By Gan Hui, Special Correspondent Facing Qingdao Hainiu, who are second from the bottom of the league table, home leader Shanghai Shenhua didn't break the deadlock until the 87th minute. If you harvest two 0-0s in a row, Shenhua's disadvantageous advantage in the table disappears.
Off the field, Slutsky, who was used to rocking back and forth in the coach's box, couldn't sit still. He walked around and kept scratching his head with his hand, anxiety and clearly written on his face.
On the night of May 15, Shenhua fans would not have expected that playing against Qingdao Hainiu in the relegation zone would be so difficult and dangerous. I didn't expect Shenhua's 1,500th goal in history to be so difficult. After all, the team scored like crazy in the first 10 rounds, with a total of 25 goals, and is one of the most attacking teams in the Chinese Super League.
Fortunately, the whole team didn't give up at the difficult moment. Jiang Shenglong and Malelai scored two consecutive goals six minutes before the end of the game to beat Qingdao Hainiu 2-0 at home and continue to lead the table with 9 wins, 3 draws and 30 points in 12 matches.
In the 88th minute, in the Manafa right bottom pass, Mou Pengfei and the defense players collision, Jiang Shenglong left foot bow pad in the penalty area broke the goal. Shanghai Stadium erupted and suppressed for 88 minutes. This was the goal that all the soldiers and fans of Shenhua had waited for 88 minutes, and it was also the 1,500th goal in the history of Shenhua.
After the game, Jiang Shenglong said: "All our coaches and players didn't give up and insisted until the last moment. Because we are at home, it won't be so easy for others to come up with a point. We have to win the three points."
In many people's minds, this was a win that Shenhua should have won, and probably more easily could have. After all, there is a big gap between the two teams in the table. What's more, Qingdao Hainiu didn't have a full complement of defenders in this game. Main center backs Liu Junshuai and Milovic are out of Shanghai due to injuries. Main right back Li Hailong is suspended for red card, Sha Yibo and Liu Jiaxun can only play as center back, and Wang Jianming is playing as right back.
The whole game didn't go the way everyone thought it would. After the lack of two foreign aiders Teixeira and Amadou in the central axis, Shenhua's offense was very lively, but the actual effect was not very good. Especially in the speed of the transition between offense and defense, it is obviously much slower than the previous games, which also gave the opponent time to narrow the defense.
Shenhua almost conceded a goal in the 75th minute due to their own mistake. Bao Yaxiong's direct pass was broken up by Wang, who launched an open goal. Fortunately, Jiang Shenglong quickly returned to rescue the insurance so that he could keep the goal. Jiang Shenglong said: "As a defender, I won't let others score easily. There are always mistakes on the defense, but we'll make up for it."
After making a save, Jiang Shenglong scored on a breakaway late in the game to help his team win the game. Slutsky also praised Jiang Shenglong's performance as the team's hero in the game. "I think Jiang Shenglong was the hero of the team today. Not only did he have a key goal clearance, but he also scored the crucial first goal. I think he should be the best player today."
Summarizing the whole game after the match, Slutsky repeatedly mentioned breaking the dense defense. "Breaking dense defenses is a recognized problem in world soccer, but I'm glad the players didn't give up in the face of difficulties. They fought until the last moment and scored the goal."
Due to Shenhua's excellent performance this season, more and more teams have adopted the strategy of intensive defense when facing Shenhua. However, from the situation of the last two games, without the tandem of Teixeira, Shenhua became more difficult in breaking the intensive defense. "Facing the opponent's intensive defense, on the one hand, we will choose more side passes, together with the height advantage of our two centers, this kind of play may be more suitable. But we also have a second option, which is that we need more players in the middle to pass and shift the ball and then send penetrating passes. Our No. 10 player today is Xie Pengfei, who has more characteristics or is more suitable to play on the side."
As a matter of fact, set-pieces are also a good way to break the dense defense. In this game, Shenhua got as many as 10 corner kicks, but the coordination of the corner kicks was not very successful and did not pose much threat to the opponents. Shenhua has a lot of players with good footwork, such as Xie Pengfei and Xu Haoyang, as well as Jiang Shenglong, Zhu Chenjie and Luis. The header ability is very good. They can do more on corner kick tactics and design some novel tactical cooperation.
So far, Shenhua has played 12 rounds of league games, Slutsky basically kept the stability of the starting lineup, except for the passive adjustment of the injury suspension. However, after constant battles, the stamina of individual starters has lit up the red light, directly affecting their competitive status. Although Slutsky has his own teaching philosophy and employment principles, but under the intensive schedule, a set of lineups certainly can not support the whole season. How to reasonably allocate the lineup and make full use of the bench players is also one of the key factors for a team to maintain a sustained fighting force.
Of course, the most important thing for Shenhua at the moment is to play the last two games before the league break. Next week, Shenhua will play consecutive away games against Henan and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng. The overall strength of the two opponents is not strong, but Shenhua must go all out in order to beat Qingdao Hainiu on May 15 in a thrilling game.
