As the night wore on, Shanghai Seaports continued to maintain their lead in the Suzhou Division by narrowly defeating Hebei 1-0 in tonight's seventh round of the Chinese Super League (CSL). Seaport also tops the overall standings in both divisions.
Despite the win, the Harbour Team scored only one goal in the 180 minutes of the two matches after the restart of the Chinese Super League, still relying on penalty kicks to score. From an objective point of view, it is obvious that the striker attacking power of the Harbour Team, which has lost its main center forward Arnautovic, has suffered a considerable blow.
In this match, Harbour head coach Leko only rotated two players. It is worth mentioning that Lu Wenjun, who played as a striker in the last match, returned to the left wingback position, while Li Shenglong partnered with Lopez in the forward line. That's pretty much the entirety of Seaport's offense, as the only player left on the bench is 18-year-old Jabo Diem.
The lack of support from the front line and the difficulty of sustained pressure on the opponents' offense were the key reasons why Harbour Team, which took the initiative in the first half, gradually lost control of the field in the second half. Especially in the last ten minutes, facing the opponent's frenzied attack, Harbour Team almost struggled to hold on to the victory.
There is no denying that Li Shenglong put up a good fight, and the team's winning penalty kick came from his aggressive pressing of Hebei's young goalkeeper Bao Yaxiong, which led to a turnover. It was this mistake that opened the way for Oscar's goal.
However, compared to Arnautovic's ability, Li Shenglong cannot fully replace the Austrian international. The weakening of the Harbour's forward line is indisputable.
As for Lopez, apart from a shot hitting the post in each of the two games, there seems to be no other highlights. Whether it's breaking with the ball or passing, he doesn't seem to be able to integrate into the whole team's system, and it's really hard for him to be able to take over the No. 10 jersey from Hulk.
To make matters worse, twice late in the game, Lopez misplaced passes as his team switched from defense to offense, narrowly missing opportunities for the visitors to equalize.
In order to strengthen the midfield, we can consider sending Baitijiang; in order to strengthen the defense, Li Ang, an international player, may be able to play. Although the depth of the bench in the midfield and backfield of the harbor team is quite good, but the most urgent problem is the lack of big-name foreign goal scorer after the "powerless", which will have a direct impact on the team's prospects of winning the Super League this season.
