User blog comment:B214/Volume 23 discussion blog/@comment-139.190.27.252-20170326130301/@comment-26821288-20170326152846

Probably because losing against Dulio is much more benefetial for Issei than losing against Team God Alliance is. Dulio won because their coach completely out-witted Ravel. It shows that while Issei's brute force might be handy in times, and get the better of the better strategy, like what happened against Baraqiel, there are times when even a close match can't be won with that brute force.

Against Team God Alliance, Issei would have been losing probably because there are some really powerful Gods in the team, which doesn't tell us anything new, and if anything will just recycle the trend of simply losing to someone much stronger just because he's stronger, and Issei will not get the same benefit. Although, I do not say Issei doesn't understand this concept, it's just that he doesn't exactly use it.

And with that in mind, instead of simply losing to these absurdly strong beings just because, Issei might win against them in the end, by fixing DxD G or unlocking Great Red's power inside of him. But obviously enough, this is mostly my opinion, so it's not necessarily absolutely true, at all.