Even in defeat, Guoan's men continue to fight on. Source: icphoto
On December 5, the 29th round of the Chinese Super League was in full swing, and Beijing Guoan lost to Dalian People 1-3 at home in Rizhao, losing for two consecutive rounds. After the game, coach Stanley could not hide his feelings of loss, "Today, we made a series of mistakes. Looking at the whole picture, the defeat is really expected."
According to Stanley, the team deserved at least a point despite creating a lot of good chances in the game. He expects the team to improve and get out of the gloom soon. Unfortunately, injuries have become a stumbling block for Guoan, with mainstays Zhang Yuning, Gao Tianyi, and Adebenelo not included in the starting lineup, and compared to their numerically superior opponents, Dalian, Guoan will only be able to play with a 21-man lineup.
In the first half, Guoan attacked aggressively but struggled to convert their chances into goals due to the lack of forward support from Zhang Yuning. Adebenelo's performance also failed to convince the crowd. Dalian broke the deadlock with substitute Lin Liangming's goal in the 76th minute; in the 76th minute, Lin Liangming showed his power again to extend the score to 2-0; in the 87th minute, Housen slipped out of the penalty area in the attack, and Lv Peng easily broke the goal to make the score 3-0; in the stoppage time, Wang Ziming scored a goal to save the face for Guoan, but it could not change the game.
Hard to find good opportunities on the offensive end and a series of mistakes on the defensive end, Stanley was disappointed with his team's performance, "It was a typical game of 'wanting to win but not being able to'. It shows how much the last defeat hit the players psychologically and disrupted our rhythm, and I'm not happy about that." He consoled Prince Ming who scored in injury time, "Fortunately, I saw that the players were still working hard and they scored in the last minute. It's normal to have ups and downs in an intensive schedule, but we need to get out of it as soon as possible."
