Shanghai Shenhua suffered a heavy blow in the critical stage of the Chinese Super League championship. The recent draw with Shandong Taishan 3-3 has undoubtedly dealt a serious blow to the team's morale. In the game, Shenhua took the lead three times, but was quickly equalized by her opponent, and eventually lost almost the victory. After this game, their position in the standings has dropped to third, and the situation of winning the championship has suddenly become serious.
The most prominent problem in Shenhua at present is that it clearly lacks the ability to lock in the victory in regular time. Previously, the offensive core players such as Inteixeira and Louis were injured, and the team fell into a goal drought; although they scored three goals in this game, the offensive end improved slightly, but the defensive end frequently found loopholes. Players such as Jiang Shenglong and Xue Qinghao performed poorly, especially Shandong foreign aid Kazaishvili scored three consecutive goals to complete a hat-trick, revealing the fragility of the overall defense line.
Sunhua seems to be trapped in the cycle of "demolition of the east and repairing the west and the west" - as soon as one problem was relieved, another problem immediately emerged. The team seems to be constantly deviating from the winning track. This is no longer a temporary state fluctuation, but a concentrated outbreak of multiple hidden dangers. Taking the goalkeeper position as an example, Xue Qinghao's performance has been questioned since July, but the team seems to have no other choice: re-activated Bao Yaxiong may bring greater risks, so they can only continue to use Xue Qinghao, and such a choice is obviously paying the price.
The goalkeeper problem is just the tip of the iceberg. What is even more worrying is the imbalance of head coach Slutsky's mentality. After the game, he publicly stated that he was "almost desperate to die" and even said bluntly, "Does he have to score six goals to win?" The coach was the first to reveal his collapse, and the confidence and fighting spirit of the players can be imagined how much impact it will be.
At the beginning of this season, due to the decline in Shanghai Harbour's performance, Shenhua was once regarded as the biggest favorite to win the Chinese Super League, and the retention of the main lineup last year also made people have high expectations. However, the season has entered a critical stage, and the team has repeatedly lost track. If it cannot adjust quickly, maybe there is no need to wait for the "Fight of Tianwang Mountain" between Tianjin Jinmen Tiger in the last round, and Shenhua will personally destroy the hope of "leave the champion in Shanghai" in advance.
