Just A Few Things - Pohang Steelers Vs. FC Seoul
Credit: K League
Cornered
They had to come from behind but thanks to two excellently dispatched dead ball situations, Seoul came away with a huge three points after a slow start this season over a slightly more-fancied Pohang Steelers side 2-1 despite missing a few number of players. Both of their goals came from set-pieces, namely corners where Pohang should be questioned how they set up to defend them.
Both of the corner kicks were headed into the net at the same place; in the far post. Pohang did not have one man guarding those far posts like we usually see. With the keeper, Kang Hyun-mu, in position more towards the near post, surely someone has to be at the far post to clear any incoming efforts. But no one did, and the keeper can’t help but stay where he was because the ball is too far for him to get to it.
Take nothing away from Seoul, they responded from that earlier mishap (More on that next) brilliantly. As for Pohang, a team that has a tendency to deliver the balls into the opponent’s box, it’s strange they didn’t deal with them properly when they came into their own box. That’s why Pohang manager, Kim Ki-dong surely has to go back to the drawing board, especially when it comes to defending corners.
What Just Happened?!
FC Seoul started out brightly, looking to close down their opponents in their own half with tenacious pace as they intended to rattle them early on. So you can imagine their bewilderment when they witnessed a defensive mishap by their own teammates which allowed Pohang to take an early lead when things were about to go as planned.
Kim Ju-sung played a backpass and there was a baffling mix-up between goalkeeper, Yu Sang-hun & defender, Kim Nam-chun. As Sang-hun came out to receive the ball, Nam-chun, who was looking to run back up, saw his heel making connection to the ball before Sang-hun could gather it. As a result, the ball went beyond the keeper. Pohang’s Stanislav Iljutcenko couldn’t believe his luck as he was fed through & scored into an open net. Sang-hun & Nam-chun were rightly punished, but thankfully for them, it didn’t matter in the end.
Tempo Boost
Despite the setback, Seoul didn’t let it waver. Their high pressure and high tempo game completely threw Pohang’s game off. The home side couldn’t get a proper grip on the match, so it was only a matter of time for the visitors to make that break through. Han Seung-gyu & Osmar had decent chances to find that equalizer. So you can imagine how they felt after they got the equalizer they felt they deserved.
When the second half began, it was Pohang who got the better share of possession as Seoul struggled to regain their first-half performance. Pohang also played a similar level of tempo to do the same thing Seoul tried to do in the first half. Problem was that they weren’t as incisive as they would’ve liked compared to their last two matches, so Sang-hun wasn’t given that much trouble since conceding the horror opener.
When In Doubt, Call the Defenders
It seems it’s one of those days for the Pohang attackers. Despite opening the scoring via a gift from the Seoul defence, Stanislav Iljutcenko found himself lacking in service and usually having to drop deep to keep the move going. Then, attacking midfielder Aleksandar Palocevic couldn’t repeat his bright start to the season and cut a frustrating figure. Left-winger Song Min-kyu tried to make things happen, but just couldn’t consistently feed that final pass.
Two out of Pohang’s three best chances in the second half came from defender Kim Kwang-seok. But his first chance saw his header hit the woodwork just one second after Sang-hun punched a cross away under pressure by another Pohang defender, Ha Chang-rae. But Kwang-seok’s second chance was more glaring, especially when it came just before stoppage time. A free-kick delivery was headed into Kwang-seok’s path at close range by the left side. He looked to put into the far top corner but got his execution all wrong.
Even Seoul’s front two were largely anonymous. There was no sign of their foreign forwards, Brazil’s Adriano & Serbian, Aleksandar Pesic in the matchday squad for reasons unknown. So Park Chu-young & Go Yo-han were deployed to lead the attack. Save for Chu-young’s corner to assist Seoul’s first goal, they too were not as inspiring as they would’ve hoped. So it’s a good thing that defender, Hwang Hyun-soo & defensive midfielder, Osmar, were at the right place with the right amount of power to head those set-piece situations into the goal.
Man-ning The Right Flank
Lastly, Colombian right-winger Manuel Palacios came back into the starting line-up after being on the bench against Daegu FC last week. Palacios’ imposing figure caused all sorts of problems for Seoul’s left-hand side, especially for Kim Han-gil who did not have a good game.
The left wing-back was consistently being troubled by Palacios whenever Pohang had possession back in the first half. He can thank his teammates for covering for him to dispossess the big Colombian. You would think Palacios will be the one to help Pohang get the breakthrough. With Seoul pegging Pohang back, Kim Ki-dong made a change to get momentum on his side five minutes before half-time. But rather surprisingly, he subbed off Palacios for Lee Gwang-hyeok. To be fair, the change almost paid off as sometime in the second half, Gwang-hyeok was fed free on the right-wing, only for his low shot saved by Yu Sang-hun.