At the start of the 2014 season, the Oasis Group officially took over the running of Shenhua FC; and by the end of the year, the role of the Harbour Group underwent a dramatic shift, being promoted from mere sponsor to investor. Since the 2015 season, Harbour has consistently led the way in Shenhua's crosstown derbies with itself. In one match, a handball by Li Yunqiu led the referee to award Harbour a penalty after repeatedly watching VAR replays.
Shenhua beat Harbour 2-0 in the opening round of the league season, the team's first derby win since 1,662 days. The second meeting between the two sides took place three weeks later, with Seaport coming close to setting another embarrassing record ......
Had it not been for the magical performance of international goalkeeper Yan Junling, who kept alive the hope of a last-minute equalizer for the seaport-
He pounced on Basogo's close-range left-footed shot in the second half; even more crucial was his defense of penalty kicks, first blocking national teammate Zhu Chenjie's spot kick and then rising quickly to block Zhou Junchen's follow-up shot again ......
Fate seemed to be on Harbour's side too, as Liu Ruofan, who won the penalty, had a standard header in the box, but unfortunately the ball bounced off the ground and hit the crossbar, and Shenhua paid the price for the missed opportunity. Liu Ruofan's header from Eddie's cross hit the post.
Towards the end of the match, Li Yunqiu's handball in the penalty area was again "caught" by the VAR system, and N'Diaye scored his fourth goal of the season to help the struggling seaport get a crucial draw.
Interestingly, the official poster released by the seaport before the match used a large photo of Yan Junling, so it seems that they had already foreseen that Yan Junling would be the biggest contributor of the match. As expected, Yan Junling was indeed the best player in the match.
Seaport head coach Leko also said after the game, "It was a very interesting game, penalties, VAR and other factors ......1-1 we are satisfied with the score, have to admit that Shenhua had the opportunity to kill the game, so also thanks to Yan Junling, who did a great job. " The protagonist in the poster is none other than Yan Junling.
There's not much time left for Rico.
"We knew before the game that it was a tough game and a very difficult game to play and on a technical and tactical level we thought we played well. The final result was a bit unfortunate, but with two derbies I think we did the best we could."
Shenhua boss Wu Jingui has reason to regret the result of the game, in fact the result may also be the only regret of Shenhua. For the process of the game, Shenhua team are lamenting, "did not expect the vast majority of the game in our control, if the ability to finish a little better, win the game should not be a problem."
Leko may be responsible for the course of the game - he adopted a possession plus all-out counter-attacking tactic, leaving large gaps in the center and back of the field for Shenhua's adept raiders, Basogo and Cao Yunding, to play on the counter-attack.
Yan Junling preserved a point for Harbour.
Due to the absence of Oscar, Muy, harbor front lack of control and the ability of the final blow, the entire first half, in addition to Feng Jin outside the penalty area of the long-distance shot, other shots did not pose a threat; on the contrary, the Shenhua counterattack to play in the wind, Cao Yunding, Bassogo and Zhu Jianrong have the opportunity to score.
Judging by the course of the season, Leko's tactics have been to stay the course - the
When the team has Oscar, Muy, the seaport can completely adopt the tactics of our own; but without the big name foreign aid, seaport's existing personnel is basically not suitable for the overall counterattacking tactics, although this competition did not lose, the seaport is still a bit lucky.
In addition to the mechanics, Lecco is a little too programmatic in his selection of individual position players. Lecco's play calling and lineups are questionable.
In the second half against Guangzhou, he changed his formation to play Chen Chunxin at left wingback and switched Lv Wenjun to the right to limit Guangzhou's young Efirdin, but in the next match against Wuhan Sanzhen, Leko still adopted the same strategy, and as a result, Chen Chunxin was completely caught in a disadvantageous position when he faced Deng Hanwen and Xie Pengfei, the pair of experienced international players at right wing level.
It was only after going 0-2 down that Leko opted to make a substitution, but by then it was too late ......
In Dalian, which is not a very difficult division to play in, Seaport is not doing well, with only 10 points after 7 matches so far. There are still the last three matches in the first stage, and Seaport shouldn't have much problem taking Guangzhou and Hebei, but the last round match with Sanzhen is very crucial.
Once lost again, the probability is to be three towns to pull away from more than 10 points - this competition is feared to become a real defense of Leko's position, leaving little time for the Belgian.
