Muscat shows his true nature as an offensive madman, quick comment: Behind the rare clean sheet of the Harbor team is "attitude determines everything"
Relying on Oscar's penalty kick and Vargas's push shot, Shanghai Haigang defeated Chengdu Chengdu 2-0 in the 13th round of the Chinese Super League on May 22 and continued to rank second in the standings.
Compared with the previous poor defense of "scoring more goals and conceding more goals" against weak teams, the Harbor team contributed a long-lost zero seal on the defensive end in this campaign, which reflects that the "game attitude" of the soldiers has become more upright and rigorous.
At the same time, after taking the lead, the Harbor team resolutely refused to shrink its defense and still adopted the aggressive tactics of high pressure, which also showed the true nature of head coach Muscat's "offensive madman".
Although they had the last laugh with 2-0, in terms of technical statistics, the Shanghai Harbor team actually had no obvious advantage - although the ball possession rate was 60% to 40%, and the number of shots was 15 to 12, but in the core In the shot-on-goal session, they fell behind 4-6.
If it weren't for Yan Junling's almost heroic performance in this battle, the outcome of the game might have gone in a different direction. To be able to do this, the Chengdu Chengdu team relies on high-quality defense, and even a high-quality "busing".
Harbor team coach Muscat also praised the opponent's quality of tightening the fence after the game, "Today's game is a very different challenge for the team. The opponent has compressed the space to the limit, leaving us very little space. , Their defense was very good." Chengdu Chengdu Team head coach Xu Zhengyuan also affirmed his tactical arrangement, "Our overall preparation and game performance were good, but unfortunately we gave away a penalty kick and our overall tactics were good. Yes, but it is a pity that if the counterattack can be more calm and the ball is scored, there will be no loss. Defensive errors always exist in football. The important thing is how to solve them after they occur. "
The defensive quality of the Chengdu Chengdu team in this campaign is very high.
Although the Chengdu Chengdu team lost, this style of deep defense and proactively shrinking the defensive space is actually the most appropriate and realistic tactical configuration to deal with the Haigang team at the moment. In this campaign, the Chengdu Chengdu team deployed a 532 formation, with five defenders lined up, allowing the Haigang team to conduct in the midfield and frontcourt, resolutely "blocking" the space at the front of the penalty area. At the same time, once the Haigang team made an offensive error and lost the ball, the Chengdu Chengdu team immediately sent the ball to the feet of high center Felipe and forward Wei Shihao, creating a one-on-one opportunity in the frontcourt.
Data proves that the low-profile tactics of the Chengdu Chengdu team are very successful. At present, they are one of the few teams that can effectively limit the offensive firepower of the Haigang team. In the Shanghai Derby, Shanghai Shenhua limited the Haigang team's shots on target to only 2; Chengdu Chengdu Chengdu team challenged the Haigang team with strong offensive firepower in an away game, and was able to suppress the home team's shots on target to only 4, which is enough to show its own ability. The defensive quality is very high.
Overall, the Shanghai Harbor team's offense in this campaign was no longer gorgeous and smooth, but its relative tightness on the defensive end ensured a victory. In particular, goalkeeper Yan Junling made many brilliant saves, center backs Jiang Guangtai and Wei Zhen worked diligently to save the ball many times, and the whole team was more correct in thinking and focused on defense, thus ushering in a "zero goal" that is rare this season.
Yan Junling ushered in his 100th clean sheet in the Super League.
In Muscat's view, the clean sheet in this game came from the pressure the offense put on the opponent. He said: "We focused very much on offense during the game, and the challenges we faced were different from before. The opponent's tactics were mainly defensive. When we made mistakes and switched, they gave us very little space. During the halftime break, the coach The team hopes that the players can be braver in the second half, show aggression, boldly move forward and pass the ball forward. Everyone needs to participate in the offense. In the second half, we improved in these two aspects. Sometimes a good offense is very important. Good defense.”
In the 2023 season, the Shanghai Haigang team was double-killed by the Chengdu Chengdu team, and the process of losing was almost the same: the opponent was sent off after a tight defense. The Haigang team, with one more person fighting, could not attack in a positional battle to break the dense defense, and was finally defeated by the opponent. The sneak attack was successful. In the 2024 season, the Harbor team coached by Muscat pays more attention to offense and has richer methods. Although it is still difficult to face intensive defense, it has obviously made huge progress in many aspects such as game temperament and tactical configuration.
The Harbor team's ability to break dense defense needs to be further improved.
In this campaign, Wang Shenchao, who came on as a substitute, ushered in his 301st Super League game. Before the game, the club also gave him a commemorative jersey for his 300th game milestone. After the game, Wang Shenchao said bluntly that the whole team was fully prepared before the game and was well prepared for the difficult game and worked together to score three points. He also said, "The opponent's defense is very deep, and breaking through the dense defense is a difficult topic for every team, and it is also an area that the team needs to improve in the future."
After the 13th round of the Chinese Super League, the Haigang team, which has one game less, is temporarily ranked second, but it still has the most goals and the most powerful firepower in the Chinese Super League with 39 goals. The statistics of averaging more than 3 goals and conceding more than 1 goal per game also show that the Harbor team coached by Muscat focuses on offense and has the obsession of "attack or die". However, the team's technical and tactical play has not yet taken shape, and it is troubled by a very intensive schedule and insufficient bench depth. Overall, Muscat's offensive football building continues.
During the break in March this year, Muscat had a discussion with the Shanghai media, and he specifically mentioned his tactical philosophy. "From taking over the team to now, I have always believed that my tactical concepts and playing methods can be successfully implemented. The feedback given by the players, including their performance in the game, has been very good. They have a strong desire to learn and absorb new playing methods. The players’ implementation during the game was also good.” Muscat said at the time that he would transform the tactics step by step. “I don’t want to say that I will make drastic changes in tactics as soon as I take over the team, showing my stubbornness and arrogance. , I just want to say that this current style of play will give us the greatest possibility of success.”
In this campaign, Muscat's on-the-spot command showed a high level. He first replaced Wang Shenchao and Li Shuai, who had a yellow card, to avoid the accident of a red card. After that, Feng Jin, who was fast and good at dribbling, also took the lead. It was he who received Wang Shenchao's long pass and suddenly made a penalty kick on the right, which changed the trend of the game. In addition, arranging Xu Xin to replace Chitardini also ensured the coverage and vitality of the midfielder position.
"Our substitute players have their own impact on the game. The substitute players must be mentally and physically prepared. Feng Jin's good condition in training gave me confidence. Not only him, Wang Shenchao stabilized the backcourt after playing. Defense. "Muscat reviewed after the game, "Xu Xin also affected the trend of the game. It was his active pressing in the frontcourt that allowed Vargas to get the ball and seal the victory. Although Lu Wenjun played for a short time, he also had the advantage. Contribution, this is also the family-like atmosphere or spiritual outlook we want to build.”
Muscat also specially thanked the fans after the game. After all, the day of the game was not a weekend, and die-hard fans needed to rush to the stadium as soon as possible after get off work to cheer. "What I want to say is the fans. They also have an impact on the victory of the game. We rely very much on the fans. The fans are the epitome of our team. The fans support us whether in front of the TV or in the field. They support the team. Keep attacking, keep fighting forward, this feeling of unity is what I call the feeling of family. "Muscat, who has high emotional intelligence, is not only good at saying nice things, but also his transformation of the team's technical and tactical style. In progress.
