HONG KONG (Reuters) - Gus Poyet has cast doubt on his future as Shanghai Shenhua coach after the big-spending club slipped to yet another defeat in the Chinese Super League on Wednesday.
With Carlos Tevez again absent from the forward line, the club slumped to a 3-0 loss at the hands of Guizhou Zhicheng for their eighth defeat in 20 league games so far this season.
It left Shenhua 11th in the league and well adrift in the battle for places in next year's Asian Champions League, 12 points behind Tianjin Quanjian in the third qualifying spot.
"I don't know what to say now," the Uruguayan said after the game.
"As coach I take responsibility for this match. I won't hide. I am proud of my job. However, I have reached my limit. I am not happy at all.
"Everything has its limit. I won't take responsibilities which are not mine. I don't want to say anything anymore because it won't be in my interests.
"I hope you won't ask more questions out of respect for me. Finally, I just want to say everyone has his limit."
Shenhua spent heavily in the close season to lure Tevez to China, offering the Argentine a salary believed to be amongst the highest in world football.
The club have struggled, however, crashing out of the Asian Champions League in the preliminary rounds in February before performing inconsistently on the domestic front.
Shenhua chief executive Wu Xiaohui, though, moved to quell speculation Poyet would leave after a meeting with the coach.
"We didn't talk about his resignation or laying him off," he said.
"We talked about how to face the upcoming matches."
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Nick Mulvenney)
