In the AFC Champions League Group G clash between Shandong Taishan and Yokohama Mariners, Taishan failed to make a comeback and ranked third in the group, making the road to promotion full of challenges. Incheon United's strong performance was unexpected, winning both matches to lead the group. Chinese fans have been favoring Yokohama Mariners as the top seed in Group G. As the group stage gets more complicated, Kaya seems to be the "mascot" that gives away points, and teams are falling in and out of favor. Taesan are in a tight battle for the top spot with Yokohama Mariners and Incheon United. However, Incheon United's ability to stay ahead of the pack is still unknown, as they are worried about repeating the mistake of "pulling a cart with a donkey".
If Taishan fail to make it to the Asian Champions League, coach Choi fears he will have a lot of regrets. Why? He not only rented the "quasi-golden boot" from the Chinese Super League, but also brought in the golden boot from the Indonesian league. However, in front of the reality of multi-front war, the effect of these operations is not ideal. For the first time to come to the Chinese Super League team, fans may understand that they need a period of adaptation. But now, this adaptation period seems to have passed. However, Mateusz Pato's performance on the field was sleepwalking, and it seemed that only his name was the highlight.
Taishan team is not soft and goes all out against any opponent in the Chinese Super League. Any team facing Taishan should not be taken lightly. Pato's failure in the Chinese Super League is not a surprise. However, Taishan still has players such as Cressan, Moises, Fellaini and Chen Pu. The foreigners' "limp" performance in the Chinese Super League made up for some of their shortcomings, but they met their Waterloo in the AFC Champions League. Mo's pace is getting slower and slower, Fellaini can't solve the problem in the Chinese Super League, but in the AFC Champions League, he managed to limit Yokohama's opponents.
Cressan is nowhere near as good as he was in his CSL days. At times he had to play alone. Not much luck with the two center posts either. Pato and Moto didn't get a chance to start and failed to play the role of a substitute. This has fans very worried. When Lao Cui was on the sidelines picking out his 400,000 euro foreigners, he seemed to be in a much better mood! If there is Leonardo in the front field, at least he can enrich the technique and tactics, form a tacit understanding with Cressan and improve the attacking power.
Pato is likely to leave next year, when Leonardo, the top scorer in the Chinese Super League, is expected to return. In the era of gold-dollar soccer, foreigners such as Guedes, Pelé and Fellaini will become history. It is curious to see whether Shandong Taishan FC will continue to rent the €3 million Leonardo, who first played for Ulsan Hyundai, Changchun Yatai and Zhejiang. Hao Wei and Lao Cui's hiring strategy is appropriate?
I brought in a scorer from the Indonesian league. The fans had to accept the arrival of the new foreigners, and Tardelli and Kressan needed an adaptation process. However, this process made the fans lose patience. "Every penny is worth every penny", how can a 400,000 euro foreigner be compared to a 3 million euro Leonardo? Do the Taishan team like the feeling of "collecting rent"? If you like it, you can rent it for another year next year! If you are not satisfied, then quickly take back the top scorer!
