The 7-0 win should have been a happy moment for the fans, but the comment section under the official microblog of Shanghai Port Club showed a different picture, with comments expressing dissatisfaction in the same way:
"Congrats to the players, the win had nothing to do with Raiko", "Looking forward to Raiko stepping down soon", "When will Raiko step down?"
Some fans even joked about it with a P-picture: I suddenly felt a twinge of unease.
On October 30, Shanghai Port lost 1-3 to Shandong Taishan on the road, and the seaport fans erupted emotionally.
"Why hasn't Lyke stepped down yet? Why?"
In the post-game press conference, Leko looked confused and a little cute when confronted with the reason for his team's sudden passivity:
"I didn't know, and if I had known at the time, I would have adjusted in time, and I am deeply saddened."
What exactly did Leko do wrong?
At the start of the new year 2021, Shanghai SIPG announced Ivan-Leko as the head coach.
Leko replaces predecessor Pereira, who helped Shanghai win its first top-flight title in 2018.
After winning the title, Chen Xuyuan, then chairman of SIPG, said:
"Shanghai, which has been longing for a Chinese Super League title for 23 years, has finally made its dream come true and we have a new interpretation of the city."
In the same year, Xie Hui, a meritorious player of the harbor, "revealed his heart" in a drinking game:
"I know the SCOTUS champions from SCOTUS, and they put 12 billion into it!"
Xie Hui's drunken and outspoken
The words shocked everyone.
The conversation goes back to Lecco.
Leko, born in 1978, was an outstanding professional player, playing for many years in La Liga with Malaga and Bruges and participating in the World Cup as a Croatian international.
After retiring at the age of 36, he began his coaching career, coaching O'Havary, St. Turten, Bruges and Antwerp.
Leko led Brugge to the league title in the 2017-2018 season and was named Coach of the Year.
In the summer of 2019, Leko took over the coaching reins at 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 2020-2021 Europa League group stage, Lecco led his side to a 1-0 home win over Jose Mourinho-coached Tottenham to reach the group stage.
In terms of resume and reputation, Lecco is not as important as Shanghai's former foreign coaches Eriksson, Boas, and Pereira, but he is the most important:
"Good value for money".
Pereira's annual salary while at Shanghai was €5 million, reportedly rising to €10 million in 2020, placing him in the top 20 in the world.
Shanghai officials have not disclosed Leko's salary, but there is widespread concern and multiple versions are circulating.
Sources say €3.5m, €2.5m or €2.5m after taxes, whichever version is higher than when Leko was in charge at Antwerp.
Leko's personal lawyer, Van Steenbrügge, had "revealed":
"No one is going to turn down the offer that Leko got."
Lecco received an offer from Shanghai and rejected it three times until the fourth time before an agreement was reached.
"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 the Antwerp club, was also understanding:
"When you hear he can make a lot of money in China, you'll understand."
Leko is said to have signed a contract with the seaport and still felt it was not real and doubted (that it was real).
On January 14, 2021, Leko arrived in Shanghai with two assistant coaches and rejoined the team after 14 days of isolation.
On Feb. 1, the seaport held a meeting of Lecco, where club chairman Zhang Min made a request:
"Coaches have to manage the big names, teach the kids, calm the locker room and get on the podium."
Sounds reasonable.
birthday celebration
On February 7, Zhang Min took Leko to visit Chongming Genbao Football Base to trace the origin of "Roots" and Leko celebrated his birthday.
Leko praised the Genbao base, "This should be the arsenal of Chinese soccer."
As a result of the outbreak, the 2021 season of the Premier League continues with a tournament system.
In the final stages of gold dollar soccer, Leko has led his team to good results.
But in the key match for the title, the harbor 0-2 defeat Shandong Taishan, failed to bite, Shandong won the title three rounds ahead of schedule.
On January 9, 2022, the FA Cup final, the seaport 0-1 again defeated Shandong, a year "double Asia"!
At the time of signing the contract, the first year's target for Leko was to be in the top three, and "Double Asia" has already exceeded its KPIs.
However, consecutive losses to Shandong in key battles still left fans dissatisfied.
Harbor training
The port continued to recruit this winter, signing internationals Zhang Linpeng and Xu Xin on a free, signing Feng Jin from disbanded Chongqing, finalizing foreign striker Ndiaye 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.
There wasn't enough money in the winter window, and the summer window was smashed.
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's third town and Shandong Taishan's second by as much as 13 points.
With 12 games to go in the league, winning the title has become a luxury.
"With a contract year like this, I'm afraid 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 it in the middle to be countered by our opponents, and that's very unfortunate."
Leko replied:
"I don't know."
under training
Media personality Madsen left in anger, sending out two tweets:
"The Port should, must, firmly, immediately let the watered-down head coach go! How much did Port spend on this year's signings when every furniture and music department is facing such a financial crisis and difficulties? A watered down coach, with a team like this, don't 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.
