Changes and changes in Shenhua in 2025: defensive regression + tactics have been explored, but fortunately, the "two elders" are still brave

Special correspondent Gan Hui reports After the match with Zhejiang, Shenhua won 4 and drew 2 and accumulated 14 points, temporarily leading the 2025 Chinese Super League standings alone.

In Bislutsky's first season in charge, Shenhua still maintained enough fighting power and intensity to overwhelm their opponents in the final stages of the game. So far this season, except for the second round of the league against Beijing Guoan, Shenhua has scored in the last 30 minutes of the other five games. The veteran Han Super League also continued the magic of last season, coming off the bench and repeatedly delivering goals that decided the direction of the game. Yu Hanchao and lore have become the two key words of Shenhua.

The ups and downs and passionate game process is certainly exciting, but once it is normalized, especially against a team whose overall strength is weaker than itself, it needs to be calmly summarized. Compared with last season, Shenhua's regression on the defensive end is obvious, and the state of individual main players has declined significantly. The league is a nine-month marathon, and not being able to show some dominance against teams in the lower middle of the table is obviously not a good sign.

In the Chinese Super League, each team often plays with foreign players with domestic players, and the level and performance of foreign aid determine the upper limit of the team. However, this did not show up in Shenhua. Shenhua is Wu Xi and Yu Hanchao, two veterans who lead everyone to play, and at many critical moments, it is often the "two elders" who come forward.

After six rounds of the Chinese Super League, captain Wu Xi scored two goals and provided two assists. Affected by injury, Yu Hanchao did not return until the derby match in the fifth round, but he came on twice as a substitute and scored within three minutes of coming on.

In the third round of the league away against Henan team, when the opponent scored the first goal in the first half, Wu Xi's goal in the 74th minute helped Shenhua overtake the score and saw the hope of winning.

In the 4th round of the home game against the "promoted horse" Yunnan Yukun, Shenhua was once again scored by the opponent in the first half, and in the 85th minute, Wu Xi assisted Mineiro to overtake the score.

In the match with the Zhejiang team last weekend, in the 98th minute, Wu Xi ferried in front of the point, and Chen Jinyi pushed the goal to kill the opponent.

Yu Hanchao has become synonymous with magic. In the 5th round of the Shanghai derby, he came on as a substitute in the 81st minute and scored in the 82nd minute to equalize. In the 6th round, Yu Hanchao appeared in the 75th minute, and scored a hanging shot in the 77th minute, laying the foundation for Chen Jinyi's final kill. In two games, two substitute appearances, two shots on goal, two goals, a 100 per cent goal rate, and an astonishing efficiency. If you count the Super Cup at the beginning of last year, Yu Hanchao has made 3 substitute appearances and scored 3 goals this season, which is rare in world football.

Any success is not achieved overnight, "the wood of the hug is born in the end; The nine-story platform starts from the soil; A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". "Accumulation" can be said to accurately summarize the hardships and efforts behind Yu Hanchao's success. Yu Hanchao is not a real god, Wu Xi is also an ordinary flesh and blood, not to mention that both of them have entered the end of their professional careers (Yu Hanchao is 38 years old, Wu Xi is 36 years old), they must work harder.

Before every match and training, Yu Hanchao would be very focused on wrapping his knee with a bandage, which is the knee that is full of Yu Hanchao's history of fighting injuries. In the past 20 years of his career, Yu Hanchao has undergone 7 surgeries on his knee, 3 of which are major surgeries that can end his career. A member of the Shenhua team once told reporters, "Every time I see Brother Monkey tied to his knees, I feel sorry for him, and I really admire him very much." Anyone who has been injured knows that recovery after an injury is the hardest. Many people encounter a situation like him, and it is estimated that they have already retired. ”

Yu Hanchao's most recent surgery was in 2022, when he injured the meniscus in his right knee during his first training session in Dalian and had to undergo surgery. After the surgery, he was discharged the next day and began to recover on his bicycle on the third day.

At the end of this year's Haikou winter training, Yu Hanchao felt discomfort in his waist. When he couldn't participate in the team's joint training, he followed the equipment team to the court in advance for rehabilitation. Someone asked him why he was injured and still fought so hard, Yu Hanchao's answer was simple and simple: "After getting older, the body has changed a lot, and what can be done now is actually very simple, that is, to do addition, not subtraction, and to always maintain the intensity of training, so as to keep up with the rhythm of the game." ”

Training and rehabilitation always occupy the most important position in the hearts of the two veterans, Han Chao and Wu Xi. Before each team training, the two of them come to the gym early to do strength training by themselves. The duo are also regular guests in the treatment room, with long massages to relax before and after each game.

Of course, for a professional player to become an evergreen, self-discipline is a must. Every time they play away games, Wu Xi and Yu Hanchao are always the first players to arrive at the restaurant. It has become their habit to go to bed early and get up early.

Yu Hanchao once said to his teammates in the locker room, "There are many children who take us as idols and role models, and we have to show courage on the field." In fact, Yu Hanchao and Wu Xi are not only role models for the children, but also role models for other team members. In an interview after the match with Zhejiang, Teixeira said: "I'm very happy to see that everyone has such recognition of a veteran. At the same time, Yu Hanchao is also a good example for the team, and everyone should learn from Yu Hanchao. ”

"There is an old man in the family, if there is a treasure", not to mention that Shenhua now has "two treasures", which is a fortunate thing for Shenhua. However, the years are not forgiving, and this is certainly not a long-term solution.

This season, Slutsky has changed his habit of sitting in the dugout last year and swaying back and forth, always pacing up and down in the small area in front of the dugout. When the game was anxious, his steps became more restless, and his face turned red.

Although Shenhua became the leader of the league after six rounds, the process of playing some games was difficult to satisfy. In the first round of the home game against Changchun Yatai, the team was thrilling; Against the Henan team and the "promoted horse" Yunnan Yukun, the team was behind the score for a long time, and the final stage of the game was reversed to win; Against Zhejiang last weekend, Shenhua also won very hard. Obviously, against the middle and lower teams, Shenhua did not show enough dominance, and the lack of strong attack is one of the most serious problems facing the team at the moment.

As Slutsky explained after the game, as everyone gradually became familiar with and understood Shenhua, the opponents' game strategies have changed a lot when facing Shenhua. Slutsky said: "The situation has changed now and last year. Last year we weren't familiar with our style of play, most opponents were willing to press us, and we had a lot of opportunities to play behind us. This year we faced a dense defence from our opponents, including our derby rivals Harbour. The opponent uses 9 or 10 men to stay at the back for intensive defense, even if it is a world powerhouse such as Barcelona and Manchester City, it is nerve-wracking to break the dense defense. Our current problem is to find a solution to this problem. Looking back at the game against Guoan, the opponent also lined up three central defenders, and they also played counter-attacks intensively, and we need to seriously consider and solve this problem in the future. ”

In the battle, Shenhua's two foreign aid strikers did not show enough combat effectiveness, especially Andre. The Brazilian has been in a relatively sluggish state since returning from a muscle strain. So far this season, Andre has started all six league games, scored two goals and had 20 shots on target, with a shooting rate of just 25%, which is a big gap from his eye-catching performance when he first joined Shenhua last year.

Another issue that should not be overlooked is that to this day, there does not seem to be a good "chemistry" between the two Brazilian foreign strikers. As a two-striker tactic, two strikers need to work together to create space and win chances. However, looking back at the games that have been played, it seems that there are not too many pictures of successful cooperation and echoing each other, which makes it difficult to form a "1+1>2" effect.

While facing new problems on the offensive end, Shenhua has regressed significantly on the defensive end. In the first half of the 2024 league season, Shenhua conceded only 6 goals in 15 games and 20 goals throughout the season. However, in the first six rounds of this season, Shenhua has conceded 8 goals, with an average of 1.33 goals per game.

From 0.66 to 1.33, there are injury reasons, there are also problems with the form of individual players, and there are also factors of tactical changes. At the beginning of the season, the core players of the midfield and backfield, Zhu Chenjie and Amadou, were injured one after another. Zhu Chenjie is one of the most consistent players in Shenhua's defensive end, and Amadou is one of the most indispensable players in Shenhua's midfield, his defensive intensity, hardness and coverage area are at the top level in the Chinese Super League, and they are also one of the cores of Slutsky's 442 diamond-shaped midfield. Their injuries were a huge blow to Shenhua's defense.

Recently, due to the continuous campaign, Jiang Shenglong fell ill. In the match against Zhejiang, he did not enter the squad. Starting from the first official match of the 2025 season "Super Cup" on February 7 to the "Shanghai Derby" on April 6, Jiang Shenglong played a total of 12 games on four fronts, including the Super Cup, the AFC Champions League Elite League, the Chinese Super League and the World Preliminary Round of 18. Except for the first stage of the AFC Champions League elite league group stage home against Japan's Kobe Victory Ship was replaced in advance, the other games were all played in the whole game. Even after a facial fracture, Jiang Shenglong still played in the AFC Champions League Elite League and the top 18 of the World Preliminaries. After continuous battles and accumulated fatigue, this tall and strong young man finally fell ill. After the derby, the coaching staff gave him a holiday to adjust and let him rest.

Jiang Shenglong's situation is somewhat similar to Zhu Chenjie last year. Last year, Zhu Chenjie also suffered from a continuous fever because of excessive fatigue in the club and national team, so he missed the entire September campaign of Shenhua. As the most outstanding central defenders in the new generation in China, Zhu Chenjie and Jiang Shenglong both bear heavy national team competition tasks and are prone to physical overdraft, which is also one of the hidden dangers of Shenhua's defense.

In the new season, the state of goalkeeper Bao Yaxiong is also one of the hot topics in the outside world. In the first half of the 2024 season, Bao Yaxiong performed very well and was once selected for the national team. But this season, Bao Yaxiong's form has not been ideal. After the match with the Zhejiang team, Bao Yaxiong wrote on social platforms, "The performance has not been very good recently, and there have been many problems that should not be there, thank you to the brothers for saving the home victory today!" Brother Monkey NB Jin Yi NB! I hope I can adjust as soon as possible and perform well. "Bao Yaxiong's improvement as soon as possible is crucial for Shenhua's defensive stability.

The Chinese Super League is a long battle, Shenhua temporarily ranks first in the standings, which is a phased success, but if the team wants to have the last laugh, it must not only have the magic of a veteran, but also need to solve the problems exposed at this stage, so that the defensive end is more stable, and the offensive end has more "weapons".