Facing Johor away, Shenhua will deploy their full-strength squad

Special contributor / Gan Hui On November 3rd, Shenhua will depart Shanghai for Singapore, then travel by bus to Johor Bahru, Malaysia, to face Johor DT in the 4th round of the AFC Champions League Elite East Asia group stage on November 5th. After three rounds, Shenhua has recorded 1 win, 1 draw, and 1 loss, accumulating 4 points, currently placing 5th in East Asia and remaining the top Chinese Super League team.

In the Chinese Super League, Shenhua has 61 points, ranking second, trailing the leader Shanghai Port by 2 points. The final league round on November 22nd will see Shenhua play away against Tianjin Jinmen Tiger, while Shanghai Port faces Yibo away. The outcomes of these two matches will determine the CSL champion this season. For Shenhua to overtake Shanghai Port and claim the title, they must win their game and hope Shanghai Port loses.

After the match against Xinpengcheng, Li Ke posted on his personal social media: “We will fight until the last game, everyone must unite.” Despite the must-win pressure in the final league round, Shenhua will still give their all in the AFC Champions League.

In Shenhua head coach Slutsky’s vocabulary, there is no such thing as “saving energy.” During the last round of the AFC Champions League Elite, coinciding with the crucial CSL title race, Shanghai Port and Chengdu Rongcheng both rotated their squads, but Slutsky fielded his full-strength lineup, with veteran Wu Xi even playing the entire match, battling fiercely against FC Seoul.

In the end, Shenhua won at home against Seoul, securing their first victory in this season’s AFC Champions League Elite, but the team was heavily drained. Four days later, in the home league match against Yibo, the squad’s performance was poor, resulting in a draw that cost them the chance to catch the league leader Shanghai Port.

A similar situation occurred last season. Before the penultimate league round, Shenhua hosted Kawasaki Frontale in the AFC Champions League Elite without rotation and won 2-0. However, in the following match against Xinpengcheng, Shenhua performed poorly, drew the game, lost the top spot, and ultimately missed out on the league championship.

The match against Johor DT is still half a month before the next CSL round. Clearly, with Slutsky’s character, he will spare no effort.

At the post-match press conference after last weekend’s game against Xinpengcheng, when asked about plans for the league’s final round and the break, Slutsky did not mention preparations for the last league match but instead said, “Right now, my main focus is on the upcoming AFC Champions League Elite round.”

Shenhua is no stranger to Johor DT, having faced them last season and suffered a 0-3 away defeat. After three rounds in the AFC Champions League Elite, both teams hold 1 win, 1 draw, and 1 loss, totaling 4 points. In the last round, Johor DT defeated Chengdu Rongcheng 2-0 in Chengdu.

With only the final CSL round remaining, teams have begun planning for the winter transfer window, and Shenhua also needs to prepare for next season’s lineup.

In the AFC Champions League Elite, Shenhua registered six foreign players: Asue, Andre, Teixeira, Manafa, Amadou who play in the league, and Minero who was withdrawn from the league roster due to injury. The club must soon decide which of these six foreign players will stay or leave.

Among the six foreign players, Asue, Minero, and Amadou still have contracts, with Amadou and Minero having suffered serious injuries. Amadou has yet to return to his best form; Minero recently recovered and came on as a substitute for over twenty minutes in the last match against FC Seoul, but his recovery still needs to be assessed through games. Teixeira, Manafa, and Andre’s contracts expire at the end of this year, and whether they part ways amicably or renew contracts will require a final decision from the club and coaching staff.

Therefore, during this stage of the AFC Champions League Elite, Slutsky might give foreign players more playing time and experiment with different lineups to gather more information for making decisions about their futures.

Among the six foreign players, Minero and Asue have not yet played together in an official match, and both are under contract. The effectiveness of this pairing also needs to be tested in real competition.

The 2025 season is nearing its end, and due to injuries and other factors affecting Shenhua’s foreign players, their overall performance has fallen short of expectations. Especially during the crucial title race phase, the foreign forwards did not perform as expected. If Shenhua wants to improve competitiveness next season, adjusting the foreign player lineup is essential.