Data map: Li Xiaopeng.
Image source: Xinhuanet.
On the 5th, the Chinese Super League Shandong Luneng Club issued an announcement, announcing that the head coach Li Xiaopeng will no longer be the head coach due to physical reasons, and will be appointed as the deputy general manager and technical director of the club.
Hao Wei, former assistant to the head coach and technical director, served as the team's head coach.
On October 17, Shandong Luneng will face Beijing Guoan in the second stage of the Super League.
Between the first and second stages of the game, the team suddenly changed coaches, which surprised many people.
Because in the first stage of the previous Chinese Super League, Shandong Luneng ranked third in the Dalian division and entered the championship group.
Although the performance is not as strong as Evergrande and Shanghai SIPG, this result is far from the level of the need to "change coaches."
As soon as the news came out, in addition to expressing surprise, most fans asked: "Are the fans satisfied?"
Fan comments screenshots.
Fan comments screenshots.
Fan comments screenshots.
Fan comments screenshots.
The fans made such a voice because in the nearly three years that Li Xiaopeng coached Shandong Luneng, it has indeed been accompanied by various praises and criticisms.
In December 2017, Shandong Luneng officially announced that it would no longer renew the contract with the famous German coach Magath, and Li Xiaopeng will be the head coach.
Saying goodbye to "foreign teachers" and using local coaches, Luneng's move aroused the attention and heated discussion of fans.
Li Xiaopeng was born in Qingdao, Shandong in 1975. He is an athlete. From 1994 to 2005, he played for Shandong Luneng Taishan team (Jinan Taishan General) as a midfielder.
Returning to the team as a coach, many fans have high hopes for him.
Luneng Taishan team coach Li Xiaopeng directs the game.
Photo by Zhu Zheng
In the 2018 season, Shandong Luneng ranked third in the league, and in the 2019 season, ranked fifth in the league.
Li Xiaopeng's employment and on-the-spot command have been questioned and praised.
On February 19, 2019, Shandong Luneng defeated Hanoi FC 4-1 in the AFC play-offs and advanced to the main match.
After falling behind unexpectedly, Li Xiaopeng's decisive changes received miraculous results.
He replaced the mediocre Wu Xinghan with Liu Junshuai as the midfielder, and then again replaced the ineffective Cui Peng in the 60th minute with Liu Binbin, the wing fast runner.
In the end, Luneng reversed and beat his opponent.
The command of Li Xiaopeng in this game once allowed fans to see the hope of the rise of the "Tushuai".
The 2019 Chinese Super League Annual Awards Ceremony was held in Shanghai.
The picture shows Li Xiaopeng won the best coach award.
Photo by Zhang Hengwei
At the 2019 Super League Awards Ceremony, Li Xiaopeng was selected as the best coach.
But in the 2019 Super League, Shandong Luneng only ranked fifth.
Some fans complain, even if the best coach is not from the top three teams, even the fourth is fine.
On the day before the award ceremony, in the FA Cup final, Shandong Luneng lost 0:3 away to Shanghai Shenhua and missed the championship after winning the first round at home.
Although the Chinese Super League and the Football Association Cup are not the same system of events, the results of this game did affect many fans' evaluations of him as the best coach.
Fan comments screenshots.
Some time ago, during the first stage of this year's Super League, some negative rumors about Shandong Luneng and Li Xiaopeng suddenly appeared on the Internet.
Among them, a screenshot of a suspected fan reporting Li Xiaopeng was circulated on social media.
On September 13, Shandong Luneng officially issued a statement denying these rumors and announcing that it reserves the right to pursue legal liabilities against those responsible.
Chinese football has always been the fiercest event in the field of Chinese sports, but it is indeed not very common to be "intensified" to such an extent.
Shandong Luneng official statement.
Of course, in the case of acceptable results, public opinion is unlikely to be the main reason for the team's coaching change.
Some people think that Li Xiaopeng's tactical thinking has gone wrong, but the new head coach of Shandong team Hao Wei was originally in the team's coaching system. Will his tactical thinking be very different from Li Xiaopeng?
As for the reason why Li Xiaopeng resigned suddenly, since Luneng's official statement was due to physical reasons, I hope that Director Li will be healthy and go well after being far from the center of the storm of public opinion!