Reporter Lu Mi reports On January 5, Wuhan Three Towns started the second phase of winter training in Jiangmen, Guangdong; On January 17, Wuhan Three Towns confirmed the head coach for the new season - Felipe Martins; On February 1, the Three Towns team ended the Spring Festival holiday and entered the third phase of winter training. After nearly two stages of running-in, Wuhan Three Towns is gradually getting better, and for the new coach Martins, how to build this team into a team that is both competitive and mentally strong is his biggest challenge.

After last year's twists and turns, the Three Towns Club successfully passed the entry gate and will appear in the Chinese Super League in the 2025 season with a new image - on the one hand, a reborn club, and on the other hand, a Portuguese coach who has never coached abroad, how can the two sides work together at the starting line? The 2025 season is both an opportunity and a challenge.

◆Football: Wuhan Three Towns has started the third phase of training, what is the main task of leading the team at this stage?

Martins: At this stage, we have done some tactical training in the early stage, and we have recently arrived in the team, so this period is focused on the overall run-in of the team. In the preparation period, we have a goal, which is to speed up the progress of the team, build a united and competitive team, and strive to play our style in the first round of the league against Chengdu Rongcheng.

◆The second phase of the team's training is when you first arrive at the team to start coaching, how long did it take for you to get to know the team better?

Actually, it doesn't take a particularly complicated process to get to know the team in depth, of course, thanks to the fact that after I came, the club staff and players were very kind to me, accepted me very quickly, and provided me with a lot of help in my work, and I myself did a lot of homework by watching the game video in advance, and got to know some of the existing players, so it only took me two or three days to remember the names of all the players, which made my work go smoothly.

◆In the second phase of training, there were a lot of players to try out, and a lot of players were successfully introduced, just came to the Chinese Super League, how do you make your work more efficient?

Our team has a very clear understanding of what kind of players they need, whether it is a trial player or a new signing, the most important thing for the coaching staff is that they can understand new intentions and adapt to new styles of play in training, so far, we have carried out our work more efficiently. Now, the recruitment of players is nearing completion, after all, the league is about to start, and now we are confirming the final squad.

◆In fact, there is not enough time left for you to prepare for the game, do you feel some sense of urgency?

There's a bit of urgency, but I like to have some pressure at work to bring more motivation. I am quite satisfied with the preparation work at this stage, and I also believe that through the next run-in, the Three Towns can be built into a competitive team, and bring more exciting games and honors to Wuhan fans and the city of Wuhan.

◆In addition to researching your own team, how do you find out about other teams, including the intensity of competition in the Chinese Super League?

I usually pay attention to the news of the Chinese Super League teams, including the recruitment and preparation of other teams, and understand their general movements, partly because I want to understand and familiarize myself with the Chinese Super League faster, on the other hand, the players I am familiar with may appear in the Chinese Super League this year, I will also pay attention, but I will not pay attention to it very deliberately, and at present, we need to focus more on our own progress, including studying the opponent in the first game, which are the coach's more routine work.

◆Because it's your first time coaching in China, do you want to do a lot of things?

I did come here with a lot of ideas, but the most important thing is to do my job well and help the team achieve a good result this season. Secondly, I know that China is a country with a long history, and if I have the opportunity, I would like to walk around China and learn more about the city of Wuhan.

◆Football: There have been a lot of changes in the team this year, and you're the new head coach who has just arrived, so it's a new environment and a new season for both of you, how will you seize the new opportunities?

Martins: As you said, it's a challenge for me and the club – from the club's point of view, they've chosen a coach who has never coached in China before; From my point of view, it's a whole new country, a whole new team. Achieving the club's goals for the new season will be a challenge for both parties. I am quite satisfied with the overall situation of the team at present, and I believe that I can strive for better results this year under limited conditions. I think this year we need to pay more attention to collective honor and overcome some difficulties through unity.

◆Before you, Three Towns had a lot of Spanish managers in the head, would you have subverted your predecessor's style of play from a tactical point of view?

I learned about last year's game and Ricciardo was a very good coach and he did his job well. Spain and Portugal are geographically close to each other, and there are more exchanges in football, and the football of our two countries often has similar requirements for tactics and players. In terms of the overall style of our team, there is not much difference between this year and last year, but there are some differences in the details. Judging from the current training, the players are still adapting very well.

◆There have been a lot of Portuguese coaches who have come to coach in the Chinese Super League, and now that you are also coaching in China, what challenges do you expect to face?

In fact, football is the same all over the world, whether it is China, West Asia, Europe, the requirements for football are similar, and after I came to Three Towns, I saw that the facilities of the club, the conditions of our training ground and the performance of the players are very good, which increased my confidence. As I mentioned earlier, it's a challenge for me and the club at this stage, there are good times for the team and bad times, it's normal to win and lose games, it's all part of football, and that's the challenge of the sport itself. I feel fully prepared and not too worried about this.

◆You said in an interview that you need your coaching staff to help Chinese players improve in terms of game reading, do you have any specific plans now?

It has been a while since the last time I was interviewed to mention this topic, and now the players have been able to understand my tactical intentions after going through a run-in process with me, and can make judgments and responses according to the situation on the field and according to the requirements of the coaching staff.

◆I've heard that you pay a lot of attention to the details in training, what do you think are the details that you have to make the players do?

This topic can be talked about from another angle, that is, what exactly do coaches need to do in training and games? Our players have many years of professional experience and none of them don't know how to play, so the manager's role is not to go to the pitch and teach the players how to play, but to observe what technical and tactical details they don't have in place when passing and receiving the ball, and remind them to adjust. After these details are corrected, they will change their playing habits, and slowly they will improve, and when they improve, the whole group will improve, so the details that I focus on in training are actually correcting the aspects that everyone tends to overlook.

◆Football: This stage of training coincides with the Spring Festival, our traditional Chinese festival, have you felt the atmosphere of the Spring Festival?

Martins: I know the importance of this holiday for the Chinese, the team is also on holiday, and everyone goes back to reunite with their families. It's a bit of a pity that I worked at the base during the whole holiday, on the one hand, I don't particularly like to go out shopping, on the other hand, the holiday is relatively short, and there are a lot of things to do, so I didn't have the opportunity to go out to see, but I watched the Spring Festival program of the TV station, which was very lively and festive, and I felt a strong cultural atmosphere.

◆For you working and living in China for the first time, what do you know about China's humanities?

Every day of living in China has a fresh experience, the culture here is very different from Europe, China has a long history, there are thousands of years of cultural accumulation, my life experience here is very good, and I have observed that Chinese people will be proud to be Chinese, this is everyone's cultural confidence. In the future, I hope to bring my family to live here and let them see different cultures and lifestyles.

◆What do you think of the cultural atmosphere of Chinese football? The Chinese team is about to compete in the World Preliminaries, and Wumi Tijiang of the Three Towns team is one of the youngest internationals, do you have any attention to him?

I hope that in the subsequent qualifiers, the Chinese team can qualify and complete the goal of entering the World Cup, which will be the driving force for the development of national football. Speaking of Umitijan, he is a player who has surprised me a lot since I came to this team, he is excellent in all aspects, but he is still looking for his best form due to last year's injury, I am looking forward to his performance when he is fully recovered, and if he can keep working hard enough, he will have the opportunity to go to Europe in the future. Of course, in addition to him, there are many young players with potential in the team, and we are looking forward to them showing their level in the new season.

◆Wuhan Three Towns has a good youth training foundation, do you have any plans for the use of young players?

I have a point when it comes to player use – age is not the most important thing! It's the performance of the players in their training and the ability they show in the game that is the most important thing, and the deciding factor is not age.

◆Last year there were a lot of ups and downs, and this year your number one goal is relegation, how do you make your results more consistent?

I have some insight into last year, but I don't want to talk too much about it, because any team in the world of football can have ups and downs and there are many factors that can influence it. For this year's competition, I will always emphasize the spirit of the team and everyone should stick together. As long as we maintain this attitude, I think the team will be relatively stable this year.

◆This year is a rebuilding year for the team, and it is also a new starting point for you who have just arrived in China, have you ever wondered what this experience will mean for your coaching career?

I hope that by the end of the season, I can bring a good result to the club and be recognized by the club, the fans and the city of Wuhan, which is my greatest significance. We need to be down-to-earth, start from reality, first achieve the goal of relegation, and then try to move up the rankings.