After the national football team played Singapore twice, Ivankovic has a deeper understanding of the players in various positions. In the goalkeeper position, Wang Dalei and Yan Junling will also have fierce competition, and in the left back, back and other positions, Ivankovic should need to conduct more inspections and strengthen the personnel reserves in various positions.
In particular, left-back Liu Yang, in the 4-1 home win over Singapore, Liu Yang's negligence in defense led to a draw. Liu Yang entered the national football team during the Lippi period, and once sat firmly in the main force, and his performance in the AFC Champions League with Luneng this season was also very good. In general, Liu Yang is a player with more delicate skills and stronger offense than defense, and he has also scored key goals in this round of the Chinese Super League, but if he faces a stronger opponent, Liu Yang's shortcomings in defense will be expanded.
In the third round of the Chinese Super League this season, Luneng lost 0-3 to Shenhua at home, and Liu Yang's left side was penetrated by Shenhua twice, especially the second goal, Teixeira carried Liu Yang into the penalty area and burst into the goal. It is not difficult to see that in the new season, the AFC Champions League, the World Preliminaries, and the Chinese Super League, Liu Yang is inevitably a little tired. Therefore, Ivankovic urgently needs to find a player to compete with him to improve the left side of the national football team.
Happily, in the Chinese Super League, excellent left-backs are constantly emerging.
At 18 o'clock on April 9, Beijing time, the fifth round of the 2024 season will be contested, and Nantong Zhiyun will play Shanghai SIPG at home. Li Shuai, a left-back who used to play for Dalian Ren, returned from injury and entered the starting lineup for two consecutive rounds. In this campaign, Li Shuai was extremely active on the left side, able to go up and down.
In Mouscott's tactical system, Li Shuai is more like a wing-back, not only to take on the heavy responsibility of defense, but also to participate in the attack. In the game, Li Shuai made 6 successful clearances, completed 2 interceptions, made 33 accurate passes, and made 2 accurate bottom crosses, with a pass success rate of 79%.
As SIPG took an early 3-0 lead in this game, Li Shuai was replaced with Wu Lei in the 69th minute of the game, because in the next round of the game, SIPG will face the championship rival Shandong Luneng at home. In the 2-2 draw between SIPG and Guoan in the last round, Li Shuai's performance was also very good.
Compared with Liu Yang, Li Shuai's style is tougher, which may be due to his experience in foreign countries. In 2014, Li Shuai joined Portuguese side Mafra and tried out for Ligue 1 powerhouse Montpellier and La Liga powerhouse Real Sociedad. In 2016, Li Shuai returned to China to play football and joined the Dalian team. In the 2022 season, Li Shuai joined Shanghai SIPG.
Due to his outstanding performance in the league, Li Shuai was selected for the U23 national football team in 2018 to compete in the U23 Asian Cup on home soil, and in the 3-0 win over Oman in the opening game, Li Shuai assisted Yang Liyu to score a goal. In 2019, Li Shuai was hand-picked by Lippi and selected for the national football team for the first time, and started the whole game in the national football team's 7-0 victory over Guam. In 2020, Li Shuai was also selected into the outstanding talent pool of the Chinese Super League and is a key player cultivated by the national brand.
I believe that Li Shuai's wonderful performance after his comeback, Ivan's team also sees it. Considering Liu Yang's leakage in defense, Li Shuai may get a chance, and Liu Yang may also be reduced to a substitute. In fact, Liu Yang also needs a player to compete with him, or two people to rotate, which is also a good thing for the national football team. (Xiong Yixuan)