Sangju Sangmu have been flying high in the ongoing K-League 1 campaign. The Firebirds welcomed Jeonbuk Motors to the Sangju Civic Stadium, four points adrift of the leaders this weekend. The home team came into the game with three straight 1-0 wins and a few believed they could replicate the result against the league leaders with Kim Bo-Kyung missing due to injury, and the Firebirds did not disappoint.
This tactical analysis will discuss the struggle José Morais had in containing Sangmu’s build-up and the different tactical nuances of both the managers. This analysis will also discuss if the Portuguese was a bit off with his tactics and selection.
Lineup
Kim Tae-Wan varied his formation to different moulds of 4-4-2 in this campaign. Against the league leaders, he started with 4-4-1-1 which looked more of a 4-4-2 in-game. Kim was fortunate enough to have the major players in his rank. The only change he made to the lineup was Se-Jin Park instead of Seon-Min Moon. The forward partnered Se-Hun Oh up top.
However, the former Chelsea and Inter Milan assistant manager wasn’t lucky enough with his squad selection. Kim Bo-Kyung missed out due to injury and no one looked like to fill his void in this game. The immense ability he shows in attracting pressure from the opponent, thus freeing up space elsewhere, was clearly missing from other Jeonbuk players. The other dilemma José Morais had with his squad selection was to select a U-22 South Korean player in the lineup. The 20-year-old, Soo-Bin Lee replaced Kim Bo-Kyung with a like for like replacement in the middle of the park. Though the paper read Jeonbuk played with 4-4-3, but in-game it was their usual 4-1-4-1 formation.
Dong-Gook Lee was back from his coaching course. The 41-year-old replaced Kyu-Seong Cho to lead the attack. Takahiro Kunimoto started as a midfielder instead of the left-wing where he played against Ulsan Hyundai in the previous match. Murilo Henrique occupied the left-wing. The only other change was Min-Hyeok Kim for Bo-Kyeong Choi in the heart of the defence.
