2025-05-18, 06:18 PM - Word count:
As one of the SSL’s newest teams, the Shanghai Dragons have had a pretty rough introduction to the professional soccer world, going just 2-0-11 with a -25 goal differential in their first thirteen games. This is in stark contrast even to their fellow expansion team CD Tenochtitlan, who managed 5 wins and a -9 differential. With perhaps the last player from S1 (Henrik Lind) retiring from their team, as well as journeywoman Hannah van Garritsen and even one of their draftees in Goomy Von Berg retiring, the Dragons certainly face an uphill battle in becoming relevant in the league even with excellent drafting position. What are their relative positional strengths, and what should they hope to improve in the upcoming drafts?
Strengths
Striker: I just mentioned the Dragons had a dreadful goal differential, of which scoring goals is half of the equation. How, then, can striker be a position of strength for them after scoring less than a goal per game?
Well, youth and talent are the two things that define a team’s outlook at a given position. Thomas Hohenhahn is a 1.1k TPE striker from Germany from the S18 class, and Hohenhahn is the second-best striker and top-six in his class despite stiff competition from the likes of Sao Paulo’s Julian Rubio and Montréal’s Maggie Sinclair. He’s been a remarkable earner with stellar physicals – namely 20 acceleration, 17 pace, 20 jumping reach, and 17 strength, while obviously having plenty of technique to spare (18 finishing, 17 heading). Could he us a bit of work on some of the mental skills? Maybe, but all of the foundations thus far have been laid – and since he shoots with plenty of power, I suspect what he really needs are additional teammates to help get him the ball in the right place – he can handle everything else.
Central and Attacking Midfield: When you’re narrowing in on 650-700 TPE players as a strength, you know things are rough. But as mentioned previously, youth and talent are two facets that make for a team’s outlook – and with about half of the team’s roster coming from S20, I don’t think Shanghai is worried much about this season – or the next, really. From S20, their team has a few sub-to-starter quality midfielders in Slovenia’s Marcel Voda (CM), England’s Sam Albinson (RAM) and Thomas Jimotheus (CAM), and lastly Ireland’s Trick Johnson (LWB). And yes, Shanghai’s Brits feature brightly in the team’s theoretical future, but Shanghai will have to be patient over the next 3-4 seasons to let them develop.
Areas for Improvement
Defense: Unfortunately, Shanghai’s 35 goals allowed didn’t come by accident. While the team has a couple of promising players in the perhaps too-aptly named American in BigMac Johnson (RD) and Damian DeSoto, who is also American but with a less on-the-nose name, the team’s defense doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence. Aidan Hutchinson Jr. is the team’s lone well-developed defender from the S18 class, but is a ways behind most of his most competitive classmates by a couple hundred TPE. I suspect he’ll be serviceable as the rest of the team comes into their own – especially since he’ll be leading the pack with his 820 TPE for the foreseeable future – but it’ll be challenging to field a worthy defense for the next couple of seasons.
The Wings: Yes, I did cite Trick Johnson as a potential strength in the future, and the team’s highest-TPE player is Imjust Ken (RWB). While Ken is top 11 in his class, he lags behind his top-five peers by over 300 TPE and is six seasons older than about half of the team. And really, you’d like for both flanks to be excellent before calling something a strength (or at least not a weakness) – but with both van Garritsen and Von Berg retiring, the team certainly lacks for depth on the flanks outside of wingback, making them a bit narrow when attacking.
In reality, I think the Dragons have a sufficiently bright future that there's no specific need to panic. But I think the team's users will need to be patient for a few seasons as their young players develop and not jump ship before they have a chance to see their hard work pay off.
Strengths
Striker: I just mentioned the Dragons had a dreadful goal differential, of which scoring goals is half of the equation. How, then, can striker be a position of strength for them after scoring less than a goal per game?
Well, youth and talent are the two things that define a team’s outlook at a given position. Thomas Hohenhahn is a 1.1k TPE striker from Germany from the S18 class, and Hohenhahn is the second-best striker and top-six in his class despite stiff competition from the likes of Sao Paulo’s Julian Rubio and Montréal’s Maggie Sinclair. He’s been a remarkable earner with stellar physicals – namely 20 acceleration, 17 pace, 20 jumping reach, and 17 strength, while obviously having plenty of technique to spare (18 finishing, 17 heading). Could he us a bit of work on some of the mental skills? Maybe, but all of the foundations thus far have been laid – and since he shoots with plenty of power, I suspect what he really needs are additional teammates to help get him the ball in the right place – he can handle everything else.
Central and Attacking Midfield: When you’re narrowing in on 650-700 TPE players as a strength, you know things are rough. But as mentioned previously, youth and talent are two facets that make for a team’s outlook – and with about half of the team’s roster coming from S20, I don’t think Shanghai is worried much about this season – or the next, really. From S20, their team has a few sub-to-starter quality midfielders in Slovenia’s Marcel Voda (CM), England’s Sam Albinson (RAM) and Thomas Jimotheus (CAM), and lastly Ireland’s Trick Johnson (LWB). And yes, Shanghai’s Brits feature brightly in the team’s theoretical future, but Shanghai will have to be patient over the next 3-4 seasons to let them develop.
Areas for Improvement
Defense: Unfortunately, Shanghai’s 35 goals allowed didn’t come by accident. While the team has a couple of promising players in the perhaps too-aptly named American in BigMac Johnson (RD) and Damian DeSoto, who is also American but with a less on-the-nose name, the team’s defense doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence. Aidan Hutchinson Jr. is the team’s lone well-developed defender from the S18 class, but is a ways behind most of his most competitive classmates by a couple hundred TPE. I suspect he’ll be serviceable as the rest of the team comes into their own – especially since he’ll be leading the pack with his 820 TPE for the foreseeable future – but it’ll be challenging to field a worthy defense for the next couple of seasons.
The Wings: Yes, I did cite Trick Johnson as a potential strength in the future, and the team’s highest-TPE player is Imjust Ken (RWB). While Ken is top 11 in his class, he lags behind his top-five peers by over 300 TPE and is six seasons older than about half of the team. And really, you’d like for both flanks to be excellent before calling something a strength (or at least not a weakness) – but with both van Garritsen and Von Berg retiring, the team certainly lacks for depth on the flanks outside of wingback, making them a bit narrow when attacking.
In reality, I think the Dragons have a sufficiently bright future that there's no specific need to panic. But I think the team's users will need to be patient for a few seasons as their young players develop and not jump ship before they have a chance to see their hard work pay off.
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![[Image: sDcGmjT.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/sDcGmjT.jpeg)
