By Gan Hui, Special Correspondent Qingdao Hainiu is struggling at the bottom of the table, while Shanghai Shenhua finally broke the deadlock after 87 minutes of fierce battle at home. If Shenhua draws twice in a row, its disadvantage in the table will be exacerbated.
On the sidelines, Slutsky in the coach's box was fretting and hurrying, anxiety written all over his face.
On the night of May 15th, Shenhua fans never expected that the match with Qingdao Hainiu would be so difficult. Shenhua's 1,500th goal in the team's history was so hard to come by. After all, the team's first 10 rounds of goals like rain, a total of 25 goals, the Super League firepower.
Fortunately, all Shenhua players did not give up at the crucial moment. At the end of the match, Jiang Shenglong and Ma Lailai scored two consecutive goals to turn back 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, after Manafa's precise pass from the right, Mou Pengfei touched with the defense players and Jiang Shenglong's left-footed shot inside the penalty area broke the goal. Shanghai Stadium was boiling, the tension that had been suppressed for 88 minutes was instantly released. This is the long awaited goal for Shenhua fans and soldiers, and the 1500th goal in Shenhua team history.
After the game, Jiang Shenglong said, "The coaches and players didn't give up and insisted until the last moment. As a home game, we must not let our opponents score easily. We must win this three-point battle."
In the eyes of many, this was a game that Shenhua deserved to win, and perhaps could have won more easily. After all, the gap between the two teams in the table is quite large. More importantly, Qingdao Hainiu's defense was incomplete. Star center backs Liu Junshuai and Milovic were out due to injuries, star right back Li Hailong was suspended with a red card, Sha Yibo and Liu Jiaxun were forced to play as center backs, and Wang Jianming played as a temporary right back.
However, the game did not go as expected. In the absence of two foreign aiders Teixeira and Amadou in the central axis, Shenhua's offense was enthusiastic, but the actual effect was not ideal. Especially in the speed of offense and defense transition, obviously much slower than before, which also gave the opponent the opportunity to adjust the defense.
Shenhua nearly conceded a goal in the 75th minute due to a mistake. Bao Yaxiong's direct ball was cut off by Wang Jianming, who pushed out an open goal. Fortunately, Jiang Shenglong was back in time to save the goal. Jiang Shenglong said, "As a defender, I won't let the opponent score easily. There are always mistakes made on the defensive line, but we will make up for it."
After making a save, Jiang Shenglong scored on a breakaway late in the game to help seal the win. Slutsky also praised Jiang Shenglong's performance as a credit to 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, Slutsky mentioned several times how to crack the dense defense. "Cracking a dense defense is a recognized challenge in the soccer world, but I'm glad the players didn't give up in the face of difficulties. They fought until the last moment and finally scored."
Due to Shenhua's outstanding performance this season, more and more teams have started to adopt intensive defense strategy. However, from the last two games, without the tandem of Teixeira, Shenhua became more difficult to break the dense defense. "Facing the opponent's intensive defense, on the one hand, we will choose more side passes, using the height advantage of the two centers. On the other hand, we can also choose more players in the middle to pass and transfer, and then send penetrating passes. Today's No. 10 player, Xie Pengfei, has characteristics more suitable for playing on the side."
As a matter of fact, set piece is also a good way to break the dense defense. In this game, Shenhua got as many as 10 corners, but the corners were not successful and did not pose much threat to the opponents. Shenhua has many players with excellent footwork, such as Xie Pengfei and Xu Haoyang, as well as Jiang Shenglong, Zhu Chenjie and Luis, who have outstanding header ability. They can make more efforts on corner kick tactics and design novel tactical coordination.
Up to now, Shenhua has played 12 rounds of league games, and Slutsky has basically maintained the stability of the starting lineup, except for the passive adjustment of injuries and suspensions. However, after consecutive battles, the stamina of individual starters has run out, 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 lineups and make full use of bench players is also one of the key factors for a team to maintain continuous fighting power.
Of course, the most important task for Shenhua at present is to play the last two games before the league break. Next week, Shenhua will challenge Henan and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng on the road consecutively. Although the overall strength of the two opponents is not strong, Shenhua must go all out in order to beat Qingdao Hainiu on May 15 in a thrilling way.
