Changchun Yatai suffered a stunning 3-0 away loss to Qingdao Hainiu on Monday (5th May), sending the club to the very bottom of the Chinese Super League table.
The loss to the previously winless Qingdao was the latest disappointment that has fans up in arms and demanding answers from head coach Xie Hui, who has overseen two severely contrasting sides in 2024 and 2025.
The former China international arrived at Nanling Stadium after the departure of Chen Yang last season, with Changchun Yatai staring down the face off a relegation battle.
Chen had run out of ideas, utilised questionable tactics and had demonstrated a clear bias towards certain players, leading to the departure of fan favourite Sun Jie and the near exclusion of long-time goalkeeper Wu Yake after many attempts to replace him.
Xie Hui arrived and immediately had a positive impact. He moved to a 4-3-3 system, brought Wu Yake firmly back into the fold and stuck by him, had talismanic striker Tan Long heavily involved and helped guide the team to a comfortable ninth place by the end of the season.
There was much hope that the former striker could continue this positive feeling and have the club firmly mid-table in 2025, despite the expected overhaul of the first-team squad.
However, after 11 games to start this year, the team has just one win, five points and has dropped to 16th in the league, losing points against teams around them.
What has gone wrong for Changchun Yatai?
As mentioned, Changchun experienced an overhaul of the squad after the 2024 season. Serginho (Sai Erjiniao since his naturalisation) joined Beijing Guoan, midfielder Peter Zulj moved to Thailand, popular Chinese winger Wang Jinxian joined Wuhan Three Towns, and even previously maligned centre back Yuan Mincheng left for Chengdu Rongcheng.
In their stead, Xie Hui brought in the likes of French midfielder Wylan Cyprien, Norwegian forward Ohi Omoijuanfo and a number of former China Under-22 internationals, including Xu Haofeng, Xu Yue and Yao Xuchen – all of whom represented China, alongside existing Yatai players Tan Long and Dilumut Tudi, at the 2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship.
There was hope that Yatai could develop from a strong defensive core, with Li Shenyuan, Stoppila Sunzu and Lazar Rosic all returning while He Yiran had a breakout year in 2024 and looked to have cemented his place in the side.
However, much has gone wrong.
Injuries have played a part, with Cyprien sidelined for a few months, while Li Shenyuan and He Yiran missed some time. However, the majority of the squad has been largely unscathed and Xie Hui has had most of his players at his disposal.
Which begs the question as to why he continues to play such confusing tactics, far removed from what was seen last season.
Instead of the successful 4-3-3, Xie Hui has opted predominantly for a 4-4-2 system that is not utilising players in their best positions. For example, Omoijuanfo has been primarily deployed in central midfield in the absence of Cypiren.
This has taken away one of the team’s best goal threats from the final third more often than not, leaving Tan Long and Robert Beric to carry the load – something the former has done well with five goals to his name already.
Xie Hui brought in Yao Xuchen and Zhou Junchen, both out-and-out wingers, but has only used the latter and seems averse to bringing the former in, instead choosing to play central midfielders out wide.
He continues to make questionable decisions in defence too. He Yiran, who has been back from his injury for a few matches now, has failed to appear and seems to be out of favour for no clear reason.
Instead, Xuan Zhijian looked okay in his place before suffering his own injury – allowing a mixture of Sun Qinhan and Hamit to play on the left, despite both being right backs and lacking the same qualities as He Yiran.
Xu Haofeng has started the last couple of matches at right back, but fans believe he is not living up to expectations, making poor decisions and lacking the necessary pace to be effective in the attacking phase.
With the team having a solid duo in the centre in Sunzu and Rosic, Xie Hui is sacrificing the team’s wide areas for inexplicable reasons. Then in attack, keeping Omoijuanfo further back is severely hampering the team’s options up front and putting the pressure on two strikers who are already well into their 30s (Tan Long recently turned 37 and Beric turns 34 in June).
Xie Hui, on the face of it, doesn’t appear to understand the squad he has assembled and appears unwilling to be flexible with his team decisions. He could easily adjust the formation to a 4-2-3-1, bringing Yao Xuchen and Zhou Junchen forward to provide natural support out wide, allowing the team to focus on either Beric, Omoijuanfo or Tan Long as a lone striker, with one of the others slotting in behind as reinforcements.
Then, Xie Hui can choose two central midfielders, one defensive and one more attacking, to provide an anchor in the middle of the pitch to distribute the ball out to the attacking players. Instead, he plays people out of position, makes few adjustments and doesn’t utilise the players with the most talent or best abilities in multiple positions across the pitch.
When fully fit, Li Shenyuan will presumably return to the starting right-back position, but his counterpart on the left-hand side should be He Yiran, who formed a strong back-four unit that helped the team avoid relegation last time around.
However, Xie Hui’s stubbornness could very well be his undoing, as fans are already calling for him to be replaced before the summer transfer window. The window alone is already a hot topic among fans, who wonder if Brazilian forward Guilherme will be re-registered, leading to one of the existing import players to leave, or whether or not the club is capable of attracting players of better quality to really push to avoid relegation once again.
One thing is certain, however, and that’s the fact that fans believe Xie Hui’s time is up. He doesn’t have the previous successes that Chen Yang had on his CV to help him continue on. He helped the club survive in 2024, but has fallen apart on his strategy and planning in 2025 and is now seen as the direct cause of the team’s failings.
If he remains in the job long enough to take on Henan this Sunday (11th May), then he may be looking at his final chance before the club’s ownership decides that enough is enough. In a 30-game season, sitting bottom of the league just shy of the halfway mark should be enough for any coach to be let go if there are no signs of improvement.
Changchun Yatai need to make some serious changes before it’s too late. It may very well start with Xie Hui’s departure.