— Chinese football – how is it compared to your expectations?
— Chinese football is very different. It is now woven from a huge number of limits. There is a limit on foreign players. Last year there were five foreign players on the score sheet, four on the field. This year we made five both in the protocol and on the field. Therefore, the choice of legionnaires must be approached very carefully. And there is a limit on Chinese goalkeepers. You can't put a foreigner in the goal. In my opinion, this has a strong impact on football. A lot of goals are missed with long-range shots. Any limit does not allow you to develop.
I cannot say that the limit benefited Russian football. This did not happen, unfortunately. The limit is not good for Chinese football either. The competition for the best Chinese players is as fierce as for the best Russian players. But there is a big difference here. There are almost no internal transfers here. Because any domestic transfer is subject to 100% tax. If you buy a football player for a ruble, you have to pay two. For this reason, everyone is hunting for free agents.
China is a land of gatherings"
— You have experience working abroad. You worked in England and Holland. Surely they understood when they came to the Dutch team how the players should perceive their head coach. We learned English and so on. Have you ever imagined how the Chinese should perceive their new head coach Leonid Slutsky?
“I tried to figure it out as I went along.” Communication with foreigners is easier. First of all, I don't have a language barrier with them. Secondly, naturally, they adhere to the rules that were in England and Holland. It's more difficult with Chinese players. You need to understand in what form they need to convey information. You should not use “if”, “in that case”, “when” in your words. There must be direct information. It is more difficult for them to understand allegories and a large number of options. So I shouldn't use it.
Secondly, China, despite its advancedness, is a country with clear laws and concepts. For example, after each meeting it is customary to applaud the speaker. You are actually saying some kind of working information: guys, we need to go there at such and such time. Fortunately, they have now stopped applauding.
This is a country of meetings, clear directives, clear subordination. On the one hand, this makes my job easier because they have no right to disobey what I tell them. And they won't be like the Dutch. whose constant question was “Why?” For example, I told them that we are using such and such a variant of the game. They asked: “Why? Show us it works." There are no value judgments here. The coach says - you need to do it.
It’s more difficult because the creative part decreases. You must constantly prove to them with examples that you are right, so that they develop an understanding of how important this is. The specificity is great. But I still believe that a coach can be successful in any country with any players. The question is how quickly you will achieve optimal communication.
