The Chinese Super League cannot afford to lose, and the Shenhua AFC Champions League against Kawasaki may have reservations

Special correspondent Gan Hui reports On the evening of October 23, in the third round of the AFC Champions League Elite League, Shenhua will play at home against Japan's Kawasaki Frontale. Just did his best in the league, defeated Henan, and topped the Chinese Super League, what lineup Shenhua will play in the AFC Champions League has become a hot topic before the game.

In the 28th round of the Chinese Super League, Shenhua achieved a double reversal: a 2-1 reversal victory in the home game with Henan, and the league standings "reversed" the backward situation, surpassing the harbor to rise to the first place. After chasing Shenhua for about 4 months, he regained the initiative to compete for the championship.

According to the schedule, Shenhua's last two league rounds are at home against Shenzhen Xinpeng City on October 27 and Chengdu Rongcheng away on November 2. Harbour played away to Cangzhou Male Lion on October 27 and Tianjin Jinmen Tigers at home on November 2. If they win the last two rounds, Shenhua will become the champions of this season's Chinese Super League. The road is under his feet, and it depends on how Shenhua walks through it steadily and arrives at the other side of the long-awaited victory. "From the beginning to the end, from the beginning of the year until now, we have a strong desire to win the league title," Amadou said. There is no doubt that we will do our best to achieve this goal. ”

The next two league games are very crucial, related to whether the team's efforts in a season can be drawn to a perfect end, so from a strategic point of view, Shenhua may have reservations about the AFC Champions League elite league with Kawasaki Frontale in midweek to avoid players being too tired in two games a week, resulting in unnecessary injury attrition and affecting the final championship game.

As the saying goes, there is something to give. There are 8 rounds of matches in the first stage of the AFC Champions League, and the victory or defeat of one game will not have an irreversible impact on the entire game. At this stage, Shenhua can concentrate its superior forces to attack the last two rounds of the league, and after the end of the Chinese Super League, the team will go all out to play the follow-up games of the AFC Champions League Elite League.

According to the rules of this season's AFC Champions League Elite League, after the first stage of 8 rounds, the top 8 teams in the division enter the knockout stage, and Shenhua, who has 1 win and 1 loss in the first two rounds, is temporarily ranked 7th.

There was an unexpected situation in the last practice before the match against Henan last weekend, and Manafa, who had been training with the team for a week, had a small problem with his teammates, which affected his plan to return from injury. Head coach Slutsky revealed, "Manafa could have been on the squad [against Henan], but unfortunately he was injured again in the final practice session and his comeback had to be postponed again. We will prepare for each subsequent game with a cautious attitude. ”

Another of Shenhua's right-backs, Yang Zexiang, has been diagnosed with a moderate strain of the rectus femoris muscle in his right leg with a partial tear and is currently recovering. Manafa and Yang Zexiang are injured, and Shenhua's right-back position is a bit understaffed. In the battle with Henan, Slutsky pulled Wu Xi to the back line and switched to right wing-back.

Fullbacks need the ability to go up and down, and Wu Xi is 35 years old. Switching to right-back, Wu Xi's midfield tandem and back-insertion ability are difficult to play. When the Henan team unexpectedly scored the world wave, Slutsky replaced Eddie at right-back and let Wu Xi return to the midfield. Before the end of the game, Wu Xi scored a golden goal to help Shenhua win the game. Wu Xi's switch to right full-back is not the most suitable choice, the remaining two league games, right-back personnel arrangement, Slutsky also has to find a new plan, and Kawasaki Frontale, maybe for his new plan to conduct a practical exercise.

Kawasaki Frontale is the first Japan team Shenhua has faced since the start of this season's AFC Champions League Elite League. This season, Kawasaki Frontale have not been too good in the J-League, finishing in the middle of the table. In the first two rounds of the AFC Champions League Elite League, Kawasaki Frontale won 1 and lost 1. Kawasaki Frontale recently announced that the head coach of the first team, Tatsu Oniki, will leave at the end of this season due to the expiration of his contract. At the moment, a successor has not yet been determined. Tatsu Onagi became head coach in February 2017 and has led the team to four JLT titles, one Emperor's Cup, one League Cup and three Japan Super Cups.