In the 18th round of the Chinese Super League, Shandong Taishan hosted Wuhan Sanzhen. This battle may become the key battle for this season's championship, which is jokingly called the "Battle of Tianwangshan".
In the standings, Wuhan Three Town led the way with 43 points from 15 wins and 1 draw, locking up the halfway title in advance; Shandong Taishan followed in second place with 39 points from 13 wins and 3 losses. The third and fourth ranked Henan and Shenhua only accumulated 30 points.
Since the 1-1 draw with Shenhua on June 12, Wuhan Three Town have won 12 straight games, just one less than the 13-game winning streak held by Shandong Luneng and Guangzhou Evergrande. Shandong Taishan, on the other hand, has also won eight straight games since losing 0-2 to Zhejiang on June 25, but its winning streak came to an abrupt end with a recent 1-2 defeat against Shenhua.
A fierce battle is about to take place, with a strong rising promotion horse on one side, and a veteran team aiming to defend the title on the other, a tit-for-tat battle is about to take place.
The official poster of Shandong Taishan team is in orange color, which implies the passion and vitality of the team and also shows the team's desire for victory.
According to the official Chinese Super League data service provider OPTA data, Shandong Taishan team in the offensive end of the performance, the average possession rate of 61.2%, ranked first; the number of touches 11,325, also ranked first; the number of passes 8,580, the success rate of passes 86.2%, are ranked first; to create 210 chances, assists 20 times, scored 34 goals, are ranked second.
Wuhan Tri-Town also performed well on the offensive end, ranking first in goals scored with 51; first in chances created with 196, assists with 35, and shots on goal with 285; and first in unblocked shots with 217 and shots on goal with 113.
Shandong Taishan team in the defensive end, the successful counter-strike 808 times, ranked first; was shot 105 times, ranked first; lost 12 goals, ranked third; blocked 158 times, ranked fifth.
On the defensive end, Wuhan Tri-Town ranked first in conceding only nine goals, second in shots on goal with 108, third in shots on goal with 46, and eighth in successful counter-strikes with 728.
In the playing style, Shandong Taishan team pay attention to control the ball, through the passing of the ball to find opportunities, create a lot of time, full of pressure; and Wuhan three towns team average possession rate of 52.8%, ranked sixth, also belongs to the transmission and control of the type of team, to create a lot of time, facing the strength of the slightly weaker teams to press force is also strong.
In front of the strongest teams, Wuhan Sanzhen will appropriately lower the possession rate, but still able to create attacking chances. For example, in the two rounds of the match against Shanghai Harbor, the possession rate was 35.8% in the first round, and only 28.4% in the second round. The two matches were won by 2-1 and 1-0 respectively, but the timing created by Tri-Town team in these two matches were 15 and 8 times respectively.
In the home match against Guoan, Wuhan Sanzhen had 39% possession and created 10 chances to win 5-1; away against Henan, they had 43.2% possession and created 13 chances to win 3-0; and against Meizhou, they had 41.2% possession and created 13 chances to win 2-1.
Offense is the best defense. Thanks to the superior offensive strength and the ability to seize opportunities, the pressure on the team's defense will be greatly relieved, and both teams can do a good job of counterattacking after losing the ball, and there are not too many mistakes, they are both very stable.
Therefore, in the away game against Shandong Taishan, Wuhan Sanzhen team is likely to appropriately lower the rate of possession, waiting for the opportunity to counterattack, while Shandong Taishan team will continue the previous control of the ball to play, who scored first, the balance of the game will only be broken.
And who can break the balance?
Shandong Taishan team price of 16.63 million euros, ranked second in the Chinese Super League; Wuhan Sanzhen team price of 15.24 million euros, ranked third in the Chinese Super League; ranked first in the Shanghai seaport team, the price is as high as 33.73 million euros.
In the summer window, Shandong Taishan welcomed back Guo Tianyu, who had returned from more than three months abroad, while Wuhan Sanzhen signed Gao Mingyi, the younger brother of Gao Junyi, before loaning him out.
On the scorer's list, Wuhan Three Town's foreign aid Malcolm led the way with 16 goals, while he used only 45 shots on goal; Davidson scored nine goals, Stanchou seven, and Edmilson and Xie Pengfei five apiece; Stanchou also gave out eight assists, making him the Super League's assists king.
Shandong Taishan's foreign aid Kressan scored eight goals in eight consecutive matches, totaling eight goals and ranking fourth on the scorers' list, Moises scored five goals and ranked sixth in the Chinese Super League with five assists, and Fellaini and Jin Jingdao scored four goals each.
The strength of the foreign aid of the two teams are among the top of the Chinese Super League, looking at the whole league, it is called the strongest foreign aid lineup.
Now in the Chinese Super League, many teams are fighting for relegation, 5 foreigners? That's just a luxury!
Raise an army for a thousand days and use it for a while.
In a hard fought game, the real heroes will be whoever steps up and is the one to change the team's fortunes.
Since the end of the game with Shenzhen on August 28, Wuhan Three Town team's next two games are postponed (if not postponed, the record of 13 consecutive wins in the Chinese Super League has long been broken), the team saves the travel, have a longer rest time, but half a month without a game, the previous rhythm of the break, the state of the state, it is difficult to predict.
Shandong Taishan team's situation is not much better, the last game has been August 31, but also lost, the good thing is that there is plenty of time to adjust, but injuries are still a problem, head coach Hao Wei said before the game, whether Fellaini can play is still not sure.
One less game ahead of 4 points, this for Wuhan three towns "can afford to lose", but Shandong Taishan team can "can not afford to lose", if the home loss, but also lost to the direct rival of the championship, but also by the opponent to tie their own record, more than one game and then 7 points behind, the championship suspense may be over. Then this season's championship suspense may be over.
Say more, to the court, but also the strength to speak, the stage has been set, the next depends on how the two teams sing a good show.
The Chinese Super League, and even the national soccer team, are in so much need of a good and classic game!
