After three games, Shanghai Harbour's lead at the top of the Chinese Super League (CSL) table has been reduced to just nine points. With six rounds of Super League matches remaining, the battle for the title is getting more and more exciting.
Shanghai Seaport had the upper hand, but the rise of Shandong Luneng has made the road to the title less straight. Head coach Javier needs to take responsibility for his team's recent woes. If he hadn't stubbornly stuck to one lineup until the end, not daring to use substitutes, perhaps Shanghai's starters wouldn't have been overly tired, leading to the team's successive losses in the second half.
As a matter of fact, Shanghai Harbour's bench is the strongest in the Chinese Super League. However, it seems that Javier lacks a rotation strategy for such a strong bench, and only trusts the fixed starting lineup. Under the leadership of such a coach, Shanghai's substitutes have been reduced to the "chicken ribs" of the Chinese Super League, and have suffered a lot of misfortunes.
This season, Shanghai Harbour team has three power international players should have become the team's main force, however, Javier has turned a blind eye to them, long-term will be placed on the bench, so that they have been reduced to marginal characters, and even substitutes for the opportunity to play are few and far between. Javier's approach is a waste of valuable resources.
The three international players overlooked by Javier are Yu Hai, Li Shenglong and Wei Zhen. Although Yu Hai is over 36 years old, his skills are still raw, he is good at both offense and defense, and his athleticism has not declined significantly. Even with his limited stamina, playing 30 minutes in the second half is not a problem. However, after 24 rounds of China, Javier only gave Yu Hai a chance to play as a substitute, the former hero of the national football team against South Korea has become an embarrassment to Shanghai.
Homegrown center forward Li Shenglong is in his prime and is having an eye-catching season. Despite only 6 appearances and 2 starts in the Chinese Super League, he has scored 3 goals for Shanghai Harbour, leading the Chinese Super League in goal scoring efficiency. However, it is puzzling that Javier still has no trust in Li Shenglong.
The last international player to be overlooked is Wei Zhen, a young defender who is not only big and strong in both offense and defense, but is one of the best of the young local defenders and has been selected for the Chinese men's soccer team several times. However, such a good player had a hard time getting into Javier's vision. After more than 24 rounds of China, Wei Zhen had only three debuts at Shanghai Harbour, as if he was forgotten.
It is no exaggeration to say that if Javier had been able to incorporate the three international replacements mentioned above into Shanghai Seaport's key rotation, the season would not have been stuck in the highs and lows of today.
