Gao Hongbo stopped short of criticising the referee after his China side picked up their first point of the final phase of Asia's World Cup qualifying campaign on Tuesday with a 0-0 draw with Iran in Shenyang.
China lost their opening game against South Korea 3-2 on Thursday and could not afford to slip up again against Carlos Queiroz's team.
Gao was pleased his side had emerged with something from a difficult start to their attempt qualify for Russia, though he declined to comment on claims China should have been awarded a penalty when Jalal Hossaini appeared to bring down Wu Lei.
"The qualifying campaign is long and our group schedule isn't the best," Gao said. "I changed formation because we're facing the two best teams in our group and we had to arrange everything accordingly.
"You could see how Iran played in the first half. I'm not blaming the referee [Jordanian Adham Makhadmeh], but their physical approach put us in a very difficult situation.
"I'm satisfied with how the players performed. We still have eight rounds to go and I hope we see this scenario positively.
"It was a pity we lost the first game, but in the second game we improved ourselves. Every player contribute to his game and I thank them for that."
The Chinese will now take on Syria and Uzbekistan next month, hoping to add to their points tally.
Queiroz's side, meanwhile, move on to four points after their opening round win over Qatar last Tuesday, although the former Real Madrid manager left China less than pleased at not securing a second successive win.
"I'm a bit disappointed about the result because we had expected to win," he said. "We are the upper side in terms of possession and opportunities, I thought we could make it within 90 minutes.
"But to be honest not only us, but for other away teams playing in this atmosphere, it won't be easy for them to get points. So we are OK with taking one point with us."