On March 1, Shenhua introduced four new reinforcements in the winter window, namely Luis, Manafa, Xie Pengfei and Gao Tianyi, of which Xie Pengfei became the king of the winter window's internal reinforcements with 1.16 million euros. Talking about Shenhua's new recruits, Oriental Sports Daily wrote that Xie Pengfei can complement Han Chao's strengths.
Luis: Great ability, great attitude.
After making his official debut in the Super Bowl, Luis' performance conquered most Chinese fans. Outstanding ability and better attitude! Luis' position is center forward. Although he is only 1.84 meters tall, he usually scores goals in the form of headers. This season, he contributed 6 goals and 2 assists in the Portuguese supermarket.
From a set piece perspective, most of Luis' headers were an unmarked strike, which shows that he has a good nose for goal. In the Super Bowl, Luis' pivot plays a clear role, as he excels in possession and rarely loses the ball. By far, Luis' biggest weakness is passing. It's also worth noting that Luis has a surprisingly professional attitude. He did his best in the Super Bowl. The upside is far from over for the 29-year-old center.
Manafa: purely European wingback
Manafa is a pure modern European side defense. Whatever tactical system Slutsky wants to play, Manafa is absolutely capable and his importance is even more irreplaceable. In the match against Port, Shenhua focused mainly on defense, which is a good example of Manafa's physicality. It is because Manafa's right side takes the main responsibility for defense and his performance can be trusted by the coach and teammates that Shenhua dares to put more troops on the left side.
In the second half of the year, Shenhua increased their investment in offense, and more and more Manafa appeared in the front field. According to the technical statistics of the European League, Manafa's left and right feet are very balanced, so there is still a lot of his potential to be tapped, and Shenhua's value is far from being fully realized. Furthermore, he and his teammates are bonding, and his energy has not been fully released, so more can be expected from him.
Xie Pengfei: Complementary strengths with Han Chao.
At the moment, Xie Pengfei hasn't got a starting position at Shenhua. In the second half, he replaced Han Chao. In Slutsky's current tactical system, he temporarily lags behind in competition with his teammates. However, in just over 20 minutes of play, Xie Pengfei still showed a satisfactory performance and his completion of the tactical deployment left a good impression on the coach.
In terms of technical and tactical styles, Xie Pengfei and Yu Hanchao's characteristics do not conflict with each other, depending on the coach's tactical requirements. However, by signing Xie Pengfei in Wuhan Sanzhen, Shenhua must have expected him to contribute accordingly to the team. Moreover, at the age of 31, he is basically in his golden age and should have a bright future.
From the first official game of the new season, Xie Pengfei can make Slutsky happy. Xie Pengfei came in handy when the team needed to control the tempo. For the upcoming Chinese Super League, Shenhua won't always face strong opponents like Harbor, so there will be many matches where they need to play to Xie Pengfei's strengths.
Gao Tianyi: Waiting for the right time to build up
In terms of position, Gao Tianyi overlaps slightly with Xie Pengfei, with the former available as a 9 1/2. Therefore, when Luis needs to finish, the Slutskyites are Gao Tianyi.
Teixeira and Luiz are each placed in front of Gauthier in two positions where they excel, but there are many games in a season where Gauthier needs to wait for his chance. Compared to Teixeira, Gauteng has competition. Slutsky needs a lot of tactical reserves to face many different opponents in a season, among which Gao Tianyi's options must be available.
