In a match in the penultimate round of the Chinese Super League championship group that ended on Wednesday night, Shanghai Harbor narrowly defeated Guangzhou City 2-1.
Despite winning two consecutive wins again, the physical problems of the players under the intensive schedule are becoming more and more prominent. Harbour's failure to make enough rotations in the last two league rounds is bound to affect the FA Cup final.
Harbor head coach Lecco, as he said at the pre-match press conference, still has an all-work lineup except for injured players. He Xi replaced the injured Wei Zhen to drag the center back, wang Shenchao was placed in He Xi's original right center-back position; the back was activated by Matijiang, and Paulinho, who had a fractured hand, was replaced by striker Hu Jinghang.
Since Guangzhou City originally did not like to play the tactic of shrinking the defensive line and defending intensively, the Harbor team gained a lot of space in the attack in the first half and also created a lot of opportunities. Harbor scored in the 14th minute, Oscar's long-range shot caused the Guangzhou City Goalkeeper to save the ball, Liu Zhurun and Mui scored consecutive shots, and Moi scored for the team.
Harbor, who had full control of the ball, went down in the 44th minute when Mooy hit a left-footed world wave from the edge of the penalty area to score twice.
However, in the second half, the scene suddenly reversed, and the Harbor team's forward pressing force decreased significantly. This not only allowed Guangzhou City, which likes to pass and control, to gradually regain possession, but the Harbor team also made a mistake in staring at people when defending set-pieces, and was pulled back by the opponent. The dense schedule and lack of sufficient rotation have caused the Harbour players to experience a serious decline in physical fitness under consecutive games, which is a very important reason.
And in the case of only one goal between the two teams, Lecco did not dare to easily replace the main force for rest, and had to continue to carry the field, and the 5-person substitution quota was only used by 2 in the end.
"Take every next game." Manager Lecco's obsession now seems to have to make some "compromises". After all, for Shanghai Harbour Club, in the case of the Chinese Super League this season's championship is hopeless, the temptation of the FA Cup title should be much greater than the league runner-up.
Opponents in the FA Cup final, Shandong Taishan, have begun to rotate sharply in this round. It is foreseeable that their last two rounds of the Chinese Super League will continue to prepare for the FA Cup.
Therefore, the Harbor team, which is currently tied for second with Guangzhou, if it must win the second place in the league, it means that it will have to fight for the last round of direct dialogue with Guangzhou. Then from Guangzhou to Chengdu, the final of the FA Cup, a short period of 4 days will certainly not allow the core players to get a full rest.
In fact, after the match with Guangzhou City, Lyco has revealed that the number of injured people in the team's backline is now as high as 5, which shows that the Harbor team is indeed in urgent need of rotation and adjustment at this stage. If the injury is satisfied with the final of the FA Cup, how to compete with Shandong Taishan, who is waiting for work and is originally stronger?
Harbor's next round of the Chinese Super League, against Shandong Taishan, what kind of lineup the team will use at that time depends on whether the club is still entangled in the league runner-up position; whether head coach Lecco is still entangled in using the full main force to fight hard.