K-League 1 2020: Ulsan Hyundai vs FC Seoul – tactical analysis

A question that plagued every South Korean football enthusiast was will Ki Sung-yueng be match-fit to play against Ulsan Hyundai Motors? The former Celtic and Swansea man did play the match but he had to start from the bench.

Apart from both the teams needing to earn all three points due to different reasons, the K-League 1 fixture between Ulsan Hyundai and FC Seoul had numerous mouth-watering aspects. It would be the comeback for one of South Korea’s most favourite sons. It would be the first-ever Double-Dragon derby played in South Korea and would be Lee Chung-yong’s first match against his boyhood club.

This fixture was a cagey affair through and through, and few might claim the Double-Dragon derby did not live up to the hype and they won’t be completely wrong.

In this tactical analysis, we will discuss what made the match a cagey affair, and if Ulsan Hyundai were victorious in the true sense or did Kim Ho-young outclass his counterpart, Kim Do-hoon, despite eventually losing the match?

Line-up

Kim Do-hoon stuck to his preferred 4-1-4-1 but made some changes to his line-up from the previous fixture. Jung Seung-hyun missed out due to accumulating five yellow cards. He was replaced by Kim Ki-hee in the heart of the defence. Park Joo-ho, the former Borussia Dortmund left-back, replaced Hong Chul. The two other changes were Ko Myong-jin and Shin Jin-ho in places of Yoon Bit-garam and Kim Sung-joon in the midfield.

Kim Ho-young too stuck with his preferred 4-4-1-1 formation but made only one change to his line-up. Cho Young-wook replaced Yang Yu-min on the right-wing. Ki-Sung –yueng made his much-anticipated return in the 66^th minute.

Seoul’s cage trapped the Ulsan Tigers

Seoul have improved massively out of possession under their caretaker manager, Kim Ho-young. Against Ulsan, Kim favoured a Liverpool alike 4-3-3 cage, when not in possession.

The firs