Super League title suspense escalates! Shanghai Harbor has no foreigner to challenge, long way to win the title?

At the start of the 2014 season, the Oasis Group took over the running of Shenhua FC, while by the end of the year, the Harbour Group had completed a magnificent turnaround from sponsor to investor. Since the 2015 season, Harbour have had the upper hand in the derby showdown between Shenhua and Harbour. An accidental handball by Li Yunqiu was repeatedly scrutinized by VAR technology, and the referee finally awarded a penalty to Seaport. ! [Handball by Li Yunqiu](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202206/2022063014375992654611643.gif) Shenhua beat Seaport 2-0 in the first round of the league season, their first derby win since 1,662 days. Just three weeks later, the two teams met again, with Seaport narrowly missing out on another embarrassing defeat ...... Seaport would have had a chance to equalize in the final moments if it wasn't for the magic of international goalkeeper Yan Junling - who pounced on a low one-touch shot from Bassogo in the second half - and most crucially, his penalty save, which saw him block national teammate Zhu Chenjie's spot-kick, before rising quickly to block Zhou Junchen's follow-up shot again ...... ! [Yan Junling saves](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202206/202206301438095789361643.gif) Fate also had Harbour on the winning side as Liu Ruofan, who won the penalty, completed a standard header inside the penalty area, but unfortunately the ball bounced off the ground and hit the crossbar, and Shenhua ended up paying the price for the missed opportunity. Liu Ruofan's header from Eddie's cross hit the post. ! [Liu Ruofan header](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202206/202206301438128591581643.jpg) Towards the end of the game, Li Yunqiu had another handball in the box, and the VAR technology came into play again, as Ndiaye's penalty scored his fourth goal of the season and helped the struggling Seaport secure a crucial draw. Interestingly, the official poster of Harbour had foreseen that Yan Junling would be the biggest contributor of the match, so it chose to use a large photo of him, and Yan Junling was indeed the most outstanding player of the match. ! [Seaport Poster](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202206/202206301438133278891643.jpg) Harbour head coach Leko also made a special point after the match, "It was a very interesting game, with penalties, VAR and other factors ......1-1 we are satisfied with the score, and we have to say that Shenhua had the chance to kill the game, so we also have to thank Yan Junling, who was very good. " The protagonist on the poster is none other than Yan Junling. ! [Lecco after the match](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202206/202206301438131717371643.jpg) There was not much time left for Leko. He said before the match, "We knew it was going to be a tough match and a very difficult match to play. On a technical and tactical level, we thought we played well. The final result is a bit unfortunate, but with two derbies I think we did the best we could." Shenhua boss Wu Jingui had reason to regret the result of the match, and in fact the result is probably the only thing that Shenhua regret. For the process of the game, Shenhua team are lamenting, "I did not expect the vast majority of the game is 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 tactic of ball control coupled with an all-out counter-attack, leaving a large gap in the center and back of the field for Shenhua's good raiders, Basogo and Cao Yunding, to play on the counter-attack. Yan Junling preserved a point for Harbor. ! [Lecco Tactics](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202206/202206301438133278891643.jpg) Because of the absence of Oscar and Muy, Seaport lacked control and the ability to make the final strike in front of the goal, the whole first half, except for Feng Jin's long-distance shot from outside the penalty area, the other shots were not threatening; on the contrary, Shenhua's counterattacks were playing in a lively manner, and Cao Yunding, Bassogo, and Zhu Jianrong had the chance to score. From the course of the season, Lecco's tactics are to adapt to changes - when the team has Oscar, Muy, the seaport can completely adopt the tactics of our own; but without the big name foreign aid, the seaport's existing personnel basically does not fit the overall counter-attacking tactics, the competition did not lose, the seaport more or less some luck. Apart from tactics, Lecco's selection of individual positional players is also a bit too procedural. Lecco's command and formation is questionable. ! [Lecco Layout](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202206/202206301438133278891643.jpg) In the second half against Guangzhou, he changed the formation to let Chen Chunxin play left wingback and switched Lv Wenjun to the right to limit Guangzhou's young Efirdin, but in the next match against Wuhan Sanzhen, Lecco still adopted the same strategy, and as a result, Chen Chunxin was completely caught in a disadvantageous position against the pair of experienced international right wingbacks, Deng Hanwen and Xie Pengfei. After falling behind 0-2, Lecco chose to make a substitution, but it was too late at this point. ...... In Dalian, a relatively not very difficult division, Seaport's results are not good, only 10 points have been scored after 7 games so far, there are still the last three games in the first stage, Seaport will have little problem taking down Guangzhou and Hebei, but the final round of matches with Sanzhen is very crucial. Once they lose again, the probability is that they will be pulled away from Sanzhen by more than 10 points - this competition will become a real defense of Leko's position, leaving little time for the Belgian.