Summary of the 2024 Chinese Super League: The competition is fierce, but the technical and tactical level needs to be improved

Reporter Chen Yong reports The Chinese Super League includes the entire Chinese Football Professional League, on the one hand, it connects with the youth, on the other hand, it connects with the national team, and it also docks with the AFC Champions League Elite League/AFC Champions League 2 League, so the quality of the league, especially the technical and tactical level, is very important.

Longitudinal comparison, the quality of the Super League in the 2023 season and the 2024 season, especially the intensity and rhythm, has been qualitatively improved compared with the previous three years, but the horizontal comparison of the AFC Champions League elite league, including providing support for the national team, the technical and tactical performance of the league still has a lot of problems.

Affected by objective factors at the time, the 2020-2022 season of the Chinese Super League was not formal, and the competition system led to an overall decline in the intensity, rhythm and technical and tactical level of the game, especially in terms of intensity and rhythm, and the direct consequence was the 2022 World Preliminary Round of 12, when the national football team played the first game against Australia, it was directly overwhelmed by the opponent with intensity and rhythm, and finally lost 0-3.

In the 2023 season, the Chinese Super League will fully return to home and away, and the intensity level has been significantly improved, mainly reflected in the recovery of game intensity and game rhythm, and the game has become relatively exciting. The 2024 season continued the trend of the 2023 season, although there was no excitement of returning home and away, but the player commitment was very good, and the league was on the right track.

In the 2024 season, the competition in the Chinese Super League is fierce, especially the championship. The confrontation between the Shanghai duo ran through 30 rounds, and the maximum difference between the two teams was only 5 points, and there were as many as 9 point differences. In the end, Harbour won the championship by one point in the round of 30. This kind of competition is the main theme of the 2024 season of the Chinese Super League. In this process, the two teams, especially Shenhua, played a lot of classic stunners and draw games, which added to the excitement.

In addition, the Super League relegation team has been expanded. In the 27th round, the three towns completed relegation, and at this time there are still as many as 7 teams in danger of relegation; In the 28th round, there are still 7 teams in danger of relegation; In the 29th round, although Nantong was relegated and Yatai and West Coast were successfully relegated, there were still 4 teams that did not determine the future.

In fact, in recent years, in interviews, foreign aid and foreign teachers in the Super League generally believe that the Super League is generally more intense, with more confrontation and a certain intensity.

It should be noted that the so-called increase in the intensity of the game is more of a fierce confrontation in a small area, and it is not high on the whole, which has a lot to do with the technical and tactical level of the Super League. Among the Chinese Super League teams, there are not many teams that emphasize overall and rapid rotation, coupled with the clear distinction between strength and weakness this season, and there are fewer high-quality games, the overall intensity is naturally reduced.

In contrast, slow pace is the fatal problem, which has become the consensus of almost all coaches and players. Cui Kangxi believes that the slow pace of the Chinese Super League has caused the team to suffer when competing in the AFC Champions League Elite League. In the Asian competition, the contrast is very obvious, in the face of Japanese and South Korean teams, the Chinese Super League teams adopt more low-level defensive tactics, and it is difficult to have a comprehensive confrontation with the opponent, which is directly related to the rhythm of not adapting to the opponent.

In fact, both the pace and intensity of the game are based on technique and tactics. Due to the sharp decline in the financial situation of the Chinese Super League, which has led to the departure of many big-name foreign aids, the level of local players in the Chinese Super League has been slow to improve, and the technical and tactical level of the Chinese Super League has also declined. An embarrassing fact is that in the era of "Jinyuan Football", the Chinese Super League is more holistic and has an absolute core, while after the departure of big-name foreign aids, the Chinese Super League relies more on foreign aid to fight alone, especially in the front court.

In the face of the delicate cooperation of the Japanese team, the defense line of the Chinese Super League team is often at a loss, and due to technical and tactical problems, it is not up to the opponent. As for the national team, the 0-7 loss to Japan, although there was an impromptu factor, but in the end it was inferior to others.

In addition to the coaching factor, more important is the players themselves, as far as the Chinese Super League is concerned, at least in the next three to five years, it is difficult for local players to improve their ability and even decline further, and it is difficult for foreign aid to have qualitative changes.