Shanghai Port Football Club should have been basking in joy after a 7-0 win, yet the comment section under the official microblogging site painted a different picture, unanimously expressing dissatisfaction with the team's coach:
"Congrats to the players, the win had nothing to do with the coach," "Looking forward to the coach's early dismissal," and "When can we expect to see the coach dismissed?"
Some fans even teased with P-pictures that seemed to portend ominous omens.
Recall that on October 30, Shanghai Port lost 1-3 away to Shandong Taishan, and the fans' emotions instantly exploded.
"Why hasn't the coach stepped down yet? Why?"
In the post-game press conference, Coach Leko looked confused and even a little cute in the face of his team's sudden passivity:
"I was not aware of it, and if I had known then, I would have adjusted immediately. I am equally sad."
What exactly did Leko do wrong?
At the start of the New Year in 2021, Shanghai SIPG announced Ivan-Leko as head coach. He replaces Pereira, who helped Shanghai win their first top-flight title in 2018.
Chen Xuyuan, then chairman of SIPG, said after the win:
"Shanghai, very eager for a Chinese Super League title, 23 years of dream finally realized, we have a better interpretation of the city."
In 2021, former international soccer player Xie Hui "spilled the beans" at a drinking game:
"I know the Upper East Side champions from Upper East Side and they spent 12 billion!"
This statement was met with public outcry.
Let's turn our attention back to Leko.
Leko, born in 1978, was an accomplished professional player with long spells in La Liga with Malaga and Bruges, and participated in the World Cup as a Croatian international.
After retiring at the age of 36, he began his coaching career, coaching O'Havary, St. Turten, Bruges and Antwerp.
Leko led Brugge to the league title in the 2017-2018 season and was named Coach of the Year.
In the summer of 2019, Leko took over at Al Ain in the UAE, and in May 2020, he returned to the Bianconeri as Antwerp coach and led the team to the Belgian Cup title in the 2019-2020 season.
In the group stage of the 2020-2021 Europa League season, Leko progressed to the group stage with a 1-0 home win over Jose Mourinho's Tottenham in the group stage.
Although Leko is not as well known as Shanghai's former foreign coaches Eriksson, Boas and Pereira, he has the advantage:
"Value for Money".
Pereira was paid a whopping €5 million as Shanghai SIPG boss and has reportedly risen to €10 million in 2020, placing him in the world's top 20.
There has been a lot of attention paid to the salary of Lecco, who replaced Pereira, but there have been multiple accounts of his salary.
Claims have been made for an annual salary of €3.5 million, €2.5 million, or €2.5 million after taxes, which, in either version, is considerably more than what he was paid when he was in charge at Antwerp.
Leko's personal lawyer, Van Steenbrügge, said in a "secret statement":
"No one is going to turn down the offer that Leko got."
After receiving an offer from Shanghai SIPG, Lecco initially turned it down three times before managing to hold on to it for the fourth time.
"Leko has paid a lot for this and struggled internally. He has been working wholeheartedly for Antwerp, but no one would have refused the contract he received. It's wonderful, it's so lucrative."
Sven Jacques, then general manager of FC Antwerp, was also very understanding:
"When you hear he can make a lot of money in China, you'll understand."
It still feels unreal and doubtful (it's true) that Leko is said to have completed his contract with Shanghai SIPG.
On January 14, 2021, Leko arrived in Shanghai with two assistant coaches and rejoined the team after 14 days of isolation.
On February 1, Shanghai SIPG held a meeting of Lecco, with club chairman Zhang Min making demands:
"For coaches, it's about managing the big names, teaching the kids, calming the locker room, getting on the podium."
Sounds reasonable.
On February 7, Zhang Min took Leko to Chongming Genbao Football Base to visit Coach Xu Genbao and trace the history of "Roots". In addition, Leko celebrated his birthday.
Leko praised the Genbaku base:
"This should be the arsenal of Chinese soccer."
Due to the epidemic, the 2021 season of the Premier League continues to use the tournament system. On the last road of golden dollar soccer, Leko led his team to arguably good results due to the previously accumulated player configuration.
But in the key match for the title, Shanghai Port failed to bite the dust with a 0-2 defeat against Shandong Taishan, who won the title three rounds ahead of schedule.
In the FA Cup final on January 9, 2022, Shanghai Port 0-1 again defeated Shandong, a year "double Asia"!
At the time of signing the contract, the first-year target for Leko was to be in the top three, and "Double Asia" has already exceeded its KPIs.
But losing to Shandong in consecutive key battles still leaves fans unsatisfied.
This winter window, Shanghai Port continued to recruit, freely signing international players Zhang Linpeng and Xu Xin, as well as signing Feng Jin from disbanded Chongqing, finalizing foreign striker Ndiaye and buying out Junior Paulinho.
Lecco and Shanghai Harbor have only one goal for the upcoming season - a championship.
But it was not to be, with two consecutive losses after the tournament, to Wuhan Changjiang and Shanghai Shenhua, and a dismal 5 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses after 10 rounds.
But fellow city Shenhua, a group of old and sickly, played under Wu Jingui's leadership.
People are more angry than people.
Not enough money in the winter window, and then smashed in the summer window.
With the return of Wu Lei, the addition of Argentinean foreigner Vargas, and naturalized international Jiang Guangtai, Shanghai Port's record has finally improved.
Six goals in five games, consecutive assists and caps for Vargas, and Jiang Guangtai has gone from bell-ringing monk to defender with a sword as Shanghai Port chases down fourth in the table.
But in two hard-fought matches, Shanghai Port lost again, first 0-1 to Guoan and then 1-3 to Taishan.
After 22 rounds, Shanghai Port has 12 wins, 4 draws and 6 losses, trailing Wuhan Third Town and Shandong Taishan Second by as much as 13 points. With 12 games left in the league, winning the title has become a luxury.
"Contract year" like this, I'm afraid that Leko and Shanghai harbor will be drifting apart.
After the loss to Tarzan, Leko was "at a loss for words" in some of his press conferences.
"We were better in the first half, and then in the second half we suddenly wouldn't play the ball, it was more passing and defense, and we ended up losing the game, and the painful thing is the way we lost the game, we threw in the middle to be countered by the opponent, which is very unfortunate."
Leko replied:
"I don't know."
Media personality Madsen left angry, posting two tweets, "Port should, must, resolutely, and immediately let the watered-down head coach go! Every furniture music department is facing such a big financial crisis and difficulties, harbor this year's signing spent how much money? A waterboy coach, such a team like this, do not leave?"
"Evaluating the quality of a coach is not about whether there is a big brand or whether they win championships. In the golden dollar era, it is not difficult for foreign coaches to coach the Chinese Super League because the super big brands are super capable of playing individuals. In the post-golden dollar era, there are no super big brands, no foreigners, no money, looking for domestic coaches. You can't talk about domestic coaches if you can't take care of it well. When so many big brands come up, why not let the local coaches try? So don't talk about advanced soccer concepts and other nonsense brought by foreign teachers. A really good coach is one who leads the team without super big brand foreigners. That's a good coach! So the Harbour's head coach is a waterboy with all that money! He won't leave, who will?"
The Shanghai Port team has a total value of 33.73 million euros, the first in the Chinese Super League; spends 9.6 million euros in the winter window and the summer window, or the first in the Chinese Super League; and is one of the few teams in Chinese soccer today that doesn't owe wages.
Foreign aid left Arnau, Muy, Lopez, let Oscar vacation, but also came to Ndiaye, Vargas and Caron, as well as can be the top foreign aid Wu Lei, the configuration of the lineup, even in the era of gold dollar soccer, is not bad, but the record is "poor".
Leco's other criticisms, such as "just one set of lineup" and "the fourth foreigner will always play 20 minutes" are actually minor issues. Even with one main lineup, even with three foreigners, Shanghai Harbor should be in the top three or even top two in the Chinese Super League.
Take a step back and make excuses, such as a short preparation period for the season, but Shenhua didn't have a preparation period either, and still owes wages, but is currently third in the Chinese Super League with one point more than Shanghai Port.
After the loss, Leko said he'd go back to take stock and train well, but there shouldn't be much time left for him.
And it's not just Leko who should take stock for Shanghai Port.
