Source: Shangguan News By: for ice
In the world of soccer, the coaching team is the locomotive that leads the way, while the club is the helmsman that makes the decisions. When the team encounters challenges, will they be able to utilize more precise strategies?
On June 19, Wuhan Three Town continued to lead the table in the fifth round of the Chinese Super League with a close 2-1 win over Shanghai Seaports in Dalian. Shanghai Seaports' manager Leko said bluntly for the first time after the match, "The road to the championship is difficult, and we are currently struggling to reach the top level of the Chinese Super League."
With only 5 of the 34 rounds of league matches played, why did Leko call it quits so early? Harbour team strengthened their squad after last season's second-place finish, but now the whole team is in a slump, is it really due to the epidemic in Shanghai? The coaching team is the locomotive that leads the way, and the club is the helmsman that makes the decisions, can they come up with more effective countermeasures in times of trouble?
Outside backers duel, Harbour's defeat justified
Although the score was only 1-2 and the Harbor team only lost by one goal, the difference in strength between the two teams was obvious from the course of the game. Throughout the game, the Harbour Team was out-shot 6-22 and out-put 3-11. It makes sense that they lost.
In terms of ball possession, Harbor led the opponents' 35% with 65%, and the passing success rate was 84% ahead of Tri-Town's 72%, but these seemingly dominant statistics were actually ineffective - Harbor's possession areas were all in their own midfield and backfield, and they were unable to form a substantial attacking threat; and the passing was only between the three home backfield The passes were only back and forth across the field between the three defenders, making it difficult to launch an effective attack forward.
Unlike the unconvincing attitude of past defeats, this time Harbourmaster Leko was heartfelt after the game, even with a certain amount of self-deprecation. He said: "The side that played better won the game, we only lost by one goal, but could have lost by more. The players and coaches were out of form in the first half and we are still a long way from the top teams in the Super League."
Harbour improved their performance in the second half, pulling a point back thanks to substitute Ndiaye. According to Leko, "We had more possession in the second half but I don't think we were better, we didn't really create threatening chances and our opponents could have scored all four of our goals in the first half."
The Chinese Super League relies on foreigners. Wuhan Sanzhen had five foreigners and started with four, with the front three firing on all cylinders, especially senior midfielder Malcolm Malcolm who stirred up the Harbour's backline and set the tone of the game with his powerful header. In contrast, Harbour only had Paulinho Jr. in the starting lineup, and N'Diaye, who came on as a substitute, was not sharp enough due to unsystematic training.
Foreign aid dependence tests coaching team's ability to teach
In the absence of core foreign aid, Shanghai Seaports exposed the drawback that it is difficult to win without Oscar, which is certainly related to the general rule of relying on foreign aid in the Chinese Super League, but it also exposed the deficiencies of the coaching team in terms of offensive layout, tactical literacy, overall collaboration and timely response.
All along, the Chinese Super League, dominated by the golden dollar soccer, has formed a simplistic tactical framework in which the super foreign aid trident dominates the offense and the rest of the local players are responsible for the defense. Whether it is the former Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai seaport, or today's Wuhan three towns, the super foreign aid is an indispensable tactical core, the local players are mainly responsible for the defense and break the ball to the foreign aid after the "tool man".
Now, with the super foreign aid due to salary limitations and other factors to leave, the core of the Hong Kong team Oscar due to the epidemic and other reasons for the delay in the return of a number of teams back to the original form, seaports "Oscar dependence" more and more obvious. Without Oscar, the Harbor team's offense has become raw, almost unable to create a killing machine, if not for the club's introduction of internal aid Feng Jin a unique, the rest of the local players are trapped in the physical reserves, physical fatigue, tactical configurations, and other factors, the performance of the weak drag, it is difficult to shoulder the important task of scoring goals.
Can Chinese players play a great offense without foreign aid? This season, the all-Chinese Dalian Ren team coached by Xie Hui has been performing very well, the team is undefeated with 1 win and 3 draws for the time being. Especially when there is no foreign aid to rely on, the team's high pressing style of play is sound and very encouraging.
The high press and spirit of Xie Hui and the Dalian People are actually reminding Shanghai Seaports that the Chinese Super League is not the only one that relies on foreign aid as a tactic, a mode, or a way of survival. In contrast, the various helplessness and complaints of Lecco without Oscar nowadays also show that the coaching team lacks a solution to the problem.
In fact, as long as the proper organization, proper tactics, unity and cooperation, all Chinese class out of the Chinese players can also score goals, can also play relatively advanced team soccer - provided that the coaching team has the pursuit, the players have the execution. In this regard, Leko may need more thinking.
Being stubborn, clubs need to be flexible too
Xie Hui's coaching of Dalian relies on an all Chinese team to excel, which cannot be separated from his long-time learning accumulation as an assistant coach at Shanghai Harbour Club. After assisting Eriksson, Villas-Boas and Pereira, Xie Hui chose to fly solo as a head coach and incorporated the experience of these three champion coaches into his coaching philosophy.
In contrast, Leko, as the successor of these three champion coaches, lacks the aura of a champion, and his character appears to be "one-dimensional", and lacks the ability to respond quickly when encountering unexpected difficulties. Even the lack of "frustration education" of the young coach, because of their own stubborn character, so that the team has a "boat for the sword" suspicion.
In the author's view, the Shanghai Harbor team affected by the epidemic, the physical reserve is insufficient, the preparation period is not enough, can not be reversed. The face of the team only 14 days preparation period of "special circumstances", must take targeted "special method". It is understood that Lecco led the team in Dalian still continue their trademark high-intensity training mode, and even two a day to practice aerobic running, running back and forth to reserve physical fitness.
High-intensity training itself is not at fault, but these training rhythms, training modes and preparation concepts are often based on the premise of a normal preparation cycle of about 30 days. Now the harbor team affected by the epidemic, the preparation cycle is only a short 15 days, in the league before the continuation of unchanged ultra-high-intensity training is appropriate, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the intense training of Leko's coaching team had already revealed problems last season. Leko handpicked defender Maistorovic came to China, a Chinese Super League did not play, suffered two serious injuries ligament rupture. Among them, there is certainly the factor of bad luck, but there are also many insiders believe that the team's excessive training intensity is also a causative factor. In addition, Brazilian striker Lopez ruptured his ligaments in training last year, and Oscar, who was basically uninjured before, suffered a serious injury last year, which is related to Leko's excessive training intensity, over-emphasis on running, and a relative lack of technical and tactical content.
Last season, after Lecco's high-intensity training, there was the Brazilian "miracle doctor" Edu to provide support, using professional ability to try to ensure that the players come back in time. This season, under the high-intensity training, seaport team is full of injured soldiers, the domestic medical team has been very hard, but Edu due to the epidemic is still in Brazil has not yet returned to the team, the team has not yet recovered to the maximum rehabilitation diagnostic and treatment power. In fact, there is a scientific rule for players to come back from injury, and the growing list of injuries in the Harbour team this season also shows that the team's training needs to be improved.
"Everyone, including me, needs to reflect and analyze to see what we should do next to get better." After the match, Leko's statement was both humble and pragmatic. In this writer's opinion, Leko is only responsible for the technical and tactical aspects of the training and matches, and more matters are actually left to the Harbour Club to decide.
Previously, the response to the epidemic when the team management of inaction, lack of response, or has long been in trouble for the Premier League buried fuse. Shanghai Shenhua as a comparative object, Shenhua in Kangqiao base although also plagued by the epidemic, but relatively able to guarantee a certain training; Shanghai Harbor Club, if you can make decisions earlier, more responsible, timely adjustment of the training site or go to the provinces and cities for training, perhaps to avoid the current embarrassment.
A Shanghai epidemic, leading to the normal operation of the club in the past the original experience is completely invalid, but also further amplify the club management, coaching team strain short board. Now, the coaching team, clubs need to face the epidemic prevention and control of the normalization of the background of the new mode of preparation for the Chinese Super League, this time if you still maintain the original thinking "boat for the sword", the team may not only be unable to get rid of "Oscar dependence syndrome", the future may also be The company's business is not only a good one, but also a very good one.
