"They (Shanghai Shenhua) will only narrow down their defense, we always promote attacking soccer, which is very watchable. This is in line with the current trend of soccer development, and in the long run, our (Shanghai Seaport's) style of play is clearly more popular!" These were the comments made by Shanghai Seaport head coach Javier to reporters after the game.
This kind of comment has caused controversy among the media and fans, bearing in mind that the last head coach to comment on Shanghai Shenhua was still Li Tie.
We don't deny that attacking soccer is the fans' favorite way to play, but it is very ornamental. However, we should analyze the problem from the team's point of view so that we can understand why Wu Jingui chose this "backward and controversial" tactic to coach him.
In competitive sports, the first goal is always to win! Without victory, the prettiness of the team is of no avail. I believe any fan recognizes this.
Compared to Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai Seaport, who is stronger? Naturally, Shanghai Seaport is better in terms of overall strength. Every player in Shanghai Seaport, the domestic players basically have the background of international players, the absolute mainstay of the national football team, such as Wu Lei, Zhang Lin Miao, and super naturalized players like Jiang Guangtai. In terms of foreign players, Oscar is the only big name in the Chinese Super League, as well as Chinese Super League players like Paulinho. In addition, the tacit understanding between Vargas and Wu Lei has proven their value.
In addition, from the analysis of the first three rounds of the Chinese Super League, Shanghai Seaport has been fighting very hard, not only beating Super League champions Wuhan Sanzhen on the road, but also being far ahead in the overall offense. In addition, Shanghai Seaport's overall rhythm of offense and defense is also top in the league.
How does Shanghai Shenhua compare to Shanghai Harbor? Several foreigners are not well known. The price/performance ratio is not bad, but it's still a lot worse than a couple of Shanghai's foreigners. Compared to domestic players, the difference is huge.
So, if you were coaching Wu Jingui, what tactics would you use? Facing an opponent so much better than yourself, and playing at the opponent's home ground, would you use attacking soccer to work with Shanghai Harbor armed to the teeth? That would undoubtedly be asking for trouble and jumping into the hole yourself.
Although Shanghai Shenhua performed very well in the first few rounds of the league, the fundamental reason is that it was all due to Wu Jingui's correct tactical guidance and his proper clinical command, so it is not surprising to achieve such results.
So for the Shanghai Seaport head coach, it is absolutely inadvisable to disparage Shanghai Shenhua's old-fashioned tactics after the match. The reason why Javier commented on Shenhua in such a way is probably because he was indignant because his team fell behind but could not find a way to break the iron barrell formation, which led to his team missing out on the derby win.
In contrast, Wu Jingui's post-match comments were admirable. After analyzing the whole game in full detail, they appreciated everyone in Shanghai Seaport, especially envied their luxurious attacking line, and gave a thumbs up to Oscar's ability. And admitted that Shenhua was fortunate to get a point, but it was also the result of the whole team's efforts. Things will be better for Shanghai Seaport in the future.
Javier has lost out to Wu Jingui in terms of mentality and mindset.
In the whole game, Wu Jingui's command was also just right. In the face of the sudden change of the situation on the field, timely reaction, the limited cards in hand to maximize! This is much better than Javier.
Javier clearly underestimated Shanghai Shenhua. There were a lot of holes in the whole game and a lot of details were not done well, especially the judgment of the scenes. Let's take a simple example that everyone will understand in their heart.
After Han Chao scored the equalizer for Shanghai Shenhua, Javier made a change and Isakalong came on. In fact, even with seven or eight minutes, Isakalon could have come on earlier. Before Shanghai Shenhua scored the equalizer, the tempo was at Shanghai Port's feet, but the whole team indulged in blind confidence, always trying some more flashy attacking set pieces, but with few substantial threats.
Although Shanghai Shenhua did not have the right to take the initiative to attack and defend, he adapted very well to the slow pace of Shanghai Seaport, giving Shenhua enough time to adjust. After gradual adaptation, I caught Shanghai Seaport making mistakes and scored the crucial goal. Imagine if Javier had replaced Isakaroon during this time and changed his rhythm to threaten Shenhua's defense, Shenhua's goal would probably have been gone.
Don't always get hung up on who had the prettiest offense, who had the most shots on goal, and who had the most possession, it may give the fans a brief moment of recognition, but let's face it, everyone prefers to see a winning game.
A draw was fair to both sides, with Shanghai Seaport having the absolute advantage and scoring (in fact, if the referee had watched the VAR carefully, the corner kick call would have been canceled for sure, and there would have been no goal later on, and Shanghai would still have been in the driver's seat). Although Shanghai Shenhua didn't have much advantage, Wu Jingui's command saved the team. In addition, almost all the statistics after the match were in Shanghai Seaport's favor, but Shenhua was superior to Shanghai Seaport in the number of correct shots.
Finally, let's talk about the home crowd for this game. It's a holiday now. Logically, the attendance should be better than before, not to mention the home of Shanghai Harbor. But there were only 12,000 fans on hand, which is really kind of hot. Dai Weijun, the young core of the national soccer team, was also there and admitted that the home atmosphere was really good, but the number of people.... With such a low attendance for this crucial Shanghai derby, also during May Day, is this professional stadium of nearly 40,000 at Shanghai Seaport really necessary?
