Shanghai Shenhua suffers breakdown after 6-point deduction, says coach

Shanghai Shenhua had a breakdown after being deducted six points by Chinese football authorities in late November last year, head coach Wu Jingui has revealed.

The Shanghai side, who was riding high in their Chinese Super League (CSL) campaign and climbed as high as third place in the table before suffering a sudden drop in performance after they were deducted six points for failure to pay off salary debts.

"The point deduction brought a sudden breakdown to my team when everything had been going very well with us," Wu said.

"The players must have been wondering what had gone wrong with the club, as the point deduction meant something must have been wrong. Then they were not as focused as before," he said.

Shanghai Shenhua suffered three straight losses in the wake of the point deduction.

"We didn't play well in about ten games because of that," Wu said.

The Shanghai side finished tenth in the 2022 CSL season, much better than their pre-season target of staying in the Chinese top flight.

"Though we achieved that aim, as a coach, I am not content with how we finished the season. I hoped we could have been in a better position at the close of the season," he added.