In the third round of the AFC Elite League on October 23, Seaport defeated Central Coast Mariners in a thrilling 3-2 battle to win their first win of the season. Sports Weekly reporter Ma Dexing pointed out in his analysis that Seaport's lineup adjustment this time was brilliant.
In the challenge against Central Coast Mariners, Harbour boldly implemented a big rotation in the starting lineup. Apart from the four pillars of goalkeeper Yan Junling, center back Wei Zhen, midfielder Oscar and striker Gustavo, plus Wu Lei, who is back in form, all other positions were filled by substitutes. This has become the largest rotation of the Shanghai Port team in this season's AFC Champions League.
Behind the passive substitutions, Roussa's additional suspension from AFC forced Harbour to find another way. The active substitutions, on the other hand, were made because key players such as Vargas and Chitadini were placed on the bench for this match.
As the game was about to start, Seaport's rotation strategy was effective, with the high-pressure pressing and quick counter-attacking in the midfield even surpassing that of the starting lineup. The opponent is not in good shape, except for six foreign aiders in the lineup, the remaining five were born after 01 years, facing such an opponent, the harbor rotation decision is more wise.
The battle for the Super League title has entered a white-hot stage. Seaport did not make any changes to their lineup in the match with Rongcheng, and after the loss, there was a lot of talk about why Seaport didn't rotate their lineup under the tight schedule. In fact, it's not that Harbour is unwilling to rotate, it's just that the current championship situation is tense and the AFC Champions League is going on simultaneously, so they can only use the strongest lineup to deal with the key battle.
Given that the AFC Champions League and Chinese Super League fixtures are not synchronized, the AFC Champions League has only just begun and the domestic league is nearing its end. Therefore, it is not wrong to focus on the domestic league for the time being. It is also reasonable for Shenhua to make lineup adjustments. At this point, both the harbor and Shenhua, should not be "domestic strong, international weak" accusations.
On the other hand, Taishan, who played a full-strength team against Yokohama Marinos, fielded a rotation of players in last weekend's league match, which may have something to do with the fact that they have no hope of winning the Chinese Super League, or even of qualifying for the AFC Champions League next season. With the domestic league system unchanged, it is normal for Chinese Super League teams to make adjustments according to the realities, and there is no need to be overly anxious about winning or losing one or two matches.
