Jia Yanfeng reported that on the evening of the 9th, Shanghai Shenhua shook hands with Shenzhen 0-0. Although Shenhua's dream of three consecutive victories was shattered, they are still in 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, but their coaching styles are very different. One side is the "attacking soccer" Dalian Ren team, while the other side is the "defensive counterattack" Shanghai Shenhua.
After 20 rounds of matches, Shanghai Shenhua is in the third place in the Chinese Super League with 40 points with 11 wins, 7 draws and 2 losses, scoring 27 goals and conceding 16. In many of the matches, Shenhua was able to maintain a draw or even win with a tough defense, despite being at a disadvantage in terms of stats. For example, in the 21st round against Henan Songshan Longmen, Shenhua's ball possession against Songshan was 25% to 75%, the number of passes was 213 to 645, the number of shots on goal was 3 to 6, and the number of corner kicks was 4 to 9....... Shenhua was at a disadvantage in a number of key figures, but still won 1-0 in the end.
There may have been an element of luck involved, but prior to the match against the Dalian Ren, Shenhua also achieved a turnaround after being underdogs for most of the match, and there have been similar situations going back, so you can't explain it all by luck alone; efficiency may be more appropriate.
The most impressive thing about this season's Shenhua team is that they never give up and are full of fighting spirit. Despite the fact that the team has been "suppressed" many times, despite the economic difficulties of the team, and despite the fact that the only foreign aid available is Bassogol, the Shenhua team of the 2022 season still maintains the atmosphere of calmness and steadiness.
How did they do it? Shenhua's performance like this should be fully summarized at the end of the season, but for now, every Shenhua man is working hard for this.
For soccer clubs, in good times, it is more important to look at the strength of funding, personnel strength and management level, while in adversity, although the personnel factor can not be completely ignored, but the importance of management level is more prominent. Because the fastest response to the crisis, the way to overcome the difficulties, first of all to see the business managers of the crisis cognition, interpretation and response to see how the management of the crisis to give all members of the confidence, inspire the courage to overcome the difficulties.
Insisting on "I am the main" is the core idea of Shenhua's annual self-help road. With the management of the management, adjust the limited funds balance between the first team and youth training; with the coaching team as the main, so that Coach Wu Jingui comprehensively formulate tactics, assessment of the use of the players; with the Shanghai elements, Shenhua culture as the main, so that more affection for Shenhua, understanding, cohesion of the players together to withstand the difficulties.
"The pre-season preparations for this season have been quite tortuous, as I've told you before in interviews, but we've all seen these twists and turns as an asset to sharpen ourselves. In fact, since the second half of last year, the club has realized that the days of 2022 will be even more difficult, the whole team's business ideas have begun to transform." A Shenhua management told reporters that in the post-golden dollar era, Shenhua inevitably encountered difficulties, Shenhua's method of coping with the crisis is mainly from the excavation of their own strength, and strive to find a road that best suits them to go.
Bringing back Wu Jingui was the first major decision made by the management. Hua Shuai's unpaid salary lawsuit has lasted for years with many negative consequences and impacts, and with the possibility of continued unpaid salary, the only way to get a coach with deep feelings for the club is to endure the salary difficulties without diminishing his work ethic, and also to have a good understanding of the team's personnel and tactical playing style.
When you look at it this way, there is no one better than Wu Jingui.
Professional soccer has developed to today, multi-cultural integration is a big trend, but in the plight of Shenhua, in fact, more need is a team with head coach Wu Jingui can fight hard, less talk about conditions more focus on professionalism. Such a team can not rely on words alone to build, to rely more on the art of leadership and management to complete.
"Oasis Group is also in a difficult situation, but even so, it has allocated some funds to Shenhua Club 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 us know that Shenhua will never be a team that no one asked for, especially Oasis in its own extraordinarily difficult situation, but also still did not give up on Shenhua.
In such difficult circumstances, the management has insisted on "me" as the main focus, and has vigorously developed its own youth training to nurture reserves and talents. So far, no coach or player in the youth training team has been dismissed or left due to unpaid wages, and we are all looking forward to the situation getting better, or rather, we are all willing to believe and unite around the current management to create a brand new future.
Good times can mask a lot of things that aren't being done right, and once a crisis hits, the problems can be exposed all at once. Some teams seem to have been developing quite well in these past years, but when a crisis comes, they are totally unable to make effective responses. In a great environment, and do not realize that in fact, they will collapse at the touch of a button, only in the face of difficulties, can see what the fundamental survival of the team relies on.
"Coach Wu's hiring this season was actually very skillful, and this year he created a tactical system with a kernel of Shanghai culture. The reason why this system is described as skillful is because Coach 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 highest number of starts of the 11 people and the most 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, high degree of fit. Shenhua clearly belongs to the second possibility.
The 11 men who have played the most number of matches 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 had a decent run of matches as well. What are the characteristics of these people together? These are either senior Shenhua players themselves, such as Cao Yunding and Bo Jiajun, or young players who have come 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.
Wu Xi became famous in Shenhua, when he was very resolute in choosing to return to Shenhua to play, it is enough to explain his "blue blood gene". Zhu Jianrong's performance this season can be described as amazing, but no one can forget that he has been on loan for so many years, and after going around in circles, he still came back to Shenhua, which proved to be a late bloomer for him. Qian Jie gave and Wang Yi, whose journey to the Chinese professional league began at Shenhua, and Yu Hanchao said that it was Shenhua that accepted him when he suffered the biggest setback in his career, so they both said that they had to 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 the defense, all people can not just aimlessly out of the ball, all field players can not complain to each other, all the veteran players are necessary to make the most resolute example, 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 were not sent out on loan to other teams to play on the game and do enough experience accumulation, even if I can put them into the main position to use them resolutely, it is difficult not to pay the price of the results, like Zhu Jianrong players 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 Ruowan vanadium, Jiang Shenglong and Zhu Jianrong.
It is because this year's Shenhua unified the views and beliefs of all people, emphasizing the implementation of the force, reasonable play, to have today's results, "regardless of how the future, now this group of players, never allow because of the results of the honor of Shenhua in the dust."
"The weak prefer peace and quiet, while the strong grow out of chaos, and tough things don't care much about their environment." 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 report card would have been a pleasant surprise in extraordinary times. However, what Shenhua now leaves behind is not only the results, but also a kind of faith and a ray of hope. I don't know who can turn this ray of hope into a strong light to illuminate the whole Chinese soccer at the end of the season.
