POHANG VS JDT: AN ANALYSIS
The third game of Group G in the AFC Champions League 2021 sees Pohang Steelers FC (POH) playing against reigning Malaysia Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT). Both teams have had the same results after 2 games; each with a win and a loss apiece. Both teams will be anxious to pull away in the standings and chase Nagoya Grampus for top placing team in the group.
Third game: Pohang Steelers FC vs Johor Darul Ta’zim
Scorers
POH: Boris Tashchy (PEN, 27’), Kang Sang Woo (PEN, 35’), Kwon Ki Pyo (82’), Lim Sang Hyub (PEN, 90+1’)
JDT: Leando Velazquez (17’)
Formation:
POH: 4-2-3-1
JDT: 4-1-4-1
Kick off for the Korean team and each team’s shape. POH are here playing with a back 4 and 2 DMs, allowing the front 4 players more freedom when wanting to roam forward. For JDT, they play with a back 4, with Natxo Insa and Afiq Fazail as double pivots, allowing Safiq Rahim, Leandro Velazquez and Arif Aiman to move further forward. Interestingly, Arif is the only winger on the team but is starting next to Natxo and Afiq in a midfield 3, with JDT opting to use Leandro and Safiq as two advanced playmakers right behind Bergson Da Silva.
POH kept a very compact defensive shape in the middle third. POH allowed JDT to play with the ball with their CBs, but chose to engage once the ball went forward into the middle third either through RB Matthew Davies, or the DM. As seen in the picture above, POH managed to squeeze the player with the ball, bringing in the RW into the middle to ensure that JDT had no easy way of playing the ball forward. The shape of POH was very organized throughout the game, with players knowing exactly where and when to cover space to minimize the amount of time the JDT midfielders had on the ball.
JDT on the other hand chose to press higher up the pitch. Bergson would initiate the press, with one of the midfielders (typically Arif) moving up to cover POH CBs to close down passing lanes and force an error. However, due to the poor organization, large gaps in the middle of the box can be seen, where POH worked to minimize the spaces in between.
JDT’s goal was a product of their intense pressing. As the POH defender tried to clear his lines and passed the ball to the DM, Leandro managed to tackle him before he was able to control the ball. This worked in the early stages of the game to great effect, as several JDT players won possession before POH players were able to control the ball. However, this is physically grueling for players and if not fit can prove to be laborious for them.
This is where the pressing becomes an issue. Against teams with less technically proficient players, it will be easy to win the ball back. However, many POH players were able to resist the press and play the ball quickly to their teammates, allowing them time to run into space vacated by the on-rushing defender. Here, Shane Lowry gets touch tight to the POH ST who is able to hold him off and play a quick two touch pass down the wing for his teammate.
POH did a great job at minimizing the impact of Bergson. Against POH Bergson only managed 3 shots, with only 1 shot being on target. Compare this to the 11 shots (4 on target) that he managed to get against RBMFC, and it’s a telling story. He often had to come down to midfield to help with the build up play to progress the team forward, with almost half of his 27 passes happening in his own half. Additionally, when in the final third he didn’t receive much service and was often crowded out by the POH defenders.
When JDT began to attack quicker in the second half, they had more of the ball in and around the POH penalty box. Here was one of the instances when Arif was able to be picked out by a long diagonal ball from Shane to isolate him 1 vs 1 against the POH FB. In this game, Arif had the highest number of dribbles completed (4), with an 80% success rate against the Korean team. Thus, had JDT been able to play quicker passes out to him in the first half, he would be able to cause more headaches for POH.
As said previously, the pressing of JDT is intense, but can often be disjointed. Here, the POH MF is allowed to receive the ball in between 3 JDT players, with none close enough to close him down. This shows that the organization of the JDT players when defending needs to be improved upon. On many occasions, the POH players were able to play through the lines using one and two touch passes to bypass the defense.
Movement from JDT midfielders often seemed too static. As POH are a well-organized team, it takes the movement of the players off the ball, with the midfielders in particular, to be able to displace and confuse the markers. Here, Matthew Davies is forced to play a long ball forward over the defender, due to the lack of mobility from the other players close to him. Although Mohamadou Sumareh is fast and may be able to beat the POH defender for pace, it is unlikely due to the distance between them and the head start afforded to the defender.
Shane was caught out for the POH’s 3rd goal. As he steps forward, there is a large gap between him and Mauricio Nascimento, that allows the POH midfielder to play a good through ball and a 2 v 1 situation between the JDT GK and POH forwards which they score through a tap in. Against good opposition, these sorts of defensive errors will always be punished as players are technically capable at playing one touch through balls such as these.
Whether they were actually penalties or not, they were given by the referee. Although penalties are hard to account for during a match analysis, the situations where players before the fouls occur should be analyzed to address the underlying issue. For the first penalty, Leandro tracks the runner into the box, however no other player helps to cover him in case he is beaten, thus the he is forced to run across the player to cover and in the process gives away the penalty. For the second penalty, the POH CAM drifted into space behind Shane due to the JDT CB stepping up to cover the space but not engaging the player in possession close enough to stop the pass. In the last penalty, Mauricio failed to clear the ball properly, allowing the POH FW to pounce on the loose ball.
The lack of width due to the loss of Corbin Ong is very noticeable for JDT, Due to the tactical tinkering of the JDT Head Coach, they only played with one out-and-out winger, Arif. However, for most of the first half Arif was usually positioned in the half spaces on the left and there was no real width offered from his side. As a consequence of this, a lot of the burden of the width on the right side fell on the shoulders of Matthew, who was able to put in a couple of crosses. POH was able to adapt to this and defended more centrally when JDT’s left side had possession as they wouldn’t use that side as often. This was improved after the second half as Arif got wider on the left and able to receive possession there, varying JDT’s attacks.
Overall: The final score flattered POH and did not reflect the true game. Would JDT have won if the penalties were not given? It’s doubtful, as they created 0 big chances throughout the game compared to the 4 made by POH. However, it’s not a stretch to think that JDT would have lost by a smaller margin if not for the aforementioned penalties. There is still a lot of work to be done by JDT, who seem unable to move the ball quickly enough to be able to play through the solid, organized POH defense. When watching POH in possession and comparing that to JDT, there seems to be a distinct difference in the amount of off-the-ball movement that can pick apart the JDT defense.
JDT has a chance for redemption on the 1st of July. Hopefully they can regroup and refocus to get their campaign back on track and finish within the top 2 of the group to qualify for the next stage in the competition as best runners up!