As the battle raged on, the growing strength of Changchun Yatai had the last laugh in a seemingly impossible match. May 17th, two undefeated teams in the Suzhou region, Changchun Yatai and Shanghai Shenhua, met in the fifth round of the Chinese Super League, and finally, thanks to Wang Peng's fatal strike, the promoted Changchun Yatai beat Shanghai Shenhua 1-0, marking their first win of the season and extending their own undefeated streak. Shanghai Shenhua, ushering in their first win of the season and extending their unbeaten streak to five rounds.
"First of all, I have to give credit to my players! With no advantage in strength, we were able to play proactively and positively as well as strictly execute the pre-match deployment of the coaching staff. At the same time, I also want to thank the Yatai fans who traveled a long way." At the post-match press conference, Changchun Yatai manager Chen Yang smiled confidently.
After this round, Changchun Yatai is in the second place of Suzhou Region with 9 points with 2 wins and 3 draws, and has moved up to the third place in the overall ranking list, showing its dark horse character.
Talking about the key to Changchun Yatai's victory, Chen Yang revealed that the coaching staff predicted that Shanghai Shenhua would adopt a man-to-man tactic, focusing on defending Changchun Yatai's midfield core Serginho, "As the opponent invested too many troops in the midfield entanglement, it created a lot of openings for us. We played a positive role by utilizing our center backs to keep plugging in and assisting, with Wang Peng scoring the winning goal late in the game."
This season's Super League, Changchun Yatai and Shanghai Shenhua can be said to be strong - during the preparations, Changchun Yatai's wave of "firepower" attraction action people see the determination of the promoted horse back to the Super League.
In contrast, Shanghai Shenhua has experienced players such as Yu Hanchao, Li Shuai, Qin Sheng, Feng Xiaoting, Zeng Cheng, Peng Xinli, Wen Jiabao, etc., plus Changchun Yatai's old players such as Adrian, Yang Xu, Zhao Mingjian, etc., so their strength is obviously higher than that of the promoted horse. Even if Zeng Cheng and Peng Xinli are injured, and Wu Xi goes to the national team training, the outside world is still generally optimistic that Shanghai Shenhua can win.
In terms of tactical play, however, the two teams share striking similarities. In the first four rounds, both teams showed the tactical characteristics of realizing quick counterattacks in high pressing. Beijing Guoan, which is good at passing and controlling, Shanghai Seaport, which has top foreign aid, as well as Dalian People, Tianjin Jinmen Tiger and Wuhan, all have difficulties in dealing with the precise man-to-man tactics of the two coaches.
However, the final result of the game still depends on the coach's on-field adjustments and the players' instant play. In this game, Changchun Yatai used a combination of man-to-man and high-pressing tactics against Shanghai Shenhua. Chen Yang cracked Cui Kangxi's man-to-man tactics by "sacrificing" Serginho, and the three center backs, Okore, Sun Jie, and Wang Peng, frequently intervened, which disrupted Shanghai Shenhua's deployment in midfield, and Changchun Yatai also tore open the opponent's defense. Changchun Yatai also tore apart the opponent's defense, and finally in the 81st minute by Wang Peng planned the attack and scored the game-winning goal.
