Shanghai Shenhua has identified the head coach, and the players have also carried out intensive training for the new season of the Chinese Super League under the leadership of the coaching staff. Compared to most other teams, Shenhua started a little late this season, so it is more necessary to step up the pace. Compared to last season, the team has seen some changes in the main lineup.
Fans found that in recent days, the Training Shenhua coaching team has more familiar faces, and it turned out to be veteran Li Shuai. Originally a goalkeeper, a native of Qingdao, Shandong, Li Shuai played for Qingdao Manatee (i.e. Qingdao Zhongneng) and Guangzhou in his career before moving to Shanghai Shenhua in the 2016 season. So far in the team, Li Shuai has won the FA Cup championship trophy with the team and also competed in the AFC Champions League.
Li Shuai, who was born in 1982 when he first arrived in Shenhua, was about to turn 34 years old, so many fans believe that his main role after him is to be a substitute and play a "bottom" role. Unexpectedly, however, Li Shuai not only occupies the main position, but also seems to be more and more important with age. Last season, the 39-year-old Li Shuai still played 10 games in the Chinese Super League, with an attendance rate of nearly half. In 10 games, the players have conceded a total of 12 goals.
Many fans criticized Li Shuai for refusing to give way, occupying the main position and squeezing the development space of young players. But in fact, Li Shuai himself was also helpless. Shenhua has also been interested in training young goalkeepers in recent years, but the results have not been good. In 2019, the team began to reuse the 23-year-old Chen Zhao and gave a lot of opportunities to play. Players in the Chinese Super League made 16 appearances that season, conceding 29 goals, averaging more than 1.8 goals per game and only 2 clean sheets. In the face of opponents such as Guangzhou, Shandong Taishan, Shanghai Haigang, Jiangsu and other opponents with stronger offensive power, Shenhua is even more open, and almost every goal conceded is 3 starts. Conceding too many goals, more importantly, the attack was not decisive, and the goal was cowering, so Chen Zhao was taken down at the end of the season.
In the 2020 season, Shenhua introduced the national goal Zeng Cheng and let him serve as the main force, but only 1 year later, the player was exempted from the game due to injury. In this case, Li Shuai had to go out again, which is the main reason why Li Shuai was still standing in front of the Shenhua goal of the Chinese Super League last season.
However, in the new season, Shenhua fans may no longer need to worry about the goalkeeper problem. In the second half of last season, Shenhua, who was relegated, began to focus on training Ma Zhen and inspecting Xue Qinghao. The two are 23 years old and 21 years old, although they have less experience, but their performance on the spot is remarkable. If they are polished and given more practical training opportunities, both young players have the opportunity to grow into the main force of the team. In the 2022 season, the Shanghai Shenhua goalkeeper configuration is likely to be the competition's experienced Zeng Cheng with Ma Zhen and Xue Qinghao, two newcomers, which are more reasonable overall, so Li Shuai, who will turn 40 this year, will have no need to continue to stay. Exiting in time to make room and transform into a coach should be a better choice for him.
Overall, Li Shuai, who was mediocre during his time at Shenhua, was not very good, but he was relatively stable and always played his due role when the team needed it. Li Shuai, who looks forward to becoming a coach, can train more high-quality goalkeepers for Chinese football.