March 22, Oriental Sports Daily disclosed that in a warm-up match at Kangqiao Sports Base, the goals scored by 35-year-old veteran Cao Jieding and 21-year-old starlet Liu Yujie not only evened the score for Shenhua, but also witnessed the team's "blue-blooded" spirit of passing on the fire.
The match between Shenhua and Nantong Zhiyun ended with a score of 2-2. Cao Jiding, the Chinese Super League veteran who put on Shenhua's uniform when Liu Yujie was 8 years old, is now playing alongside the latter, and the "blue-blooded" legacy between the two is just as Coach Slutsky had hoped it would be.
Facing Nantong Zhiyun's consecutive goals, Shenhua's overall strength has declined, but Coach Slutsky did not emphasize too much, after all, the national team's call-ups and the absence of Amadou and Malelei's two foreign aiders have brought about an impact on the team. He is more concerned about the performance of the players, emphasizing that "there is only one Shenhua team on the field.
For Slutsky, both individually and as a team, it is still in the early stages of progressing towards the set goals. In a TV interview, he said, "After taking over a new team, as a new coach, I need time to communicate tactics and principles to the players and explain my philosophy to them. I have to make them understand and learn how to put it into practice."
"In the preparation period, we organized business studies every night, filmed the tactical part of each session, edited it and showed it to the team, because they could only understand if we made it clear."
"After the first instructional game, the players asked a lot of questions. They gave feedback that if we followed this style of play, we might not be able to meet expectations and might run more and use up more energy. Therefore, we gave them a detailed explanation."
"For example, we should run more efficiently on the pitch rather than exerting ourselves at will. So we made targeted arrangements in training. Over time, everyone grew to understand the principles we were asking for. During the games, we gradually grew and eventually performed well. In this way, we will continue to improve, because in my opinion, this Shenhua team still has 20 to 25 percent room for improvement."
