Dalian Pro head coach and former Bundesliga star Xie Hui, who is 1/8 English, recently gave an interview to Five Star Sports, in which he talked about his views on his current job and his future plans.
Dalian Pro’s registration problem this year
Compared with many other places, other clubs, other cities. They are scattering their hands when they encounter difficulties. We were fortunate to raise some money to pass the audit in a very short period of time by putting together an emergency fund. We had a lot of debt before, but we hope to slowly absorb it and get on a healthy operating path in a year or two.
The transfer ban situation
This is a situation due to the previous violations. I do not think it is not a bad thing. I am very clean, I have no distractions. We just need to strengthen the foundation. We can achieve a good position in the league, of course there will be many difficulties.
Overweight fines for the team
Body fat percentage, I think, like (national team head coach) Jankovic said, is a relatively low or even neutral standard. I would allow up to 11% for the older players in the team, but there are not many of them.
Self-discipline of Chinese players
If we are picking one player out of 50,000, the chances of having unprofessional players will be very low. But we are picking one from 500 or even 50, then the chance will be very high. Especially he’s left-footed or a winger, then his lack of professionalism won’t be as serious. We select material just by how good one plays ball. But in Europe it will not be like this, I agree with Jankovic that 13-14% body fat rate is definitively disqualifying from playing ball. Some people have doubts, of course that is not his own words. But Europe is like this.
The scope of public opinion on Chinese football
I hope the whole circle will be more humble. Don’t keep holding on to one thing and think it can be changed, but I don’t think there is one thing that can be changed.
The feeling of meeting Dalglish
Dalglish is the legend, I am just a footballer. He was a god at Liverpool. I would be too arrogant to allow myself compared with him. I just met my idols, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish, and that was the first lesson in my love of football. I’m a Liverpool fan, nothing more. I was so excited I couldn’t say anything and forgot to ask him anything.
What do you think of the “second year curse”?
A coach’s curse is a constant, not a year or two or three. Jurgen Klopp is having trouble in his seventh year. The important thing is whether you have the ability to solve the problem. I like to use the second law of thermodynamics to explain football, which is – everything develops toward entropy. But coaching is to do the inverse entropy: you, as a coach, have to turn it into a rule. This is the coach’s job. If you don’t have the ability to reverse entropy, then there will always be unknowns. If you can’t cook, don’t be a cook, just cook a macaroni at home and eat it by yourself.
The pressure of the team
They are happy to go to the pitch every day, Fei Yu smiled a lot when he renewed his contract. Be just wants to be at this level. He’s 33, he had his first year in the Super League last year, playing in the Super League is his dream as a player and he’s doing very well. It’s not that painful to lower your expectations. It’s enough to run to the pitch and play a game happily. Responsibility is more important than power. It’s a privilege to play in this team, and if you deserve it, let’s come together and do something.
Comments from the media
There is much more negative than positive stuff in the media, it’s not a bad thing to be controversial, we will always be scrutinized in this business. Harsh criticism is always there. But do not care too much, being able to tell yourself you have no regrets, to yourself or to the team, this is the most important. I rarely look at the media, especially online information is too much. Too much information is not a good phenomenon, too much is the same as none.
The idea of facing the Shanghai team
Such things abound in Europe, and I wouldn’t think what I would look like with a Korean team winning against a Chinese team. Havertz just scored to eliminate Borussia Dortmund, but who would say anything? We think localization is the essence of football, but it’s not, I went to Europe and there is no such thing. 20 years old and playing here (Shanghai) means a lot to me, but now it’s a game for the job, I just want to win games and earn respect.
Goals for the new season
Facing so many difficulties, it doesn’t make sense to talk about higher goals, first of all it’s better to stay at this level, although there are difficulties, we are competitive. This year, the teams are also competitive. A all-Chinese team, such as Hebei last year, will not exist this year. Nantong Zhiyun have five foreign players. We are banned from signing new foreign players, but the team is still intact. Personally, I hope to make up for the lack of individual ability in a number of ways, as we are playing team football.
Views on the future of Chinese football
I wanted to express anger and pessimism per se, but after getting to the front line, I agree with Musk’s quote, “Wrong optimism is better than right pessimism.” So what if it’s right, pessimism is meaningless, if it’s a pessimist, then we don’t have to do this, I was inspired by this quote of his.