Derby frustration, Harbour FA Cup still strong?

Reporter Cheng Shan reported In the Shanghai derby on the 17th, Harbour lost 1-3 to Shenhua, and the unbeaten golden body of the league was broken, and coach Muscat said with a smile, we will still continue to move forward as a strong man. On the 22nd, Harbour will face the Jinmen Tigers in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, which is a good opportunity for them to prove their strong attitude.

This season, the strong Harbour can be described as a smooth journey, with a complete squad full of confidence, and the high emotional intelligence coach Muscat has completely activated the team, whether it is at the technical and tactical level or the psychological level, the strength of the Harbour is undoubted.

On the 17th, in the same city Derbiri with Shenhua, the 10-man battle against the harbor held out for 80 minutes, and finally ran out of energy and was defeated.

It is worth mentioning that Muscat replaced Vargas, who has been consistent this season, in the middle of the game, according to the coach's response after the game, Vargas was unwell during the game, "There was a little bit of a physical reaction, and we replaced him at that time to make sure he was in shape." "Replacing Vargas, there are criticisms from the outside world, and there are opinions that this is the key reason for Harbour's loss in the derby, after all, after Vargas left, Harbour's familiar rhythm of attacking and suppressing was broken, giving Shenhua a chance.

While using a new attacking tactical mindset this season, the Harbour hierarchy and coaching staff have been keeping an eye on the players' physical reactions, fearing that injuries could affect the team's performance. In accordance with Muscat's requirements, the harbor has a dedicated statistics team to monitor every training and match of the players, and report the situation to the coaching staff and medical team in real time. With the "strongest medical team in the Chinese Super League", the harbor has indeed made a lot of contributions to the physical recovery of the players, in such a fierce fast-break tactical system and intensive games this season, the harbor has not suffered a large number of injuries at present, and only Shen Zigui has been seriously injured before.

The substitution of Vargas disrupted the rhythm of the Harbour game, but in order to ensure the overall physical stability of the team, Muscat did a long-term plan, as there was also the FA Cup knockout round, which was equally important to the Harbour team.

At the beginning of the year, the team went out to the conference, captain Oscar raised the banner, frankly said that the team's goal this season is to win the championship, including Wu Lei, Wang Shenchao, etc., several veteran players have repeatedly said in public, in addition to the Chinese Super League, the most wanted to get is the championship of the FA Cup, "It is a wish of our group of players, I didn't get it, I always feel unsatisfactory." ”

After repeatedly passing by the FA Cup champions, Harbour certainly hopes to make a breakthrough in the 2024 season, first the all-Chinese team Guangxi Hengchen won the round of 16 2-0; Next, with Li Shenglong's header and Vargas's single goal, he defeated the Zhejiang team 2-1 and advanced to the top 8 of the FA Cup. It can be said that with the league points in mind at the time, the Harbour team did not go all out in the FA Cup in the previous stage. But in the next 1/4 matches, Harbour will face a battle that cannot be overlooked.

On the 22nd, Haigang's opponent in the FA Cup was the Jinmen Tigers, and in the league in June, Shanghai Port won 3-0 away from home. When we meet again, there are no major personnel changes at present, and after tempering throughout the summer, the entire offensive system of the harbor has become more mature. As long as the team's mentality recovers as soon as possible and plays normally, the FA Cup should be passable.

After the derby, Harbour returned to their base in Century Park for a rest, and for head coach Muscat, in addition to adjusting the team's mentality, he also needed to think new about his skills and tactics. How can we better cope with a red card in a derby that ruined the whole system, and maybe it will appear in the next game? Muscat was also asked by the media after the derby. "We're going to improve on some of the weaknesses in the team, and we're going to focus more on ourselves, not too much on the so-called champions or whatever." In the face of the next multi-front competition, Muscat said, "I hope everyone can stick to the previous team battle, strengthen the technical and tactical thinking, and we will continue to move forward as a strong man." ”

The disappointment in the derby is a turning point or an incentive for the harbor, and the FA Cup with Tianjin Jinmen Tigers will give the answer.