FC Seoul coach Kim Ki-dong made a decision to escape three consecutive losses.
Seoul beat Suwon FC 2-0 in the 10th round of the “Hana Bank K League 1 2024” on Sunday. Seoul had been mired in three consecutive losses before the match. It lost all of its matches against the Pohang Steelers (2-4), Jeonbuk Hyundai (2-3), and Daejeon Hana Citizen (1-3).
The biggest reason was the collapse of the defense. It gave up as many as 10 goals in three games. The defense began to falter after key defender Kim Joo-sung left the sixth round against Daegu FC due to a fractured toe. Sulaka, Kwon Wan-kyu and Hwang Hyun-soo took turns working together, but the loss continued.
In the end, Kim took tactical changes against Suwon FC. Unlike before, when he displayed aggressive management by taking high ball possession rate and raising defense line, he focused on defense. By lowering the overall line, Seoul focused more on maintaining balance than ever.
The figures also showed that Seoul had a 36.3 percent share in the game, which Suwon FC owned for a longer period of time. With 56.9 percent against Daejeon, 53.6 percent against Jeonbuk, and 58.6 percent against Pohang, the ball was significantly different from the previous games, when the team lost even though the team had the ball for a long time.
In order to yield ball possession rate and maintain gap between players, the starting lineup is also structured differently. Instead of technical players such as Ilyushchenko and Palosevic, Kim deployed Kim Shin-jin and Dongjin Park, both players with excellent defensive capabilities, to the forefront to control Suwon FC’s offense.
The team also strengthened its mobility by deploying four players under the age of 22 as starters. Midfielder Hwang Do-yoon (22) and central defender Park Seong-hoon (21) returned from the U-23 Asian Cup as starters, boasting their athletic performances.
Suwon FC was also an unexpected anomaly. Coach Kim Eun-joong formed Lee Seung-woo and Jeong Seung-bae, who were short in stature but fast, as two top players at the forefront. He planned to score points by destroying the back space of Seoul’s defense with counterattacks. However, as Seoul got out, Suwon FC rather than counterattacks but failed to advance into Seoul’s defense. 토토사이트
Seoul displayed stable defense based on balance, and scored through Kim Shin-jin’s header at the end of the first half and Ki Seo-yong’s mid-range shot at the end of the second half. It was the game that enabled the team to rebound by allowing no points lost for three consecutive games.