Without a championship-level striker line, it is impossible to compete for the final championship trophy. For the first time since the 2015 season, Harbor has tried to rely on the local front to compete for the Chinese Super League title, and has basically failed after losing 0-2 to leader Shandong Taishan at the top of the table on Sunday night.
'Paulinho's absence has a big impact on us, the opposition formation is more conservative, and we have more difficulty in attack." Harbor international Wang Shenchao said this after the game.
Despite having world-class midfielders like Oscar, neither Li Shenglong nor 20-year-old Liu Zhurun in the forward line can give enough pressure to Shandong Taishan, who has a first-class defense in the Chinese Super League. The absence of a strong center, coupled with Paulinho's suspension, allowed the opposing side to concentrate on defending Oscar.
In the case that the draw is also acceptable, Shandong Taishan also changed the 5-back formation to the characteristics of the harbor team's wingback attack threat. This further increased the difficulty of the Harbor Team's attack.
In fact, against opponents with obvious height advantages, harbor's defense in this game is not bad overall. Both of the opponent's goals were scored on set-pieces, and they didn't have much chance in the athletic battle. If it weren't for Oscar conceding the penalty in the 88th minute, maybe the team could have fought for a draw.
Therefore, the Harbor team lost this top battle, and the most fundamental problem is "weak edge". Lacking championship-level forward players, it is not surprising that harbor team now has such a broken offensive lineup, and it is not surprising that Shandong Taishan, the current first strongest team in the Chinese Super League, is stretched.
After the game, Harbor coach Lecco also said that he was convinced of his loss, "Our opponents deserve to win, they have played very strong and better than us throughout the game, so give them a big congratulations and wish them victory." Our players have done their best on the pitch, but the team is now facing a lot of problems, so it is difficult for us to win the game against a team like Shandong Taishan. They are the best team in the Chinese Super League right now, and we accept such defeats. ”
After this top-of-the-table battle, the losing Harbor team and the Guangzhou team that won this round both accumulated 34 points, which was 8 points less than the first-ranked Shandong Taishan. Although there are still five rounds left in the Chinese Super League championship group, Changchun Yatai, who lacks two core foreign aides, Hebei team with serious salary arrears, and Beijing Guoan, which is full of injured soldiers and only has a single foreign aid, are unable to stop the progress of Shandong Taishan.
For Harbour, in addition to trying to get a higher ranking in the final five rounds of the league, it's time to start preparing for the FA Cup final with Shandong Taishan on January 9.
Harbor coach Lecco also expressed this determination, "When you are not particularly complete yourself, when you play against a very complete team, it is difficult. But I'm very proud of the mental state and attitude of the existing players in training matches. When faced with failure, it must be very painful, including the players also feel very uncomfortable.
"But we have to be brave enough to face failure and learn what works for us from failure." At the moment, Shandong Taishan is the best team, but that doesn't mean we don't have a chance to be the best team. We learned our lessons, trained hard for the game, and believed that there was still a chance to come back, back to this level of Shandong Taishan. ”