But the next difficulty is... Let Slutsky give a birthday gift and fall in love with the attacking Shenhua team
On May 5, in the tenth round of the Chinese Super League, Shanghai Shenhua defeated the Zhejiang team 4-0 at home after defeating the Cangzhou Lions 4-0 in the previous round. Shenhua currently has a record of 8 wins and 2 draws with 26 points, continuing to consolidate its position at the top of the league rankings.
If Shenhua hadn't missed many shooting opportunities in the first half, the score might have been much more than 4-0. Malele was sent off for "two yellows and one red"; Teixeira suffered a thigh strain; accidents occurred frequently, which also made the game ups and downs.
The opponent Zhejiang team in this round is currently ranked eighth. Due to its victory over Shenhua in the last round of last season, the latter eventually lost its third place in the league and slipped to fifth. The Zhejiang team is a team with strong offense and weak defense. Center Leonardo was the Chinese Super League Golden Boot last season. Therefore, the Shenhua team played proactively from the beginning of this campaign and created many dangerous situations in the opponent's half.
The advantage could not be converted into goals, which made Shenhua players a little impatient. Until the 41st minute, Shenhua got a corner kick opportunity. Amadou met the ball outside the penalty area and scored with an angry shot. This was his first goal of the season. After breaking through this layer of window paper, Shenhua’s wave of offensive also became More violent. In the 45th minute, Teixeira broke through in the penalty area and was tripped. Malele took a penalty kick and the team took a 2-0 lead in the first half.
In the second half, when Malele left the field, Luis became a single arrow forward and began his performance time. In the 78th minute, Wang Haijian pushed across the goal, and Louis easily succeeded in pushing the ball in front of the goal; in the 90th minute, Xie Pengfei passed the ball back from a triangle, and Louis scored twice with a powerful shot.
After the game, Shenhua head coach Slutsky spoke highly of the team's performance, "We controlled the overall rhythm of this game very well. There were many opportunities in the first half. It was a pity that Malele accepted it in the second half. The second yellow card caused us to be a bit passive for a certain period of time. However, after the opponent also sent off one person, the situation became even, and then we scored two goals through counterattack. I am very satisfied with the team's performance."
With two consecutive games of 4-0, Shenhua's strong performance made the fans emotional. When it comes to the team's status, Slutsky is still tight-lipped, "I think it's difficult to judge the team's current status. The game needs to be played on a field, and I will work hard to mobilize the status of each player and arrange different situations." Combinations of players come out to deal with different opponents.”
Luis, who joined Shenhua this season, currently scores 9 goals, ranking first in the team. Slutsky praised Luis, "Luis' goals and assists only reflect part of his role on the field. He is also very helpful to the team. You can see that he runs and fights without hesitation, and at the same time on the defensive end He dropped deep and helped the team defend, which is what we want to see, and his performance was very good.”
Malele will be suspended for one round, and Teixeira's injury needs further examination. In May, Shenhua still has 4 Chinese Super League games. The schedule is intensive and the absence of personnel will bring certain challenges to Slutsky's formation. Thankfully, the bench players are slowly coming into their own. Xie Pengfei and Lewis's frontcourt cooperation became more tacit; Dai Weijun scored a goal even though it was offside, but he played with confidence.
Slutsky said, "As Dai Weijun has been in the team longer and longer, we have also found that his performance in training is very good. He deserves more and more playing time. We hope he can become a starter in the future. one."
May 4th is Slutsky’s birthday. After the game, the fans in the stands sang a happy birthday song, which made Slutsky very heart-warming. “I am very grateful to the fans for their blessings to me. When we had dinner yesterday, the whole team A very beautiful cake was given to me. I also frankly told everyone that I don’t think the cake alone is enough. I hope there is another victory for me.”
The team's speed has increased significantly, their offensive firepower is fully unleashed, and Shenhua's overall strength has reached a new level. However, various situations during the game also reminded the Shenhua team that championship teams still have many required courses, such as how to maintain a good mentality when they cannot attack for a long time, how to balance the defensive transition after a large-scale attack, etc. As the league progresses, maintaining the team's combat effectiveness and controlling injuries will also be issues Slutsky faces.
