The championship won't be as easy to obtain as the dandelion on the mountain, home bug warning, quick review: Shanghai Port team's first defeat of the season is just in time | home | championship
On June 3rd, a Chinese Super League strong dialogue, which was portrayed by the outside world as the "Tianwang Mountain" battle, began in the most mysterious way and ended with the most eerie ending. The Shanghai Haigang team, which enjoys the advantage of playing at home, made consecutive mistakes and lost 0-1 when their opponent, Chengdu Rongcheng team, suffered from unexpected injuries to the general and red cards to the defender. They then handed over three points.
The Shanghai Port team, ranked first, lost a game worth 6 points: if they win this game, the Shanghai Port team's lead in points will expand to 9 points; In the end, they lost 0-1, and their point advantage narrowed to 3 points, which is almost negligible.
Home turf quagmire, innate advantage turns into weakness
In the 2023 season, Shanghai Haigang team will host a new home stadium: SAIC Pudong Football Stadium. The advanced and excellent facilities, as well as the exciting atmosphere, allow fans to experience the new charm of world-class professional football fields. However, due to the lack of strong character in head coach Xavier, the Shanghai Port team he coached unexpectedly transformed into a "home bug" in their new home stadium.
The devil's home stadium that makes opponents feel scared is the former home stadium of Shanghai Port Team - Shanghai Stadium - which left a deep impression on fans. According to the statistics of the blogger "Shanghai SIPG Data", the Shanghai SIPG team played 105 Chinese Super League matches at the Shanghai Stadium, winning 71 games, drawing 18 games, and losing 16 games. Among the 80000 players, Shanghai Port team has a win rate of 67%, a draw probability of 17%, a loss probability of 15%, an average of 2.3 goals per game, and an average of 1 goal conceded per game.
Looking at the 2023 season, the data of Shanghai Port team in the new home "Baiyu Bowl" shows that they have played 5 home games, with 3 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss. They have conceded a total of 9 goals and 7 goals in each game. From the data, the winning rate of Shanghai Port team in the "White Jade Bowl" is only 60%, with a tie probability of 20% and a loss probability of 20%. At SAIC Pudong Football Stadium, the average number of goals scored by Haigang team per game was only 1.8, but the average number of goals conceded per game skyrocketed to 1.4.
Obviously, as of now, the data of Shanghai Port team in the new home field is completely behind the original home field. Of course, the data for the 2023 season is relatively small, and there is a theoretical possibility of insufficient probability samples. However, in the face of almost perfect away records, the Shanghai Port team will still become a "home bug" in the new season. The Port team has currently played 6 away games, with 5 wins and 1 draw remaining unbeaten, achieving an astonishing 83% win rate. More importantly, the Haigang team has played 6 away games and only conceded 1 goal, ranking first among the top 16 teams in the Chinese Super League in terms of away record, making them a true "away dragon".
Lack of temperament, the head coach lacks the dominance of strong players
According to the line of the protagonist Li Yunlong in the TV series "Sword", the temperament of a military commander will have an impact on the entire team. A military that is not afraid of difficulties and dares to wield its sword first comes from the temperament of a king who dares to wield his sword. The once terrifying home ground of Shanghai Port team has now become a blessing for the opponents and a burden for the home team - a huge difference, perhaps originating from Shanghai Port team head coach Javier.
Javier used to coach Chongqing and Henan teams in the Chinese Super League, both of which belonged to the middle and lower reaches of the team, with a focus on avoiding relegation and aiming to reach the top six at most. In the 2023 season, Shanghai Port team chose their old acquaintance Javier due to a lack of effort in finding a head coach. Everything has two sides, and Javier's advantage is being familiar with the actual situation of the Chinese Super League and entering the role quickly. At present, Shanghai Port team still maintains its leading position, and in addition to the strong strength of the team, head coach Javier is also indispensable.
However, the shortcomings of this Spanish coach are also very obvious. Due to the lack of experience in coaching strong teams, especially in winning championships, Javier's technical and tactical design lacks the dominance of strong attacks, and he is more willing to take them back and play defensive counterattacks. Such tactics are often more compact and targeted in away battles; Once back at home, the fervent fans of the harbor always look forward to a wonderful game, and the team can only press forward to attack. At this point, Javier exposed too many shortcomings in designing tactics, on-site command, and timely response.
Javier lacks a strong temperament, which is also reflected in his extreme dependence on ace players. In the previous round of the Chinese Super League, Haigang team led Changchun Yatai 3-0 in the first half, and remained three goals ahead in the second half after 70 minutes. In theory, Javier could easily replace his ace players Oscar and Wu Lei, giving them enough rest time to ensure they have ample physical fitness in the next round against Chengdu Rongcheng.
As a result, Javier had no courage to switch players and still allowed the two to play for 90 minutes without any success. Oscar and Wu Lei, who are both 32 years old this year, are no longer young. Despite the intense schedule of double matches and hot weather, they are unable to rest in time. Oscar and Wu Lei feel a bit tired.
Stupid moves continue, commanding oneself to destroy the country on the spot
In the advantageous situation of having one more player, the Shanghai Port team conceded a goal in stoppage time and ultimately lost 0-1 to the Chengdu Rongcheng team, who played with 10 players. At the end of the day, it was head coach Xavier's constant incompetence in changing people and commanding, which personally ruined the good situation.
After the game, Javier said, "First of all, I want to thank every player who gave their all in the game to win a victory. However, football is like this. Sometimes a corner kick or a counterattack can cause a goal to be conceded, and the opponent has great strength in the front field. They did very well. Unfortunately, they suffered their first loss of the season in this way. Playing offensive football means taking risks. Today, we lacked some luck and did not score. We will continue to look forward and prepare well for the next game."
Javier's speech was completely self deprecating. Throughout the game, Shanghai Port team only had an advantage in ball possession, with a lead of 68% to 32%; But in the more core and efficient data section, we are all lagging behind: our shooting numbers are 11-12, our shots are 3-5, and our score is 0-1. It is obvious that Javier was unable to help the team play attacking football in this game, and did not show the momentum of playing at home.
Even the goal of Chengdu Rongcheng team actually came from Javier's concession and proactive completion. At the beginning, Javier inexplicably used a strikeless formation, allowing Paulinho to play the so-called hidden forward, Wu Lei to play the left winger, and Caron to play the right winger. This tactic may seem to have strong ball control, but due to the lack of height advantage and header burst in the middle, so-called ball control advantage is essentially equivalent to ineffective ball control.
If Javier insists on playing to the end like this, if he doesn't switch, at least he won't lose, which is a 0-0 trend. Unfortunately, in the 73rd minute, Feng Zhuoyi from Chengdu Rongcheng team was sent off with a red card after overturning Oscar. This red card directly triggered a storm of confusion in Javier's thinking, causing him to constantly switch players and lose the game.
Before the red card, Javier had already replaced Maitijiang, who had performed well, with Xu Xin, who was strong in attack and weak in defense but lacked rigorous playing style, in order to strengthen his attack. This was originally a questionable player. After the red card, Javier saw the hope of winning three points at home and replaced center Ping Ke with foreign midfielder Vargas for a strong attack, but replaced midfielder Cai Huikang and right winger Karon.
This substitution is definitely a failure, directly leading to a complete imbalance in the attack and defense of Shanghai Port team: after Cai Huikang stepped off the field, there was no barrier protection in front of the defender, and Chengdu Rongcheng team's high center Felipe began to feel like a fish in water. Xu Xin, who has a soft playing style, has become a single midfielder who has to do dirty work, which cannot limit the personal ability of Chengdu Rongcheng's foreign striker. In the end, Chengdu Rongcheng team also received a big gift with a smile: foreign aid Palacios, who appeared due to an unexpected injury to his core player Romulo, performed a brilliant final in front of the almost disappearing defensive midfielder of Haigang team. This goal actually reflects the complete failure of the coaching staff at the harbor in commanding on the spot.
Fortunately, the Shanghai Port team has a solid foundation, and even if they lost this 6-point game, the team still leads the way. However, from a global perspective, this defeat may have come at the right time, reminding the coaching staff and players that there are no weak teams in the 2023 Chinese Super League, and the league championship trophy will not be as easy to obtain as the dandelion on the mountain.
In the author's opinion, for Javier and the coaching team, the defeat in this game was actually a shame - the three points lost were completely caused by the coaching team's "reckless tinkering". This kind of tactical incompetence is a great taboo for the coaching staff to be demoralized; It's also a bit unfair to most of the team members who put in their best effort on the field.
