Zhan Shenhua, there is only one road in the harbor

Written by Cheng Shan On the one hand, there is the harbor that shouts "the championship wants to fight", and on the other hand, Shenhua, who is eager for "revenge", this Shanghai derby in the FA Cup came a little early.

In the last round of the Chinese Super League, Shanghai Port was forced to draw 2-2 by Zhejiang team away. For the Harbour team, this game is undoubtedly a game that should not drop points. After the game, Harbour coach Muscat expressed his extreme disappointment with the result in an interview. "Obviously, we shouldn't have conceded points, we took the initiative in the first half and we started the second half in control, but the side behind looked more positive and energetic because they wanted to equalise and even win, and we were very disappointed with the result," he said. ”

The Harbour team did dominate the pitch in the first half, creating a number of scoring opportunities. However, the second half was a sudden change in the situation, and the team had problems in handling some key links. Asked if conceding the first goal was the turning point, Muscat said: "When the opponent pulls one back, they are more risk-taking, and they are more mentally motivated. In the last 15 minutes, including extraordinarily long stoppage time, we needed to do a little bit better defensively. ”

Currently, Harbour are fourth in the league with 24 points with one game less. On the road to the Chinese Super League championship, the Harbour team has fallen behind Shenhua by many points, which also makes them set their sights on other venues.

Despite a temporary setback in the Chinese Super League, for the upcoming FA Cup tie, as far as Harbour are concerned, it is not so much a battle that can be won and not lost. Muscat also confessed in the interview: "It's a very important game and the team will go all out to win. Shenhua are a very strong team and we have played against them in the league this season and we know each other very well. We will be fully prepared to meet in the FA Cup and show our quality and fighting spirit. ”

The FA Cup is also an important front for Harbour. Last season, they performed well in the FA Cup, and eventually stepped on Shenhua to win the title and achieve their own double. This season, after poor league results, they will naturally hope to successfully defend the FA Cup. And to achieve this goal, they must get past Shenhua, an old rival.

This year, Harbour have faced top-ranked teams in the league without a win, and their strength has been greatly reduced after the departure of big-name foreign players such as Oscar and Vargas, and Wu Lei's injury surgery. After the league break, although the injured players returned one after another, it did not seem to have made a significant improvement in the team's performance. On the offensive end, the team has lost a steady stream of scoring points and playmakers, and its efficiency has decreased; Defensively, consistency still needs to be strengthened. In the match against Zhejiang, the Harbour team exposed some problems in defence, which is what they need to focus on in the next games.

What's more noteworthy is that the June schedule is quite unfavorable for Harbour, and the Super League match between Harbour and Henan will be played on the 18th, and four days later, Harbour will play in the same city derby in the FA Cup. After the FA Cup, they will play in the 15th round of the league on the 26th. Three games in 9 days, not only will the physical condition of the players be affected, but coach Muscat will also make trade-offs in the arrangement. While Harbour must be going all out in the FA Cup, they don't have much variability against their familiar rivals, Shenhua.

After the match with Zhejiang, the harbor rushed back to Shanghai as soon as possible to prepare for the next make-up matches and the FA Cup. Based on the situation in the previous games, Muscat will make targeted adjustments to the team. In terms of technique and tactics, he still emphasizes insisting on an offensive style based on fast breaking, and he also admitted that he will try more combinations on the defensive end to stimulate the tacit understanding between players.

Of course, in addition to the usual training, Muscat needs to pay more attention to how to use the existing manpower, and the selection of personnel at critical moments will play a more important role. For Muscat, playing against his familiar old rival Shenhua again is another test of his coaching ability. In such a matchup, if the Harbour team can advance, it will greatly boost the team's confidence in the league and lay a good foundation for the next two-line championship. Of course, compared with Shenhua's current situation in the Chinese Super League, this intra-city derby in the FA Cup is "a road to Huashan" for the harbor.