“Well, that’s a bit weird…” FC Seoul coach Kim Ki-dong tilted his head when he saw Pohang’s starting lineup. Lee Tae-seok was at left fullback and Wandelson at left wing-forward. Kim Ki-dong was Pohang’s coach until last year. Lee Tae-seok played for Kim Ki-dong as a member of Seoul until just last month. Kim felt a strange sense of incompatibility when players he knew inside were assigned unfamiliar to him. “I don’t know if he will really come out like this or not,” he said without doubt.
Coach Kim Ki-dong took a good look. That was incorrect information. Pohang coach Park Tae-ha conducted a surprise test against Seoul in the 26th round of the Hana Bank K League 1 2024 at Stillyard in Pohang on Tuesday. As the game began, left-footed full-back Lee Tae-seok was positioned at right wing-forward position. Wandelson continued to play left-back. Lee has played fullback since his debut as a pro in 2021. Coach Park Tae-ha has advanced Lee to an unexpected position.
Coach Park Tae-ha said he needs a “opposite-footed winger.” Kim In-sung and Jung Jae-hee are showing good performances on the right side of Pohang. However, they both use their right feet. They are good at straightforward movements rather than penetrating into the center. From the defense standpoint, they can reduce their options when dealing with Pohang. Coach Park brought up Lee Tae-seok’s card to address this issue. “It wasn’t bad when I trained him. I thought I could do it enough. Even if I’m not good at it, it’s okay because it’s an experience,” coach Park said. Lee overlapped with left fullback Wandelson. A change was needed anyway not to spend time wasted on the bench.
Park’s insight was accurate. Pohang lost 1-2, but Lee clearly scored a goal from the front. He only missed the opportunity to play against the goalkeeper once, but he still teased the Seoul defense by giving an assist to the equalizer. In fact, Park gave the team a passing score. “He has quite excellent soccer intelligence. I heard that this is his first position since elementary school,” Park said. “We prepared for two days, but we got a good option this time. We created many threatening scenes. Although the result of the game was not good, we were confident that Lee’s performance would be of great help to our team.” “He did well in everything except that he thought that he wore clothes that did not fit his body as he came out as a right wing forward.”
Pohang, however, is in a position to lose just one point. Why did coach Park Tae-ha take such a risky move at a time when competition is underway for the top spot? After failing to add more points on the day, Pohang remained in fourth place, widening its gap with No. 1 Gangwon by three points. “It is because of the match against Seoul,” coach Park said. Lee’s departure from Seoul was not smooth. Seoul attempted to trade Lee for Ulsan Dong-jae, but failed. After twists and turns, he left Seoul and joined the team in Pohang. He has a different mindset to face Seoul. “If it were a different team, I would have thought deeply about it. I thought (Lee) knows the Seoul players so well that his psychological preparation would be better,” Park said. “There is a background behind the fact that we let him participate in the match with various thoughts to conduct a test and take that into consideration.” It was not an experiment without any measures. 먹튀검증
Despite the loss, Park expressed hope. “If you play games, you can lose. You don’t have to take it too seriously. Belief in the players does not guarantee a result, but it can lead to possibilities. In fact, the players showed such performances. That’s why our team can improve further in the future,” he said.