As the Super League season resumes, we are able to get a glimpse of the true strength of each team. While on the surface, some of the matches don't seem to have been won or lost by a significant margin, the difference in the course of the matches has been quite dramatic. Obviously, Shanghai is the favorite to win the championship, followed closely by Shenhua and Rongcheng. The Taishan team had an advantage over the Zhejiang team, but could not compete with the strongest teams of the past. Many of the doubts about the Taishan team stem from their excellent performance in the AFC Champions League.
Some may have noticed a unique strength of the Shanghai team - their foreign players. Their passing consistency on the field has been impressive, and the strikers have been given many good chances to attack as a result, something that other teams have struggled to match in the first round or in other matches in the Chinese Super League.
Admittedly, the Shanghai team is undoubtedly the best equipped midfield in the Chinese Super League and is unbeatable. The addition of Oscar has significantly improved the team's passing consistency and created several good scoring opportunities. In addition, the team has a unique combination of national team defenders in the CSL, with each player at national team level, which is extremely rare among other teams.
Needless to say, this top level Asian team has a world class star in Wu Lei. Even if you have a different opinion, you can start and score at Barcelona. There seems to be no obvious shortcomings in this team, and the coaching staff is pragmatic and advanced, leaving opponents with no chance to capitalize.
Shenhua and Rongcheng's strengths are equally obvious, with few obvious weaknesses to be found. However, these two teams may need more time to gel, and are slightly inferior to Shanghai Hong Kong.
Rongcheng and Shenhua also have few obvious shortcomings to be found, and the level of international players on the bench is equally good. However, these two teams still fall short compared to Shanghai with a lot of newcomers. Their player setup is unrivaled in the Chinese Super League, thanks largely to a reasonable age structure.
The advantage of these two teams over Shanghai is that the young players are much better and are all internationals, but the midfield is slightly weaker. If Shanghai had Oscar, they would be almost unbeatable.
It's not unusual for Taishan to be in the fourth or fifth position. Admittedly, their impressive performance in the AFC Champions League is impressive, but the league is 30 rounds long.
The long league schedule has made Tarzan's dominance less obvious, but in the cup competitions, their advantage is clear. However, Taishan have lost one of their foreigners, which will undoubtedly become an issue as the season progresses. Now without Zeca, the team is clearly missing a player in the midfield and their heading ability has decreased.
In addition, it seems unlikely that the team's tactics will change, and it is still unknown how they will perform against opponents with intensive defense. But this team will undoubtedly not perform too badly in the cup. Unless new players can be brought in during the summer, this problem will be difficult to solve in the short term. This is one of the reasons why we don't see them winning the league. Without the AFC Champions League, they will be no different than any other team in the Chinese Super League.
