So there have been quite a lot of interesting things going on in Korean football right now that don’t deserve a long piece on its own, so I’m going to post a Tavern Kickaround like Roy used to (I really like that title.. kickaround.. it’s great!)
So first up is the Myanmar game. If you aren’t up to date, check out an awesome review Steve wrote!
Now there are some thoughts I wanted to add. First of all, we saw some players on some seriously worrying form. The most notable was Kim Jin Su, who had a massive off day vs Myanmar. It was slightly reminiscent of Hong Chul vs Kuwait in the Cho KR era just not quite as bad, making most expect PJH to start vs Laos.
But it was not just Kim Jin Su – Hwang Eui Jo showed some horrendous finishing, and for him to not score all those chances he had vs Myanmar was slightly troubling to say the least. From watching Seongnam highlights alone I know he can do better than that. Surely, SHJ will get the start vs Laos (Stielike probably intended to do that kind of rotation anyway). And Jang Hyun Soo, although he didn’t have that bad of a game per say, showed us why he’s not a right back. Though I only caught the center half I agree with most post game reports of him 1. Being unable to cross and 2. Not knowing when to go up and when to track back. Stielike, why was Oh Jae Suk left on the reserve list? We’ve wanted to see him tested out for along time now. Sure JHS may provide very good defensive coverage for our error prone CBS but 1. he’s not a right back and never will be amd 2. Do we really need a defensive RB vs a turtling side like Myanmar? He’s a CB and that’s where he plays best.
Overall I was impressed with LJS amd KSY especially, and the others were ok.
Now let’s move onto something that I wasn’t aware of until today – apparently our university selection (read: future k leaguers) is playing in some tournament, coached by Yoo Sang Chul himself, and yesterday beat Japan’s university selection 3-0. Kim Gun hee, the star of our ill-fated U19 championship, provided the three assists:
Now onto the Barca kids:
PSH is doing just fine right now it seems. He’s training with the first team more often than the B team – this really doesn’t mean much considering it might be their way of just motivating him after all the bs he’s gone through, but it does seem Gérard Lopez really does like BSH. He praised BSH in the media while saying that he doesn’t know LSW too well, that LSW is more well known in the media.
More interestingly, in an interview, CJC had some interesting things to day about LSW.
Q: Where does LSW currently stand?
CJC: He has strengths that other Korean players don’t. However, although it’s true that he’s effective against Asian teams, the world stage is different. He should have recognized that through this tournament. As a Korean coach, I’m not sure if his behavior is just a reflection of his confidence, but I think that there is a problem with his attitude in training. He also doesn’t train enough. To put it bluntly, he’s lazy. Seungwoo says he wants to be this team’s leader. A leader needs to back up his words. He needs to stay sharp both in training and day to day life.
It’s things like this that make me worry for LSW – it’s not the first time attitude problems have come up with this guy. The recent incident of kicking the board and reacting poorly to being subbed off was a little overblown, but even before the ban his coaches in Spain have said the same. BSH is quietly working hard and despite his very difficult final season in 2012-13 (final as in when he could still play) he has seemed to win the trust of the Barca B managers.
Though you also have to wonder if CJC did the right thing in publicly saying this about LSW – couldn’t CJC have had a long one on one talk with him and it would’ve been just as effective? A guy with LSW’s level of arrogance might not take public constructive criticism as constructive critics as well and react very poorly to it (basically me in high school). Hopefully his Barcelona coaches do something about it because it’d be a huge shame to see a guy as promising as LSW not make it due to attitude problems of all things.
One last thing: to share the official Tavern Twitter’s latest tweet: The Tavern expresses its thoughts and prayers with all those affected by the #ParisShooting.
seung woo is becoming fat and getting weaker in korea.
LSW is Talented, smart, good-looking and very SHORT. He wouldn’t be Korean if he didnt have an attitude problem, these traits considered.
But in all seriousness as in most sports with mental being a majority of one’s game, his reported attitude problem is especially worrisome as it should be. We have seen a number of undeservedly brash Korean athletes go down the toilet bowl. LCS, imo, could’ve been a special player if he wasn’t such a dick-head. Hope this kid isn’t on that track.