2018 Season Preview for Shanghai Shenhua(III)
Written by Cameron Wilson, the Chief Editor of WildEastFootball
原标题: North Terrace News: Who dares ride the Shanghai Shenhua rollercoaster this year? 2018 season preview (part 1)
导读: 在最后一部分，WEF站长韦侃仑提出了自己对赛季的期望: 显然申花队很可能比去年的第11名战绩更好，前6名将是球队的目标，但申花队是中超最难预测的球队之一.......
Expect a year of… relative stability
This year Shenhua will modestly improve on their 11th place finish of last year. A top six finish is possible if project stable-but-not-strong goes to plan. Any higher than that would depend on luck and multiple underachievement elsewhere, from the likes of noisy neighbours SIPG, Shandong, Guoan and new-rich Quanjian and Hebei. Reasons to be optimistic this year are promising youth players such as Li Xiaoming, Cong Zhen, and Liu Ruofan, an unchanged foreign line-up, the feel good factor from the CFA cup victory, and the likely return of solid squad players Gao Di and Wang Yun. Also it is very unlikely that Shenhua will be as unlucky as they were with injuries last year – or indeed unreasonably long suspensions. Plus there seems to be a general realisation from the board that the club is just not good enough to break the top three on its own merits, pressure seems to be less. Your correspondent has always banged on about Shenhua not knowing what continuity means, well, this is probably the most unchanged the team has ever been and surely that will deliver some benefit.
Chinese football culture
On the downside though, the team still lacks competitive strength, despite Greenland now having had four years of transfer windows to rectify this, all of which have been completely squandered. Of all Shenhua’s domestic signings since the takeover, which amounts to 20 players, only Qin Sheng has been an unqualified success and even he was signed at the second time of offering. The rest are either unproven, no better than previous players, or spent too much time on the treatment table. So, ultimately, none of the above positive factors are enough to really make a big enough difference. Wu Jingui will steady the ship, and one can see why he was given the job even if it was a result of winning one match in the CFA cup final. but at the end of the day he’s still from the Shenhua old boys network and your correspondent has seen this group put its own interests above those of the club and fans again and again and again. Shenhua’s squad is also aging badly. Last seasons youngest first team regular who was not an u23 quota player was Bai Jiajun who is 26, with the average around 29.
So, prediction wise, and predicting anything to do with Shenhua has long been a fools endeavour, it’s hard to say. For the ACL, hard to see Shenhua getting out of the group stage. Lack of quality, and recent experience on the continental stage see to that. Also the six ACL group matches will make the first half of the season a bit tougher than what Shenhua are used to. For the league, well the bare minimum expectation for Shenhua in recent years is avoiding defeat at home to Guoan and SIPG, staying out of the relegation race, and a decent cup run. Not all of those happened last year, but they are realistic expectations this year. The club should finish something like 7th in the league, make an ACL group stage exit (after some good old “only Shenhua rep Shanghai” tomfoolery) and a run to the CFA cup semis. But then again, it’s Shenhua, you never know, it could all turn out very different. It would be hard to match last year’s roller coaster ride, but don’t expect to walk on to a carousel for little kiddies either.
One thing you can be sure of though is Shenhua’s ability stay in the headlines come rain or shine. There is no club like it when it comes to maintaining a high profile regardless of events on or off the pitch, much to the chagrin of many, including, at times, its own supporters. indeed it’s status as one of China’s most enduring footballing institutions is written in stone thanks for the club’s strongly partisan following. But no matter what the club’s numerous detractors may say, Chinese football is a better place with Shanghai Shenhua in its midst. Thus has it always been, thus shall it ever be.
An iconic football stadium for an iconic club – Hongkou Football stadium against the Lujiazui financial district skyline