Jiang Shenglong's Double Happiness: Shenhua's Hero Saves and Scores!

Shanghai Shenhua beat Qingdao Hainiu 2-0 at home with Jiang Shenglong and Ma Lailai scoring twice late in the game in a fierce duel on the night of the 15th. According to the official figures of the Chinese Super League, Shenhua scored 9 goals in the last 15 minutes (including injury time) this season, making them the team with the most goals in the final period of the league. This not only shows the team's tenacity and toughness at critical moments, but also deserves to be written about. After the match, Head Coach Slutsky concluded, "Cracking dense defenses is a difficult problem in the soccer world, but I'm glad the players didn't give up in the face of difficulties, they persisted until the last moment and finally won." ! [Match highlights](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/2024-05/2024051701544751607372784.jpg) Coach Slutsky continued his usual tactical setup. Despite Qingdao Manatees being in the bottom two in this match, there were few changes in the starting lineup. Malalele and Manafa, who was just released from suspension, returned to the starting lineup, while Amadou was rested due to injury. Xie Pengfei occupied the No.10 position, Wu Xi moved from right back to No.8, and Wang Haijian took Amadu's place. ! [Team lineup changes](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/2024-05/2024051701544756293992784.jpg) After the Super Cup and 11 rounds of league matches, some players have shown signs of fatigue, which directly affects their competitive status. From the last round of matches, Shenhua's intensity of stealing in the midfield and the speed of attacking and defending have decreased, so when facing the opponent's intensive defense, the attacking end seems to be unable to do anything. Teixeira's absence due to injury has also brought Shenhua a considerable impact. "In the face of the opponent's intensive defense, we will choose more side passes on the one hand, using the height advantage of the two centers, which may be more appropriate. On the other hand, we also need more passes and transfers from players in the middle to implement penetration passes. Xie Pengfei, today's No.10, is more suited to play on the wing. In the absence of Teixeira, players in the middle may miss the last pass, so we opted for more passing to create chances." However, Shenhua's passing was not as effective on the day. Throughout the game, Shenhua made 50 passes with a success rate of only 26%. On the pitch, when you respond aggressively, you will feel immense pleasure, but the effect is not as good as it should be. As a result, Coach Slutsky is constantly rocking back and forth in the coaching box. Today, he even got up and rushed to the side of the court and kept scratching his head. As the game progressed, the anxiety on Slutsky's face became more and more apparent. Shenhua was slow to open up the game and nearly took the lead due to mistakes. In the 75th minute, Bao Yaxiong's direct ball was cut off by Wang Jianming, who pushed the ball into the empty net. Luckily, Jiang Shenglong came back to the defense in time and successfully solved the danger. Jiang Shenglong said, "As a defender, I won't let others score easily. Someone on the defense always makes mistakes, but we will definitely make up for it." After the game, Coach Slutsky praised Jiang Shenglong as the team hero of the day. Not only did he successfully play defense, but he also scored his 1,500th goal for the team before the end of the game. In the 88th minute, Manafa passed down the right side, Mou Pengfei attacked and collided with the defense players, Jiang Shenglong shot into the left bow of the penalty area, which was the 1,500th goal in Shenhua's history. Jiang Shenglong said: "All our coaches and players didn't give up and insisted until the last moment. Because we are at home, others won't come up with a point so easily. We have to win the three points." After the goal, Shenhua players were relieved and soon welcomed the second goal. In the fourth minute of extra time, Luiz dipped a cross from the left side of the penalty area, and Han Chao crossed the ball from the bottom line on the left side of the penalty area for the substitute. Malelai shot in front of the goal and Shenhua finally beat Qingdao Hainiu by two goals. Coach Slutsky said, "Everyone could see that it was hard to score in today's game against the opponent's dense defense. I think if the first goal would have come earlier, we would have gotten more space and chances." As a matter of fact, positional ball is also a very effective way to crack the intensive defense. In today's game, Shenhua got as many as 10 corner kicks, but the overall threat was not big. Shenhua has many players with excellent footwork, such as Xie Pengfei and Xu Hao Yang, as well as high points like Jiang Shenglong and Luis, who has excellent heading ability. In the next interval, Shenhua can do more on corner kick tactics to get ready for the next tougher sprint game. Next week, the Chinese Super League will have a week of double matches, Shenhua will challenge Henan and Shenzhen Xinpengcheng on the road. The Chinese Super League will then take a short break for the International Match Day.