CHONGQING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- After finishing the winter training from overseas, Chongqing STM Motors football club now is back and tensely preparing for the approaching Chinese Super League.
"Some team members left in this season, but we made several new recruits. Try to stay in the league is still our goal," said club coach Jordi Cruijff.
"The whole winter training contained three stages," added Cruijff. "Enhancing players' physical ability in Granada, then taking warm-up matches overseas, and third having some in-depth training after all new members in place in Doha."
In this season, Chongqing has finished a few signings including Adrien Mierzejewski, the former Polish national team player.
"Among the newcomers, only Adrien and Zhe Jiang have ever played in the Chinese Super League. The rest of them may have mistakes for lacking of experience, so we have to help them to improve, and fight together. Of course I'd like to introduce an experienced player, but there are some difficulties," added Cruijff.
"As a small team, every point matters. Compared with the top teams, we are not able to bring new players from Premier League or Bundesliga. My goal is try to lead the team stay in the league."
In addition to Mierzejewski, Chongqing has Alan Kardec, Fernando Henrique and Fernandinho Silva as foreign players, and they give Cruijff more options on offense. "I'm very satisfied with the foreign players and they have great skills as well as Chinese Super League experience. All players are training really hard, and it's difficult for me to choose which player to start. Anyone could be possible if he has a good form on the pitch," said Cruijff.
What makes Cruijff really worried is his team's defense. He will make a big adjustment after defenders Donglu Sui and Yu Liu had left. "Enhancing defense is our top priority. We didn't play well in last season, and we were one of the teams who got the least points on home court, poor defense was the main reason to blame," added Cruijff.
