In the 2024 season, Shanghai Shenhua started with five consecutive wins, setting a record in team history.
An article in the football newspaper wrote that the five-game winning streak is related to the coaching of head coach Slutsky, and it is also related to the introduction of internal and external aides such as Xie Pengfei, Gao Tianyi, Andre and Manafa in the new season.
André Luis scored four goals in five games and is tied with Teixeira as the team's top scorer. In addition, Luis also has two assists, which is very obvious in the fulcrum of the front, although Manafa did not score, he effectively improved the strength of Shenhua's attack and defense on the right side, and was considered by his teammates to be one of Shenhua's strongest right-backs.
At the same time, Shenhua is also the team that has scored the most goals and conceded the fewest goals this season, and the new Shenhua created by Slutsky is both offensive and defensive, full of vitality.
Five consecutive wins have made Shenhua the favourite, but Slutsky still kept a low profile: "It's too early to talk about the championship, after all, the league has only played five games, and I have to think about the next game now." "It's true that it's a little early to talk about the championship, but whoever doesn't pay attention to Shenhua will definitely suffer.
Now Shenhua fans are raising their eyebrows, not only successfully suppressing their opponents in the same city, but also attracting the attention of the Chinese Super League to Shanghai Tang.
Shanghai Shenhua has picked up a treasure, especially compared with his predecessor Wu Jingui, Slutsky is obviously likely to lead Shenhua to new glories.
Slutsky, whose full name is Leonid Slutsky, was born in Russia on May 4, 1971. The date of birth is about the same as "Brother 99".
In October 2009, Slutsky served as the head coach of the Russian Premier League powerhouse CSKA Moscow, and led the team to the knockout round of the Champions League for the first time that year, losing to the eventual champion Inter Milan by one goal over two legs in the quarter-finals. Two years later, Slutsky got his revenge by beating Inter Milan away in the final round of the Champions League group stage to qualify from the group.
During his seven years at the helm, Slutsky helped CSKA win three league titles (2012/13, 2013/14, 2015/16), two Russian Cup titles (2010/11, 2012/13) and two Russian Super Cup titles (2013, 2014), and he was named Russia's Coach of the Year three times.
Slutsky also had a brief stint in the national team. In mid-2015, Slutsky was appointed to succeed Capello as the head coach of the Russian national team, and finally led the Russian team out of adversity and reached the main match of the 2016 European Championship with four wins in four games in the European preliminary round.
Slutsky's coaching resume is mainly in CSKA Moscow, Russia, which is the king of the Russian Premier League, and it is not news to win the league championship, in fact, it is indeed a soft hand to win the championship. Shenhua is more interested in the performance of Slutsky's team in the Champions League. In his first year, he reached the quarter-finals and lost to Inter Milan.
Slutsky is not like a typical Russian, he looks rough on the outside, but he is a very meticulous person at heart. Slutsky walked unhurriedly and spoke slowly and coherently. In his football dictionary, one of the most frequently used words is "fast".
During training sessions, Slutsky constantly stressed to his players that he needed to kick the ball with one or two feet, not to drag mud and water, and that "before you are ready to receive a pass from a team-mate, you should observe in advance, your eyes should be faster than your feet". Slutsky pays a lot of attention to actual combat in training, emphasizing the speed of switching between attack and defense. Whether it is from offense to defense or from defense to offense, he requires players to complete the role change at the first time.
From this point of view, Slutsky found the key problem of Shenhua players or Chinese players, that is, the pace is too slow, the ball is slow, the reaction is slow, and the offensive and defensive conversion is slow!
I don't know how long the Shenhua phenomenon can last, but it is undeniable that Shenhua is definitely one of the favorites to win the championship.