Ulsan Hyundai 2023: How the Tigers’ cold-blooded attack is commanding the K League 1 – tactical analysis

After 15 games of the 2023 K League 1 season, Ulsan Hyundai have opened up an emphatic 11-point lead at the top of the table. Hong Myung-bo’s team have achieved this by winning 12, drawing two and losing just one of those opening 15.

Their 54-year-old manager is experienced but has led a unique life in football management since entering the profession shortly after his 2004 retirement from playing. In 2005, he joined Dick Advocaat as an assistant for the South Korean national team, snatching an opportunity to learn from a former Eredivisie (1996/97 with PSV) and Scottish Premiership (1998/99 and 1999/00 with Rangers) winner.

‘The Eternal Libero’, as the South Korean football legend was nicknamed during his playing days, remained in his role with Advocaat’s successor, Pim Verbeek, before going on to manage his nation’s U20s (2009), U23s (2009-2013), the senior men’s side on two occasions (2012 and 2013-2014) and even serving as their secretary-general (2017-2020).

The iconic defender’s only experience of club management, outside of Ulsan Hyundai, was with Chinese club Hangzhou Greentown (now-renamed Zhejiang) in what was a fairly unremarkable 43-game tenure from 2015-2017.

However, in his first club management role in his native South Korea with Ulsan Hyundai, where he’s been in charge since 2021, accumulating a stellar 62% win percentage, Hong delivered the 2022 K League 1 title — the Tigers’ first league triumph since 2005 and just the third in their history.

The club from South Korea’s eighth-largest city have started the 2023 campaign as they finished 2022 and look like threatening to repeat their success of last term, earning their first-ever back-to-back league titles, though we shouldn’t jump the gun as it’s still very early days in the grand scheme of things.

Still, excitement is in the air for the Ulsan Hyundai faithful who will be well and truly behind the Eternal Libero in the Tigers’ hot seat following a commanding start to 2023.

The Tigers’ attack has been the driving force behind the impressive way in which they’ve kicked off the campaign, as they’ve managed to bag 32 goals in their first 15 games — the most of any K League 1 side so far, with 19.33 being the league average. Ulsan Hyundai have also generated the highest xG (26.57) and highest xG per shot (0.141) of any team in South Korea’s top flight.

Our tactical analysis piece provides an analysis of why Ulsan Hyundai’s attack has been so lethal this term, breaking down their style of play, strategy and tactics in each distinctive phase of the possession game to look at what really makes them tick going forward.

Build-up

We’ll kick off this analysis by looking at Ulsan Hyundai’s build-up play. Firstly, Hong has lined his team up in a 4-2-3-1 shape for the vast majority of the campaign. We’ll observe how this shape changes and morphs as the Tigers progress through the phases of possession play as this analysis progresses.

In the build-up, the Tigers’ centre-backs typically drop wide and deep, alongside the goalkeeper. From here, the keeper can normally find a pass to one of them as the opposition struggle to cut off both passing options. If the short pass really is unavailable, the keeper has the license to go long — normally to the centre-forward, 183cm/6’0” Joo Min-kyu.

Here in Figure 1, the goalkeeper, South Korean international Jo Hyeon-woo, played the ball to his left centre-back as the right centre-back was cut off by the opposition forward’s press. While another opponent tried to retain access to the left centre-back, the pass was still on and Jo duly took the option.