On November 27th, nightfall, the East Asian Champions League was in full swing, and in the fifth round of the tournament, Shanghai Shenhua, a Chinese Super League powerhouse, traveled to South Korea to challenge Gwangju of the K-League. After a thrilling battle, Shenhua suffered their first defeat in this season's AFC Champions League with a score of 0:1, which was also their second loss in this tournament, dropping to the sixth place in the East Asia Region in the standings, and casting a shadow on the road to promotion.
This game not only tested Shenhua's technique and tactics, but also exposed the problems accumulated by the team due to the lack of official games for a long time. After the match, head coach Slutsky spoke bluntly about the cause of his team's defeat in the press conference.
Slutsky bluntly said that Shenhua was significantly behind their opponents in the confrontation with Gwangju, both in terms of offense and defense conversion and speed. He analyzed: "Observing the whole game, we were slow in both offense and defense, and it was difficult for us to keep up with the pace of our opponents. Gwangju showed a fast pace of play and excellent teamwork, putting us in a passive position."
Slutsky's comments reveal the root cause of the team's current woes. According to him, Shenhua's long absence from official matches has led to the players' poor form, and the rhythm on the field is obviously lagging behind that of their opponents, with both the starters and the substitutes struggling to adapt to the game's rhythm quickly. This has led to Shenhua's lack of fluidity in both offense and defense, and their failure to perform at their best. Slutsky's insight can be said to be the crux of Shenhua's loss to Gwangju.
Talking about the team's performance, Slutsky said, "Our players looked sluggish in the game, reacting less quickly and moving less frequently than our opponents. This put us at a disadvantage when fighting for the ball, defending against opponents' attacks and quick counterattacks. In addition, inaccurate passing and receiving exacerbated our passivity."
Despite the defeat, Slutsky still has confidence in his team. He emphasized that Shenhua's players will learn from this loss and identify their own shortcomings and directions for improvement. Next week, the team will return home for the AFC Champions League, and Slutsky is confident that the team will show better form. According to the AFC Champions League schedule, Shenhua will host Ulsan HD, the lowest ranked team in the East Asia region, and as long as Shenhua can play properly, they have a good chance to beat Ulsan HD. Hopefully, Shenhua will be able to revitalize themselves and live up to the expectations of the Chinese fans.
