With a four-goal defeat away, Shandong Taishan is not optimistic about the prospects of qualifying for the AFC Champions League

Reporter Chen Yong reports Although supporters of the Tarzan team were looking forward to the team's AFC Champions League elite league away from Kawasaki Frontale, the harsh reality shattered their dreams and Taishan lost 4-0 away from home. Tarzan's tactics and morale are more or less problematic.

In this game, the starting lineup of the Taishan team is similar to the formation of 4141, goalkeeper Wang Dalei; defenders Wu Xinghan, Zheng Zheng, Marcel and Gao Zhunyi; single-back Huang Zhengyu; Kazaishvili on the left, Chen Pu on the right, Li Yuanyi and Xie Wenneng in the middle; In front of him is Zeka. In this game, Cressan was suspended due to the accumulation of yellow cards, which was a big loss for the Taishan team.

Only 3 minutes into the opening game, Kawasaki Frontale played a wave of counterattacks, and after the Taishan team made a mistake in clearing the siege, the opponent hit a success, although Wang Dalei saved the opponent's first shot, but could not do anything about the second time; In the 12th minute, the Taishan team counterattacked, Kazaishvili sent a straight stopper, Xie Wen was able to form a single knife, but unfortunately was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper, and then, the Taishan team attacked 3 corners in a row to no avail.

In the 35th minute, the Taishan team played a good attack, but unfortunately the crossbar and Zheng Chenglong prevented Taishan's goal; In the 41st minute, Kawasaki Frontale took advantage of a free kick opportunity to make the score 2-0. In the second half, Kawasaki Frontale scored two more goals by taking advantage of corner kicks and penetration in the middle, and in the end, the Taishan team lost 0-4 away.

In the 2023/2024 AFC Champions League, the Taishan team and Kawasaki Frontale met in the 1/8 finals, when the Taishan team lost 2-3 at home, but won 4-2 away and eliminated the opponent and advanced to the quarterfinals. But in the third meeting between the two sides this year, Tarzan lost by 4 goals.

Looking at the data, Tarzan has a shot ratio of 7 to 22, far behind Kawasaki, in addition, in terms of possession, Kawasaki Frontale is as high as 64%, while Tarzan is only 36%. What looks like a decent statistic is 4 to 8 corners, thanks to the fact that the Tarzans have won three corners in a row.

It can be said that the Taishan team is at a disadvantage in an all-round way, whether it is the absolute strength or the state of the field, the Taishan team is fully behind, and in the game, the Taishan team has made a lot of mistakes. In this game, Xie Wenneng and Li Yuanyi are the central defenders, assuming the function of protecting Huang Zhengyu, but from the perspective of the game, the Taishan team tried to attack, so the position of Xie Wenneng and Li Yuanyi is often in the front court, in the process of switching from offense to defense, the two people can not protect Huang Zhengyu, and there is a big flaw in the middle defense of the Taishan team.

Mentally, some of the players in the Taishan team are still very hard, but the overall formation is very loose, which is obviously different from the home game against Johor. It has to be said that with one more month of play than other teams, the mentality of the players is quite different from the past.

After losing the game, the promotion situation of the Taishan team is not optimistic, after 6 rounds, Yokohama Mariners, Gwangju FC, and Kobe Victory Ship accumulated 13 points, basically locked the promotion place, in addition, Kawasaki Frontale 12 points, the probability of promotion is very high. After that, Pohang Steelers has 9 points, Johor, Harbour and Buriram United have 8 points and are in 6th to 8th place, and Shenhua and Taishan have 7 points and are in 9th and 10th place.

In February 2025, the last two rounds of the AFC Champions League Elite League will start, and Taishan's schedule is to play Gwangju FC at home on February 11 and Ulsan Hyundai away on February 19. But no matter what, the fate is still in their own hands, and the last two AFC Champions League elite leagues next year, I don't know if the Taishan team can create a miracle.