In just half a year, Chen Tao has gone from a miraculous “firefighting manager” to a highly questioned “rookie coach”—the harsh reality of competitive sports. Fortunately, on the evening of May 10, Shenzhen Peng City delivered a commendable performance against Shandong Taishan. Despite a 1-2 defeat, this improved display helped Chen Tao temporarily weather a small crisis.
This season, Shenzhen Peng City brought in 15 new signings. Chen Tao has at his disposal “ready-made” talents like Wesley, Ou Wusu, Kalchev, Benkovic, Ademi, Zhou Dingyang, and Dai Weijun, yet the team has failed to produce better results than before. It’s no surprise that his reputation has taken a hit. After the first ten rounds, the team’s record of 3 wins, 1 draw, and 6 losses is identical to last season’s. Given the strengthened squad, this represents stagnation at best.
Before the match against Shandong Taishan, Chen Tao inadvertently placed himself and the team in the spotlight during a press conference. Speaking calmly about Ademi’s situation, he mentioned that the player’s physical condition met match requirements but that he had not yet mentally prepared himself. This remark sparked widespread speculation, triggering a flood of commentary about both Chen Tao and Ademi.
According to club staff, a communication gap existed among the coaching staff, the medical team, and Ademi. Having not participated in many recent training sessions, Ademi hesitated to take the field without being fully confident in his ability to deliver peak performance. Under the immense pressure of poor results, even slight differences in phrasing can lead to misunderstandings. This incident was a classic example.
On match day, Shenzhen Peng City fielded only one foreign player—Wesley—in the starting lineup. Many feared that Chen Tao and the team would face an even greater crisis. However, since switching to a four-defender formation in the previous round, the team’s performance had improved significantly. In this match, they did not give Shandong Taishan many clear chances. Both goals conceded resulted from individual brilliance by Shandong’s players. After the game, fans turned their attention to the team’s progress.
Chen Tao said: “In the last game, we adjusted from a five-defender to a four-defender system, and we continued with that in this match. Although we had only one foreign player against their four, which made things difficult, I was relatively satisfied with the team’s defensive performance. However, making major improvements in a short time is very challenging.” With the team decimated by injuries, progress has to be incremental—there are no shortcuts.
Although the quality of Shenzhen Peng City’s play has improved and earned recognition from fans, the team’s current position—barely in the top ten of the Chinese Super League—is far from satisfying. The pressure to achieve better results remains, and Chen Tao’s job security is still under threat. This narrowly lost but improved performance against Shandong Taishan is only enough to buy him a temporary reprieve.
Fortunately, the players still trust Chen Tao and have repeatedly defended him in public. Defender Hu Ruibao, who scored a late goal in the match, said: “We practiced the four-defender system during winter training, but it wasn’t effective at first, so we switched to five defenders at the start of the season. Now that results haven’t been ideal, we tried switching back. Actually, Coach Chen has shouldered a lot of pressure for us. He’s taken all the criticism on himself and told us to just focus on playing our best on the pitch.”
