On the night of November 27th in Beijing, the East Asian Champions League was in full swing, and in the fifth round of the tournament, Chinese Super League powerhouse Shanghai Shenhua traveled to Gwangju Stadium in the K-League in South Korea. In the end, after a fierce battle, Shenhua failed to break through the deadlock and suffered their first defeat in this year's AFC Champions League, which is also their second loss this season, slipping to the sixth place in the East Asia Region in the table, and the road to promotion is covered with a layer of fog.
This game is not only a test of Shenhua's technical and tactical level, but also a test of the problems exposed after a long time of not participating in official matches. After the match, Shenhua's manager Slutsky confessed the root cause of the team's loss in the press conference.
Slutsky bluntly said that there was a significant gap between Shenhua and Gwangju in terms of the speed of offensive and defensive transitions. He said, "From the whole game, we looked sluggish in our offensive and defensive transitions and struggled to synchronize with our opponents. Gwangju showed a faster tempo and stronger teamwork, making us look more passive on the field."
Slutsky's speech revealed a deep reflection on the current situation of the team. In his opinion, Shenhua's long absence from official matches has really affected the team's form. The rhythm of the players is not as good as that of the opponents, and both the starters and the substitutes have difficulties in adapting to the rhythm of the game quickly, resulting in the team's offense and defense not being smooth enough and failing to give full play to their strengths. Slutsky's words are undoubtedly the root cause of Shanghai Shenhua's loss to Gwangju.
Talking about the team's performance, Slutsky pointed out that the players were slow in the game, lagging behind our opponents in terms of reaction speed and frequency of movement, which put us at a disadvantage in terms of fighting for the ball, defending against our opponents' attacks, and rapid counter-attacks. In addition, our lack of precision in passing and receiving further exacerbated the passive situation on the field.
Despite the defeat, Slutsky did not lose confidence in his team. He emphasized that after this loss, Shenhua players will be more clear about their shortcomings and improvements. We will be back home next week to face the AFC Champions League, and we will be in better shape. According to the schedule of the AFC Champions League, Shanghai Shenhua will host Ulsan HD, who is at the bottom of the table in South Korea, and as long as Shenhua plays at their normal level, they have a good chance to beat Ulsan HD. Shanghai Shenhua is expected not to disappoint the Chinese fans again.
