As night fell, Shanghai Shenhua and Shenzhen shook hands with a 0-0 score on the soccer field on the 9th. Although Shenhua's three consecutive victories were ended, they still hold the third place in the table.
In the 2022 season of the Chinese Super League, there are two teams that stand out. Interestingly, the head coaches of these two teams are both from Shanghai, yet their coaching styles are very different. One side is the offense-oriented Dalian Ren team, while the other side is the defense-oriented Shanghai Shenhua.
After 20 rounds of fierce battles, Shanghai Shenhua ranked third in the Chinese Super League with 40 points with 11 wins, 7 draws and 2 losses, scoring 27 goals and conceding 16. In many matches, Shenhua was at a disadvantage in all the data, and even won by virtue of the tenacious defense. For example, in the 21st round, facing Henan Songshan Longmen, Shenhua was behind their opponents in terms of ball possession, number of passes, number of shots on target, number of corners, and many other key data, but eventually won 1-0.
Perhaps there was an element of luck involved, but before the match against Dalian Ren, Shenhua had also won in the same way by coming back from a disadvantage. Therefore, the victory cannot be attributed purely to luck; efficiency might be a more appropriate explanation.
The most impressive thing about Shenhua this season is their indomitable attitude, even in the face of heavy pressure and difficulties, they still maintain a positive attitude. Whether it's the team's financial problems or the lack of foreign aid, Shenhua has shown an atmospheric and calm demeanor.
How did they do it? Shenhua may take full stock at the end of the season, but for now, every Shenhua man is working hard for it.
For soccer clubs, in good times, more attention is paid to the financial strength of the club, the overall strength of the players and business management. However, in adversity, although the player factor cannot be completely ignored, the importance of the management factor is more prominent. Because the most effective way to cope with the crisis and overcome the difficulties, the first thing to look at is the perception, interpretation and response of corporate managers to the crisis, to see how the management in the crisis to give all the members of the confidence, to inspire them to overcome the difficulties of the courage.
Insisting on "I am the main" is the core idea of Shenhua's self-help road this season. From the management to the first team and youth training, they are trying to adjust the balance of limited funds; from the coaching staff to the players, they are comprehensively formulating tactics and measuring the use of players; from the Shanghai elements to the culture of Shenhua, they are rallying more love, understanding and cohesion of the players to resist the difficulties.
"The pre-season preparations for this season have been quite tortuous, as I've mentioned in previous interviews, but we've taken these twists and turns as an asset to sharpen ourselves. In fact, since the second half of last year, the club has foreseen tougher times in 2022, and the entire force's business mindset has begun to transform." A Shenhua management said in an interview with a reporter that in the post-golden dollar era, Shenhua will inevitably encounter troubles, and their method of coping with the crisis is mainly to start from tapping into their own strengths, and try to find a road most suitable for them to take.
Bringing back Wu Jingui was the first major decision made by the management. After a long history of unpaid lawsuits, the only way to find a coach with deep affection for the club was to maintain his work ethic while enduring salary difficulties and knowing the team's personnel and tactical play inside out.
"When you look at it this way, there's no one better than Wu Jingui."
With the development of the soccer industry, multi-cultural integration has become a major trend. However, Shenhua, in the midst of difficulties, needs a team that is as capable of fighting tough battles as head coach Wu Jingui, and focuses more on professionalism with less talk of conditions. Such a team can't just rely on words to build, but needs to rely on the art of leadership and management to accomplish.
"Oasis Group is also in a difficult situation, but even so, still to the Shenhua club allocated some funds to cope with daily expenses. The club's management and some of the coaching staff are not paid for the time being, and this non-payment is their initiative to suffer themselves first and try not to aggravate the players. Ask the players to do, they have done it first, and do better." Shenhua will pay a part of the living expenses every month, and on time and according to the number, which gave the players a lot of confidence, let them know that Shenhua will never be the team that no one asked for, especially in the case of the Oasis itself is extraordinarily difficult, but also still did not give up on Shenhua.
In such a difficult situation, the management has insisted on "me" as the main focus, and has vigorously developed its own youth training to cultivate reserves and talents. So far, no coach or player in the youth training unit has been disbanded or left due to unpaid wages, and we are all waiting for the situation to get better, or rather, we are all willing to believe and unite around the current management to create a brand new future.
Good times may cover up a lot of things that are not done properly, and once a crisis comes, the problems will be exposed at once. Some teams seem to have been developing well over the years, but when a crisis comes, they are totally incapable of making effective responses. In a great environment, they do not realize that in fact, they will collapse at the touch of a button, and only in the face of difficulties can we see what the fundamental survival of the team relies on.
"Wu's use of personnel this season is actually very skillful, this year he built a tactical system with a kernel of Shanghai culture. The reason why this system is described as skillful is because Wu uses a broad-minded and open-minded vision to establish everything with rules and discipline, and is open and transparent to all people so as to be fair. The establishment of this system, in turn, can not be separated from the previous years in the attraction of the accumulation, it is this full accumulation and the cultivation of talent in the form of a grip to overcome the times." Generally speaking, the core tactical system of a force to see the maximum number of starts of the 11 people and the maximum playing time of the 11 people of the degree of overlap, the higher the degree of overlap, to rule out the possibility of no one available, a great possibility is to show that the head coach's tactical philosophy is clear, as well as the players used to tactical implementation in place, the degree of fit is high. Shenhua clearly belongs to the second possibility.
The 11 men with the most number of appearances and minutes for Shenhua so far in the 2022 season are Qian Jie to, Wang Haijian, Bassogo, Ma Zhen, Wu Xi, Cao Yunding, Zhu Chenjie, Park Jiajun, Jiang Shenglong, Jin Yangyang, and Wang Yi, and outside of them Liu Ruowanadium, Zhu Jianrong, and Yu Hanchao, who have also had a notable run of form in the tournament. What are the characteristics of these people together? These are either veteran Shenhua players themselves, such as Cao Yunding and Bo Jiajun, or young players coming out of Shanghai's youth training, such as Zhu Chenjie, Liu Ruofan, Jiang Shenglong and Wang Haijian. This has taken up half of the starting lineup.
Cao Yunding became famous in Shenhua, when he was very resolute in choosing to return to Shenhua to play, it is enough to show that his "blue-blooded gene". Zhu Jianrong's performance this season can be described as amazing, but no one can forget that he was rented out for so many years, and eventually returned to Shenhua after going around in circles, which proved to be a late bloomer for him. Qian Jie gave and Wang Yi, their journey to the Chinese professional league began at Shenhua, and Yu Hanchao said that in the period of his career suffered the biggest setback, it was Shenhua accepted him, so they both said that they must repay Shenhua.
Basogo has also made a huge difference, as his defensive stats are among the top in the Shenhua squad this season, and he has stuck with Shenhua despite being owed wages.
In fact, just looking at Cao Yunding, Bo Jiajun, Wu Xi, Zhu Chenjie, Jiang Shenglong, Wang Haijian and Liu Ruowanadium, their understanding of soccer and their performance on the field can already be a good illustration of Shanghai's soccer culture. With them as the central structure, Wu Jingui then crafts the remaining parts to blend and tacitly understand with the main structure.
This season's Shenhua team, the biggest change is that all people must participate in defense, all people can not casually aimless out of the ball, all field players can not grumble with each other, all the veteran players are necessary to do the most resolute example, to play the power of the model. Because of this, this season's Shenhua, seemingly not crazy and not put, but very resistant to attack, very rigid.
"If these young players are not loaned out to other teams to play on the game, do a full accumulation of experience, even if I can put them into the starting position resolutely, it is difficult not to pay the price of the results, like Zhu Jianrong, such as the player did not let go, but also the management's decision-making is very wise." This was the sentiment expressed by head coach Wu Jingui when talking about the use of Liu Ruowanadium, Jiang Shenglong and Zhu Jianrong.
It is because of this year's Shenhua unified all the people's views, beliefs, emphasizing the execution of reasonable playing style, only today's results, "regardless of how the future, now this group of players, never allow because of the results of the reason, let Shenhua honor dust."
"Weak things prefer peaceful surroundings, while anti-weak things grow out of chaos, and strong things don't care much about their surroundings." This is a quote from the famous modern thinker and best-selling author Nassim Nicholas Taleb. In the past years of Shenhua, from the management to the coaching staff to every player who joined Shenhua or stayed here, this quote is actually a true reflection of their inner world.
Shenhua's much-criticized reinforcements and business philosophy over the years have also proved to us, when the crisis comes, that ordinary people can't always read the logic and world of the powerful. Because we don't understand, we have to be cautious and watch carefully. If Shenhua could have stayed at its current ranking this year, perhaps this result sheet would have been a pleasant surprise in extraordinary times. However, what Shenhua now leaves behind is not only results, but also a kind of faith and a ray of hope. I don't know at the end of the season, who can turn this ray of hope into a beam of strong light, illuminating the whole Chinese soccer.
