Shenhua's lack of foreign starters doesn't hinder their performance

Shenhua's lack of foreign starters doesn't hinder their performance

Shanghai Shenhua has achieved 8 wins and 5 draws in the Chinese Super League, despite lacking foreign starters. Penetrating statistics show that Shenhua is the only team without 5 foreign starters in the starting lineup, or together on the field, as of the 15th round of the Chinese Super League. Now, in the 19th round, the situation remains the same.

Shenhua's performance is not bad

This year, Shenhua's performance is actually not bad, winning 8 games and drawing 5. If converted to points, it is 29 points, while the second-placed Chongqing Lifan has only 29 points. As netizens said, if not deducted, Shenhua would be in second or third place, but after deducting 10 points, Shenhua at least leads the relegation zone by 8 points. According to Shenhua's lineup, it is basically impossible to be relegated, and it is also impossible to win the championship.

The role of foreign players

If the foreign players are all present, the performance will be even better! In fact, in the Chinese FA Cup 8th round, Shenhua's 4 foreign players started, and won 4-1 against Qingdao Hainiu. Portuguese foreign player Mafafa's later insertion into defense, Teshela's organization and connection in midfield, African foreign player Asue's role as a pivot point in the front line, scoring and creating chances, Brazilian foreign player Latang's stealing points, and the foreign players' division of labor is very clear. Although Hainiu is not the main force, but Hainiu's main force also can't win Shenhua, in terms of foreign players, Shenhua is more advanced than Hainiu, and the domestic players are also more advanced than Hainiu. Unfortunately, Zhu Chenjie and Longge did not win the league championship in their golden age in Shenhua's team.

Shenhua's future

So, the question is, after the remaining 12 games, can Shenhua welcome five foreign players to start or play together in the Chinese FA Cup knockout round? I think it's very difficult, because Brazilian foreign player Menero is still recovering from an injury and has not returned, which is beyond the expected return time in mid-July, and in Qingdao Hainiu's game, Shenhua took a team photo in the dressing room, like the season's dismissed player Gai, but he didn't appear. Now, the official news about him is scarce, and it's hard to know when he will return. At the same time, Asue was injured in the Chinese FA Cup without contact. It's also unknown how the injury is. In the 9-month interval, the national team has a warm-up match, and Shenhua also has a warm-up match with the Russian team, on September 1st, Shenhua has a Chinese FA Cup match, and it's unknown if the Asian Champions League second round will start in September, the schedule is dense, and it's sure that someone will be injured, but it's unknown if it's a foreign player or a domestic player.