Korea vs. Ghana Player Ratings (updated)

Not even in the mood to type an intro right now. This game really shattered our kibun. Here’s my personal player ratings, feel free to counter in comments, and hopefully our other Tavern Writers can insert their ratings/thoughts below mine.

PLAYER RATINGS 

STARTING XI

Jung Sung-Ryong
Tim (5) – Looked shaky and jittery. At fault for maybe 2 goals.
Jae (5) – Thought he looked calmer than against Tunisia, but letting in four is never good. Although he was really let down by the defense.

Kwak Tae-Hwi
Tim (4.5) – He had some sort of aerial presence but is at fault for the second goal for going down much too easily.
Jae (5) – Thought Ghana’s pace would trouble him more, but he did alright. Why he went down so easily is a bit of a mystery.

Kim Young-Gwon
Tim (5) – No obvious individual mistakes, but backline was struggling.
Jae (5.5) – Battled hard most of the game, but was too lazy/tired on Ghana’s fourth. Made no effort to stop the cross.

Yun Suk-Young
Tim (5) – See KYG.
Jae (6) – Thought Yoon was better this time, but his offensive output was limited.

Kim Chang-Soo
Tim (4.5) – I don’t ever want to see his face again. I wanted Duri or some other fullback like that, not this dude. Largely at fault for first goal, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Jae (5) – Looked off pace, and that wasn’t surprising. In and out for Kashiwa since returning from his injury.

Ki Sung-Yueng
Tim (5) – Didn’t mark his man on the third goal and the defensive midfield wasn’t that organized.
Jae (5.5) – Want to give him two ratings. Offensively Ki was much better, but his poor defensive positioning and over aggressive covering hurt the team on goals one and three.

Han Kook-Young
Tim (6) – I think he did his job. His sliding tackles were for the most part accurate.
Jae (6) – Defensively solid again (although he’s still too aggressive in pursuing the ball for my tastes), but still offers nothing going forward.

Son Heung-Min
Tim (7) – The attacking movement looked very good in the first half, Son hit the post and was very lively.
Jae (6) – Looked better, but Ghana’s willingness to attack gave him the space he needs to thrive.

Koo Ja-Cheol
Tim (5.5) – Invisible captain Koo. I mean every time he touches the ball he turns it over.
Jae (5.5) – Did he do anything? Kim Bo-Kyung looked much better.

Lee Chung-Yong
Tim (7) – Nice shot in first half just wide. Looked a lot more confident and one of our harder working players.
Jae (6.5) – Did well on the right, an as expected performance from Lee Chung-Yong.

Park Ju-Young
Tim (6) – I almost wanted to kill him for the overhead kick gone wild. He wasn’t all that bad but incognito at times.
Jae (5.5) – Better than the Tunisia game, but that’s a relative better. Still looks like club Park, and didn’t look like scoring.

SUBS

Hong Jeong-Ho
Tim (6) – It’s not like the backline drastically improved with them. They get 6 because they didn’t do anything special nor anything glaringly bad as a sub.
Jae (5.5) – Lazy on Ghana’s fourth. Let Ayew just run right by him.

Park Joo-Ho
Tim (6) – See HJH.
Jae (SV) – Just eight minutes on the pitch, didn’t have any time.

Lee Yong
Tim (6) – See HJH.
Jae (6) – Brought more solidity to the right back spot.

Kim Bo-Kyung
Tim (6) – I wish he remembered how to shoot properly.
Jae (6) – Provided better link up play than the player he replaced. Too bad there’s no time to see what kind of form he’s really in.

Lee Keun-Ho
Tim (6) – Too much hesitation on that chance with the keeper, Kimbo and Ji (If memory serves me well – please correct me if I got this one wrong.)
Jae (6) – Brought much needed energy and movement up top.

Ji Dong-Won
Tim (6) – Didn’t really notice him all that much.
Jae (SV) – Another link up player, but goals were needed. And when Ji came on there were no goal scorers left on the pitch.

COACH

Hong Myung-Bo
Tim – There’s so many conspiracy theories going on around BSK and other forums and fansites right now. That Hong is secretly making us look horrible to have our opponents underestimate us. Even a Russian newspaper had gone on with the theory. As much as we would like this to be true, it’s complete and utter bullshit in my opinion. But maybe Hong is keeping some of his cards hidden and playing mystery manager à la Mourinho. He said he doesn’t want to reveal Kim Shin-Wook to the world in a pre-World Cup friendly, citing his own qualities that he doesn’t want to expose. Regardless, we knew there would have to be a time of adaptation after he-who-must-not-be-named left the managing post but his favoritism in the past and inability to at least give us a decent looking team pre-World Cup is worrisome. Sure, the players get lots of the blame, but Hong needs to get that defense working. There were expectations our defense would improve since he was a former defender, but we’re not seeing that.

Let’s remember this was only a friendly. It was a big one, yes. But Brazil hasn’t started. There is still something to be hopeful about. We learned lots from this game. Capello hasn’t. Hong, you have 1 week and 13 minutes. A nation is counting on you.

Daehanminguk Fighting. Peace out.

Jae – Ultimately feel the team is still too naive defensively, which is strange considering Hong has been manager for a while now. I suspect the team’s fragility (and lack of defensive commitment) comes from the scoring woes the team has experienced and the pressure on Hong to get them flowing.

About Tim Lee 321 Articles
The maple syrup guzzling kimchijjigae craving Korean-Canadian, eh?

11 Comments

  1. The game was so embarrassing, my kids went to sleep crying. Can’t believe they had the cajones to walk to the fans and bow after the game. For what? And the fans actually clapped, and smiled and tried to cheer them on to the WC. The team didn’t even show up! So if the conspiracy theory holds true, Son hit the post on purpose? Don’t buy it. Son was the only player playing hard, in my opinion. We are done. Will be lucky to get a single point. We desperately needed Park Ji Sung, and I don’t mean that as a sportscaster.

    • No offense but what did you expect them to do? Bash and chide them before they get on a plane?

      And that conspiracy theory about Hong is whack. He has too much integrity to go down a rope a dope path. No…Im afraid we are this bad.

      • The thing that bothers me most about this team so far is their lack of ‘Fight’. Once that 2nd goal went in it was all over in our heads and it showed. Not one Ji Sung Park type on this team. Kim Jang Soo…wow. Koo is breaking my heart and Park JY doesnt belong out there he’s so creaky. That overhead attempt was so off. A technical side which isnt so good technically speaking. I knew us giving up the ball to easily was going to be a huge issue here. Ghana provided a blueprint of how others should play us in the tournament. They played us like they knew us. And they do.

        We have to live with what we got. Its looking like a miracle is needed here to get out of our group.

        I think we still can if we get out shit together and start playing as a team.

  2. I think Koo deserves a worse rating than that. He performed abysmally and many people want to see him on the bench now.
    I personally would like the team to play in this formation. I think it could work:
    –SHM-PJY-LCY
    –PJH-KSY-HKY
    YSY-KYK-HJH-LY
    ——–KSG

  3. 4-2-3-1 only works when your 2-3 can get the ball to -1. We need to get PJY involved in the game. I think he should play as a false nine or a real 10 and not a real 9. at least be more in line with wings because he’s definitely one of the best passers on the team and his vision/awareness would be useful for the offense. Right now he’s waiting to cherrypick a ball that will never come because of terrible communication in the middle of the field. I like the 4-3-3 idea translating in reality to a 4-3-1-2 with PCY as CAM “1” just a hair behind the wings. And KCJ needs to be benched for rest of WC if he plays like that again.

    –SHM- -LCY-
    -PJY-

    -PJH- -KSY- -KBK-

    YSY-KYK-HJH-LY

    ——––KSG/JSR————

    • We are well past the time to be able to suddenly say the guy has a problem disappearing. Even when he was playing on a consistent basis he had the tendency to disappear. He is a passive player in my view. That cant be nurtured out. Its life luggage.

      • Its not fair to but it should be what he aspires to be in certain respects. Luis Suarez. You think that guy is sitting for the ball to go to him wherever he is on the pitch? That dude is one of the hardest workers in any league. He makes it happen. It may not be fair but I think theres a lot to learn from these polar comparisons.

  4. For the purpose of setting realistic expectations in my cracking heart, can the shortcomings/stuff that’s going wrong be fixed? Just a week until Russia, what can b done to right the ship in any1’s opinion? Or is this something intrinsic to the players available, i.e. this is all they’re physically/mentally capable of?

    Cuz if the latter, then @ least I can save myself sum serious frustration & shift into a “it is what it is, enjoy what u can, 2018 fighting!!”-mode. But if the former, & there’s still hope of salvaging ’14, what would b required? Cuz I could really use some hope, ANY hope, to latch onto

    • It’s a good question – I’ll be addressing that in a post coming soon – but in short – it’s healthy at this point to have tempered expectations – if/when a better than expected performance comes – it will psychologically feel more (for lack of a better term) awesomer. you read me spell that right – awesomer.

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