Special correspondent Gan Hui reported On the field, facing Qingdao Manatee, which is second to last in the league standings, Shanghai Shenhua, the leader of the home game, did not break the deadlock until the 87th minute. If they win two consecutive 0-0 games, Shenhua's slight advantage in the standings will be wiped out.
Off the field, Slutsky, who was used to swaying back and forth in the coach's box, couldn't sit still. He walked back and forth, constantly scratching his head with his hands, and his anxiety was clearly written on his face.
On the night of May 15, Shenhua fans would not have imagined that they would play so hard against Qingdao Manatee, which is in the relegation zone. What everyone didn't expect was that the 1,500th goal in Shenhua's team history would come so hard. After all, the team scored goals in the first 10 rounds, scoring a total of 25 goals, making it one of the most attacking teams in the Chinese Super League.
Fortunately, in difficult moments, the whole team did not give up. In the 6 minutes before the end of the game, Jiang Shenglong and Malele scored two goals in a row, and finally defeated Qingdao Manatee 2-0 at home, with a record of 12 games, 9 wins and 3 draws, accumulating 30 points, and continuing to lead the standings.
In the 88th minute, Manafa crossed from the right side, Mu Pengfei collided with the defensive team, and Jiang Shenglong scored with a shot from the left side of the penalty area. The Shanghai Stadium, which had been suppressed for 88 minutes, broke out. This is the goal that all Shenhua soldiers and fans have been waiting for for for 88 minutes, and it is also the 1,500th goal in the history of Shenhua.
After the game, Jiang Shenglong said, "All our coaches and players did not give up and persevered until the last moment. Because we're at home, we don't let someone else take a point out so easily, and we have to take those three points. ”
In the minds of many people, this is a victory that Shenhua should win and may win relatively easily. After all, the two teams are quite far apart in the standings. More importantly, Qingdao Manatee's defensive personnel in this game were not neat. The main central defenders Liu Junshuai and Milovic did not come to Shanghai due to injury, and the main right-back Li Hailong was suspended for a red card, so Sha Yibo and Liu Jiashen could only serve as central defenders, and Wang Jianming played a cameo role at right back.
The course of the game was not as expected. After missing the two major foreign players on the central axis, Teixeira and Amadou, Shenhua's attack was lively, but the actual effect was not too good. In particular, the speed of the transition between attack and defense is significantly slower than in the previous games, which also gives the opponent time to shrink the defense.
In the 75th minute, Shenhua almost lost the ball because of his own mistake. Bao Yaxiong's direct pass was broken by Wang Jianming, who pushed the empty goal, but fortunately, Jiang Shenglong quickly chased back to save the danger, so as to keep the goal intact. Jiang Shenglong said, "As a defender, I won't let others score easily, there are always mistakes in the defense, but we will make up for it." ”
After saving a goal, Jiang Shenglong scored in the final moments of the game to help the team win the game. Slutsky also praised Jiang Shenglong's performance, saying that he was the hero of the team in this game, "I think Jiang Shenglong was the hero of the team today, not only with a key goalmouth clearance, but also a crucial first goal, I think he should be the best player today." ”
Summing up the game after the game, Slutsky repeatedly mentioned breaking the dense defense. 'It's a big deal in world football, but I'm very happy that the players didn't give up in the face of the odds and fought until the last minute and scored.
Due to Shenhua's excellent performance this season, more and more teams have adopted a dense defensive strategy when facing Shenhua, but judging from the situation in the last two games, without Teixeira's tandem, Shenhua has become more difficult to break through the dense defense, "In the face of the opponent's dense defense, we will choose more wide crosses on the one hand, and with the height advantage of our two center forwards, this style of play may be more suitable." But we also have a second option, which is to need more central players to transfer and then deliver penetrating passes. Our No. 10 player today is Xie Pengfei, and his characteristics are more suitable for playing on the wing. In the absence of Teixeira, our central receiver may have been missing for the final pass, so we opted for more crosses to create chances. ”
In fact, set-pieces are also a better way to break down dense defenses. In this game, Shenhua won as many as 10 corners, but the corner kick coordination was not too successful and did not create much threat to the opponent. There are many players in the Shenhua team with good footwork, such as Xie Pengfei and Xu Haoyang, as well as Jiang Shenglong, Zhu Chenjie, Luis, etc., who have very good heading ability.
Up to now, Shenhua has played 12 rounds of league games, and except for the passive adjustment of injury and suspension, Slutsky has basically kept the starting lineup stable. However, after continuous battles, the physical fitness of individual main players has turned red, which directly affects the competitive state. Although Slutsky has his own set of coaching philosophy and employment principles, but under the dense schedule, a set of lineups will certainly not be able to support the whole season, how to rationally allocate the lineup, make full use of the bench players, is also one of the key factors for a team to maintain sustained combat effectiveness.
Of course, the most important thing for Shenhua at the moment is to play the last two rounds before the league break. Next week, Shenhua will play consecutive away games, against Henan and Shenzhen Xinpeng City. The overall strength of the two opponents is not strong, but with the thrilling victory over Qingdao Manatee on May 15, Shenhua must go all out.