective of the Jinmen Tigers, in this goal, although Tomorrow was passed by Gulfinkel and Škoric, who missed Wu Lei, needs to bear some responsibility.
But specifically analyzing the whole process of the Rongcheng team's attack, Rongcheng central defender Lechette immediately inserted after resolving the high-altitude ball, because the left midfielder Ademi of the Jinmen Tiger did not return to defense in time from attack to defense, Su Yuanjie and Fioririch had to face a situation of 2 defense and 3.
When Lechette knocked the ball to Yan Dinghao again, although Xie Weijun, who retreated, had already helped Fioririch stand in the middle of the defensive position, neither of them could give Yan Dinghao enough defensive pressure, so he easily sent a long pass to transfer, and finally formed the third goal of the Rongcheng team.
It can be seen that after changing the formation, the thinking of the Jinmen Tigers players is not uniform, especially the unclear position responsibilities under the new formation, which leads to another blow to the team, and such a problem is also obvious on the offensive end.
Judging from the substitution adjustment of the Jinmen Tigers to partner Kompagno and Xie Weijun with two strikers, the tactical intention of the coaching staff is obviously to hope that the players can create more cross opportunities and use the two high points of Kompagno and Xie Weijun to create a threat to the opponent's defence.
However, in terms of actual combat effect, on the one hand, the quality of Jinmen Tiger's crosses is not good, and it is difficult to give effective support to the two center forwards.
On the other hand, the players are not very resolute in implementing the tactical deployment of the coaching staff, and still want to take advantage of the ribs of the opponent's defensive line with three central defenders and five defenders.
I have to say that the three central defenders of the Rongcheng team led by Lechette did not suffer a loss in the face of the double center of the Jinmen Tigers, whether it was an aerial scramble or a physical confrontation, and the entire defense line was also quite in place to protect the ribs.
In the case of repeated setbacks in the attack, it is naturally more difficult to unify the thoughts of the midfield players of the Jinmen Tigers, which is reflected in the fact that the attack of the Jinmen Tigers was quite chaotic in more than ten minutes after Xie Weijun came on the field and the formation was changed to 4-4-2, and there were many times when the players were inconsistent in passing and running.
Yu Genwei
Head coach of Tianjin Jinmen Tigers football team
I did have some words to say after the game, mainly in terms of encouragement, but also some criticism. It's more likely that we want them to gain experience in the game, because I think we were actually not decisive enough after we changed the line-up, and I was mainly talking about the switch to 4-4-2, we had two centre-forwards, which required us to create more crosses, but we probably didn't do it a little bit, I think we didn't have the same mind, and the execution was a little bit worse. I hope the players can take stock and try to improve slowly.
In the 70th and 79th minutes of the game, the Jinmen Tigers coaching staff used up all the substitutions with the remaining two substitutions, but the team's formation did not change again, and the four substitutions were all corrected.
Gao Huaze and Shi Yan played as the left and right wing-backs, while Huang Jiahui and Ding Haifeng were responsible for attacking and defending in the middle.
In this regard, the five starting midfielders of the Jinmen Tigers were all replaced, but in terms of effect, the team's attack was more simple and direct, and it was more in accordance with the intention of the coaching staff, pursuing side-center cooperation.
From Xie Weijun's 56-minute debut until the 90th minute of the game, the Tigers made a total of eight crosses, three of which were from set-pieces and corners, and five were actually completed in positional attacks.
Of those five crosses, only in the 79th minute Shi Yan sent a very threatening cross, and Xie Weijun completed the goal, which was also the first relatively complete side-center cooperation completed by the Jinmen Tigers who changed to a double striker after Xie Weijun came on as a substitute.
Shi Yan
A member of the Tianjin Jinmen Tigers football team
It's the last minute, and then I think it's just for me to go up and break through more, and then make more crosses, and then after all, two centre-forwards are in it, and then I want to score more goals with crosses. We have to give our energy at home and then we have to keep going until the end, whether it's bleeding or whatever, and then think about getting the ball back.
When the game reached stoppage time, Shi Yan's shot caused the Rongcheng goalkeeper to get out of his hands, and Kompagno was alert to make a stoppage for the Jinmen Tigers.
Five minutes later, Tomorrow delivered a pinpoint cross and Vincent Kompagno headed in to make it 2-3.
Admittedly, Vincent Kompagno's ability to score twice in stoppage time was not unrelated to the slight relaxation of the opposition after taking the lead and the departure of foreign centre-back Lechette, who had played well in this game.
However, to a certain extent, it is also due to the fact that after the Jinmen Tigers have significantly adjusted the lineup, the players on the field have been more resolute in implementing the on-the-spot tactics of the coaching staff, and the more simple and direct attacking methods have also helped to bring out the characteristics of Kompagno.
So far this season, the Italian centre-forward has scored four goals for the Tigers and has scored in three consecutive games. Of those four goals, except for one penalty, the remaining three goals in the field were all scrambles or follow-up shots in front of goal.
It can be seen that Kompagno is a center forward with good finishing ability, and so far this round he has fulfilled the goal of "one goal per game" proposed by the season for the first time, but after four games, it can also be seen that speed is not his forte, and his role in creating chances for teammates or helping the team advance the attack is relatively limited.
Reflected in the battle with Rongcheng, on the one hand, it was difficult for the Jinmen Tigers to take advantage of Kompagno's high point to advance the attack when facing the opponent's extremely aggressive high pressing, unable to transition to the front through the midfield, and could only make long passes from the central defenders.
On the other hand, even if there is a gap behind the Chengdu defence, Kompagno's pace is not superior to the opposition's centre-backs.
It can be seen that for the use of Kompagno, in a specific period of the game or in a specific context, to make cakes for the Italian cannon, the Jinmen Tiger may be more profitable.
From the perspective of the whole team, we should also adapt to different technical and tactical styles of play as soon as possible in actual combat, just like the first battle in Rongcheng, Jinmen Tiger was able to fully implement the tactical intention of the coaching staff after nearly half an hour of long-term adaptation and substantial adjustment, which just shows that the players are not familiar with different technical and tactical plays.
After all, the individual ability of the players and the main formation of the team are all open cards, and as the season deepens, the teams have become more and more thorough in the study of the Jinmen Tigers, and whether they can quickly switch between different technical and tactical styles of play is also the key to whether the Jinmen Tigers can go further.