The loss of the assistant coach leaving the team is not small, and Shenhua needs to go all out to win the next round of the AFC Champions League

Special correspondent Gan Hui reports In the 5th round of the AFC Champions League Elite League, facing South Korea's Gwangju FC, which ranked second in East Asia, Shenhua, who was playing away, finally lost 0-1. At the end of this round of matches, the three Chinese Super League teams Shanghai Shenhua, Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Port have a total of 7 points, ranking sixth to eighth in East Asia.

After the end of the Chinese Super League at the beginning of this month, Shenhua only had two games left in the AFC Champions League Elite League, but the team was still affected by injuries and could not send the strongest squad.

On this trip to South Korea, Amadou, Fernando and Jiang Shenglong did not travel with the team. Amadou and Fernando were injured in the final round of the league against Chengdu Rongcheng and are still in the recovery period and have not met the requirements to play. Jiang Shenglong participated in the round of 18 of the World Preliminary Tournament with Bahrain and Japan with the national football team, but near the end of the match with the Japanese team, he was replaced with an adductor muscle strain. After returning to Shanghai from Xiamen, Jiang Shenglong actively underwent treatment and recovered, but he still could not catch up with the match against Gwangju. Although Eddie played very well in this game and appeared in key positions many times to complete successful defense, but in the link from defense to offense, the absence of core players still affected the operation of the entire system to a certain extent.

The goal conceded by Shenhua in this game came from a mistake in defense. In the 56th minute of the game, Gwangju FC took the lead in substitution, and Albanian international Asani came on. Just 20 seconds into the game, Gwangju FC took advantage of a corner kick and Asani was unmarked and blasted home from the ball. At that time, there were many defenders in the Shenhua penalty area, but everyone almost stood in a line, lacking depth and protection, resulting in Asani, the scorer who appeared near the penalty spot, unmarked.

It is worth mentioning that the night before the match against Gwangju FC, Shenhua FC announced that Vasily Berezutsky would no longer be the team's assistant coach for personal reasons. The name Vasily Berezutsky rarely appears in everyone's eyes, but he plays a very important role in Shenhua, especially in Slutsky's coaching team, and also plays a very key role.

In the 2024 season of the Chinese Super League, Shenhua was able to achieve results that exceeded many people's expectations, and in the final stage of the league, it still clung to the harbor with super foreign aid, and its excellent defense contributed to it. Over the course of the season, Shenhua has conceded just 20 goals, the fewest goals conceded by any team in the Chinese Super League, and 10 fewer than the champions Harbour. In the Shenhua coaching staff, Vasily Berezutsky is the coach in charge of defense. As a result of being invited to be the head coach of the Azerbaijani team Sabah Baku, Vasily Berezutsky left Shenhua. In the new season, whether Slutsky can still bring such a high level of assistant coaches to Shenhua and can soon bring substantial improvement to the team will also have a direct impact on Shenhua's journey next season, just like the reinforcements during the winter break.

In the next round of the AFC Champions League Elite League, Shenhua will return to their home stadium to play another K-League team, Ulsan HD. Contrary to Gwangju's all-out campaign for the AFC Champions League, Ulsan HD has made the domestic league the main battlefield this season, and the team has achieved the great feat of winning the K League three times in a row. On November 30, Ulsan HD will challenge for a double title against Pohang Steelers in the final of the Korean FA Cup. However, in the AFC Champions League Elite League, Ulsan HD has lost all five games and accumulated 0 points, and is at the bottom of the East Asian region, with the team scoring 1 goal and conceding 13 goals so far. So, if Shenhua wants to take a good position in the next stage of the competition to qualify for the AFC Champions League Elite League, they will have to go all out to win the match against Ulsan HD.

Slutsky was not satisfied with the team's performance after losing the game against Gwangju FC, but he believes that the team can perform better in the next match against Ulsan HD, "In this game, we were behind each other in terms of overall offensive and defensive transition and speed, and we lacked a sense of rhythm on the field after not playing a competitive game for a long time. It's not just about the starters, it's about the substitutes, we haven't been getting into the rhythm of the game, we've been a little slow in all aspects, so it's clear how the result is going. I think after today's game, we'll be better at home next week. ”

Teixeira will accumulate a yellow card for the next round against Ulsan HD due to a yellow card against Gwangju. This season, in Teixeira's absence, Shenhua's offensive organization will be greatly affected. And if they want to win against Ulsan HD, Shenhua will have to make a difference on the offensive end. Obviously, how to make up for the impact of Teixeira's suspension as much as possible has become one of the key points in Slutsky's preparation. If they want to reach the second stage of the AFC Champions League Elite League, Shenhua has no way back and must beat Ulsan HD next week.