The atmosphere of Jeonbuk Hyundai is unusual.
At the end of the 10th round of the K-League 1, they have already suffered 6 defeats. 3 wins, 1 draw, 6 losses, 10 points. The ranking is 10th out of 12 clubs. There was a time when I fell to 11th last year when I was sluggish in the beginning, but it was until the 6th round. Since then, the atmosphere has been reversed, but even a reversal is not easy this year.
‘Dakgong’, the pride of Jeonbuk, has disappeared. Jeonbuk only scored 10 goals in 10 games. The only teams that scored fewer goals than Jeonbuk were Gangwon FC (7 goals) in 11th place and Suwon Samsung (8 goals) in 12th place.
Jeonbuk’s most goals this year are 2 goals by Moon Seon-min and Song Min-gyu.
Above all, the sluggishness of foreign strikers is painful. Asia Quarter Amano Jun and newly recruited Hafa Silva scored one goal each. Both Gustavo and Andre Luis are silent for seven games. Han Kyo-won, Cho Kyu-seong, Ryu Jae-moon, and Jeong Tae-wook scored one goal each.
The aftermath of injuries to key players was also great. Cho Kyu-seong, who played a big role in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, is only playing in 4 games due to a calf injury. Lee Dong-jun, who was brought from Germany, injured his hamstring. He made a comeback after an early injury, but was knocked down again in round 8 against Jeju United. Side defender Kim Jin-soo is also recovering.
Fans’ anger reached its peak. He repeatedly protested by blocking the club bus leaving the stadium, and did not even raise his voice to cheer for the players. At the home Jeonju World Cup Stadium, a hook was hung demanding the resignation of manager Kim Sang-sik and CEO Heo Byung-gil.
They tried to turn things around with a 2-0 victory over Jeju, but were shaken again when manager Kim Sang-shik was sent off. Daejeon Hana Citizen and Gangwon lost consecutively and fell to 10th place.
I can’t see any way out right now.
The 11th round opponent is FC Seoul. Even their power is not perfect when facing Seoul, which is in second place with 6 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses and 19 points. Song Min-gyu was injured in the match against Gangwon, and Hong Jeong-ho and Kim Moon-hwan were sent off for protesting against the referee. With so many wounded, additional key airborne resources were missing. 크크크벳
The gap between Hong Jeong-ho and Kim Moon-hwan is huge. The only strength that Jeonbuk, who lost ‘Dakgong’, could endure was defense. Jeonbuk recorded 11 runs in 10 matches. It was written next to Ulsan Hyundai (9 runs) and Pohang Steelers (11 runs).
However, Hong Jeong-ho is unable to play in the Seoul match due to accumulated warnings. Kim Moon-hwan was sent off directly and could not play until the match against Seoul and Suwon Samsung in the 12th round. Both were ejected for protesting against the referee. In the future, additional punishment is possible through the reward and punishment committee.
There are still 28 games left. It means that Jeonbuk has a chance to hit and rise, but it also means that the current situation could increase the number of defeats.
The last time Jeonbuk recorded more than 10 losses was in 2013 with 11 losses (18 wins, 9 draws). At that time, Jeonbuk finished the season in 3rd place. Over the next 9 years, he won 7 K-League 1 titles and never recorded more than 10 losses. In 2016, when it finished second due to a point cut, it had two losses and seven losses last year when it missed the championship.