In these four thrilling matches, the key goals and moments of equalization that won or lost invariably occurred after the 80th minute, which shows how grueling scoring can be.
Liu Yiming scored the winning goal with a header.
Facing Wuhan Sanzhen, Seaport still couldn't get rid of its woes in defending set-pieces - Liu Yiming broke the deadlock with two consecutive headers in Sanzhen's first attacking round.
After that, Tri-Town retreated and the game went into Harbor's possession mode. Seaport had 75% of the ball in their possession, but were ineffective on goal and ended the third game of the season with a "blank answer sheet".
In 10 games in the first phase of the league, Leko's team surprisingly scored only 10 goals, a statistic that tied with Dalian Ren and Chengdu Rongcheng for the bottom five in the league, and obviously cannot be explained solely by the absence of the central foreigner.
Knowing that Dalian is playing with a full Chinese squad, while Seaport has local players plus two foreigners in Paulinho and N'Diaye, but only averaged 1 goal, the lack of technical and tactical skills is the more crucial reason. Harbor skipper Leko.
Puzzling tactical choices
"It was a great game against one of the strongest teams in the league, with an organized offense, solid defense, and outstanding coaching. We played well against such an opponent, taking the initiative on the field and full of conviction to win."
Leko's comments in the post-game conference rang a little hollow.
In this game, Leko played Oscar as an organizing back - the Brazilian star was much less of a threat away from the central attacking area, and the expectation that Oscar would give his team direct help was dashed.
Throughout the 10 games of the first period, Leko's usual tactical mindset has been one of me, with possession and pressure play in every game.
However, in the absence of Oscar and Muy, such a tactic is not only inefficient on the attacking end, but also often countered by the opponent on the defensive end.
The second round of the Shanghai Derby is a typical example, as the harbor looked weak in both offense and defense, and it was a fluke that they were able to get a point.
Lecco has also been often criticized by fans for his decision-making regarding the selection of key player positions in key matches, such as often substituting Xu Xin around the 60th minute, and for example, playing Stanley Wong as a trailing center back.
In the two crucial matches against Samchun that determined the ranking, Lecco put too much trust in the young Chen Chunxin in the first round; and did not place Oscar correctly in the second round, and these two losses left Seaport completely behind the first group - in addition to being pulled 12 points behind Samchun, Seaport trailed the second-placed Taishan by as much as eight points.
Knowing that the Dalian region as a whole is a relatively easy journey, while Taishan is located in the Haikou region has more strong opponents, the actual distance between the two sides, far more than the eight points shown on the books.
Oscar was put in the wrong position.
Can a change of command be the cure?
Looking at the current standings and team form, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Harbour is completely out of the league title race for this year, and Leko has been the target of attacks from fans and media in the court of public opinion in the meantime.
In the post-match conference, journalists outside the quarantine area asked the media group if Lecco would be worried about being dropped, but somehow the moderator didn't throw the question at the Belgian, which somewhat mitigated some of the awkwardness.
Regarding the future, Leko said after the race that he will use the break to analyze and summarize next, "The last two months have been difficult for us and I'm going to look at how to get better next. What to do after that is clear to us, it's impossible to say here exactly, but we definitely need a dose of good medicine."
And many fans joked that the cure should be Lecco's dismissal.
Whether or not to change the manager, however, requires thorough consideration by the club - the SIPG group has had two features on the managerial issue since the 2015 season when it operated the team independently: from Eriksson, Andre Villas-Boas, and Pereyra to Lecco, the club has always hired foreign managers, which means that the possibility of a homegrown coach taking over halfway through the season has been virtually ruled out.
Meanwhile, the Harbour Club has yet to make a mid-season managerial change, with Lecco's first three predecessors, all of whom left automatically when their contracts expired at the end of the season.
Indeed, there is also a cost of risk in sacking Leko, with the club needing to have an alternative manager in place, as well as ensuring that the new manager can quickly step into the role.
Of course, by keeping the Belgian, there would also be the dilemma of the season just sinking completely - and now, the time has come for the management to make a decision.
Apart from the marquee issue, the seaport also needs to deal with the issue of foreign aid.
After Lopez's departure, the team vacated two foreign aid spots, and the team should sign suitable immediate players to strengthen its strength in the summer window.
