The 7-0 win over promotion horse Meizhou Hakka should have made the fans happy, but the messages under the official microblog of Shanghai Port Club were surprisingly consistent:....
"Congrats to the players, but the win had nothing to do with Naiko", "I hope Lecco goes down sooner rather than later", "When is Lecco going to go down?"
Even a fan post P picture jokes:I suddenly have an ominous feeling.
Fan Pics
On October 30, Shanghai Port lost 1-3 to Shandong Taishan on the road, and the seaport fans completely exploded.
"Why is Lecco still off the team? Why?"
In the postgame press conference, when asked about the reason for his team's sudden move, Leko said he was confused too, and even sounded a little cute:
"I don't know, if I had known then, I would have adjusted it then, and I'm sorry."
What did Leko do wrong?
On the first day of the new year 2021, Shanghai SIPG announced Ivan-Leko as the head coach.
Leko's predecessor was Pereira, who helped Shanghai win its first top-flight title in 2018.
Chen Xuyuan, then chairman of SIPG, said after the win:
"Shanghai, very much wanting a Chinese Super League title, for 23 years, that dream has finally come true and we have a good explanation for the city."
Also in 2021, Xie Hui, a former international footballer who has been working at the harbor for several years, "spilled the beans" at a drinking game:
"I know the Upper East Side champions from Upper East Side and they spent 12 billion!"
Xie Hui's drunken speech
The words stunned both inside and out.
Pulling away, pulling away, talking back to Leko.
Born in 1978, Leko was a fine professional player, with long spells in La Liga for Málaga and Bruges, and a World Cup appearance as a Croatian international.
After retiring at the age of 36, he began his coaching career. He coached Ohavari, St. Turten, Bruges and Antwerp.
Leko led Brugge to the league title in 2017-2018 and he was the coach of the season.
In the summer of 2019, Leko takes the whip from Al Ain in the UAE.
In May 2020, Leko returned to the Bundesliga as Antwerp coach and led the team to the Belgian Cup title in the 2019-2020 season.
In the group stage of the 2020-2021 Europa League season, Leko defeated Tottenham under Jose Mourinho 1-0 at home in the group stage. It was because of this match that Leko managed to advance to the group stage.
In terms of resume and reputation, while Leko is not as good as Shanghai's former foreign coaches Eriksson, Boas, and Pereira, the most important thing is that he is.
"Cheap".
Pereira's salary was 5 million euros when he came to Hong Kong, and it is said that in 2020 his salary has risen to 10 million euros, top 20 in the world.
Shanghai officials did not disclose the salary of Lecco, who is very much in the spotlight to take over from Pereira, but many media outlets said they had heard the news from the Shanghai club, but there were still several versions.
Say €3.5m, say €2.5m, say €2.5m after taxes, either one is a lot more than when Leko was in charge at Antwerp.
Leko's private attorney Fan - a "secret statement" is Stenbrügge said:
"No one is going to turn down the offer that Leko got."
Lecco was initially torn after receiving the offer from Shanghai, rejecting it three times until the fourth time, when the two sides managed to hold hands.
"Leko has paid a lot for this and struggled internally. He has been working wholeheartedly for Antwerp, but no one would have refused the contract he received. It's great, it's so lucrative."
Sven Jacques, then general manager of FC Antwerp, was also very understanding:
"When you hear he can make a lot of money in China, you'll understand."
It is said that after Leko completed his contract with the harbor, it still felt unreal and doubtful (that it was real).
On January 14, 2021, Leko arrived in Shanghai with two assistant coaches to meet the team after 14 days of isolation.
On Feb. 1, the seaport held a meeting at Lecco, which was also requested by the club's chairman, Zhang Min:
"For coaches, it's about managing the big names, teaching the kids, calming the locker room, getting on the podium."
It sounds catchy.
celebrate a birthday
On February 7, Zhang Min took Leko to Chongming Genbao soccer base to visit Coach Xu Genbao, tracing the "roots" In addition, Leko also celebrated his birthday.
Leko also praised the Genbao base, "This should be the arsenal of Chinese soccer."
Due to the epidemic, the 2021 season of the Premier League continues to play. On the last road to golden dollar soccer, Leko led the team arguably in the past due to the configuration of players accumulated before.
However, the harbor lost 0-2 to Shandong Taishan in a key match for the title, failing to bite the bullet as Shandong won the title three rounds ahead of schedule.
In the FA Cup final on January 9, 2022, Harbour lost 0-1 to Shandong again, a year of "double Asia"!
At the time of signing the contract, the first-year target for Leko was to be in the top three, and "Double Asia" has already exceeded its KPIs.
But losing to Shandong in consecutive key battles still leaves fans unsatisfied.
Harbor training
Port continued to recruit in the winter window this year, freely signing internationals Zhang Linpeng and Xu Xin, as well as signing Feng Jin from disbanded Chongqing, finalizing foreign striker N'Diaye and buying out Junior Paulinho.
Lecco and Harbor have only one goal for the new season - a championship.
But it was not to be, with two consecutive losses after the tournament, to Wuhan Changjiang and Shanghai Shenhua, and a dismal 5 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses after 10 rounds.
But fellow city Shenhua, a group of old and sickly, played under Wu Jingui's leadership.
People are more angry than people.
Not enough money in the winter window, and then smashed in the summer window.
With the return of Wu Lei, the addition of Argentinean foreigner Vargas, and naturalized international Jiang Guangtai, Seaport's record has finally improved.
Six goals in five games, back-to-back assists and caps for Vargas, and Jiang Guangtai has gone from bell-ringing monk to defender with a sword as Harbour chases down fourth in the table.
But in two hard-fought matches, Seaport lost again, first 0-1 to Guoan and then 1-3 to Taishan.
After 22 rounds, the seaport has 12 wins, 4 draws and 6 losses, trailing Wuhan Third Town and Shandong Taishan Second by as much as 13 points. With 12 games left in the league, winning the title is a luxury.
With a "contract year" like this, I'm afraid that Leko and the harbor are drifting apart.
After the loss to Tarzan, Leko was "at a loss for words" in some of his press conferences.
"We were better in the first half, and then in the second half we suddenly wouldn't play the ball, it was more passing and defense, and we ended up losing the game, and the painful thing is the way we lost the game, we threw in the middle to be countered by the opponent, which is very unfortunate."
Leko replied:
"I don't know."
under training
Media personality Madsen left angry, posting two tweets, "Port should, must, resolutely, and immediately let the watered-down head coach go! Every furniture music department is facing such a big financial crisis and difficulties, harbor this year's signing spent how much money? A waterboy coach, such a team like this, do not leave?"
"Evaluating the quality of a coach is not about whether there is a big brand or whether they win championships. In the golden dollar era, it is not difficult for foreign coaches to coach the Chinese Super League because the super big brands are super capable of playing individuals. In the post-golden dollar era, there are no super big brands, no foreigners, no money, looking for domestic coaches. You can't talk about domestic coaches if you can't take care of it well. When so many big brands come up, why not let the local coaches try? So don't talk about advanced soccer concepts and other nonsense brought by foreign teachers. A really good coach is one who leads the team without super big brand foreigners. That's a good coach! So the Harbour's head coach is a waterboy with all that money! He won't leave, who will?"
The Harbour team has a total value of 33.73 million euros, the first in the Chinese Super League; spends 9.6 million euros in the winter window and the summer window, or the first in the Chinese Super League; and is one of the few teams in Chinese soccer today that doesn't owe wages.
Foreign aid left Arnau, Muy, Lopez, let Oscar vacation, but also came to Ndiaye, Vargas and Caron, as well as can be the top foreign aid Wu Lei, the configuration of the lineup, even in the era of gold dollar soccer, is not bad, but the record is "poor".
Leko's other criticisms, such as "just one lineup" and "the fourth foreigner will always play 20 minutes" are actually minor issues. Even with a starting lineup, even with three foreigners, Harbour should be in the top three or even the top two in the Super League.
Take a step back and make excuses, such as a short preparation period for the season, but Shenhua didn't have a preparation period either, and still owes wages, but is currently third in the Premier League with one point more than Seaport.
After the loss, Leko said he'd go back to take stock and train well, but there shouldn't be much time left for him.
And it's not just Leko who should take stock of the harbor.
