World-Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi was well known in Italy for his soccer philosophy of defense and counter-attack.

But in China, the Guangzhou Evergrande coach is unhappy that his tactics are being questioned.

"We created many opportunities to score and played very hard to stop counter-attacking from the Japanese side. If the boys were more determined in attack, we would have scored more goals today," said the 64-year-old Italian after Guangzhou edged out Japanese Emperor's Cup winner FC Tokyo 1-0 in his first Asian Champions League test on Wednesday.