Jeonbuk Hyundai is not getting off to a good start this season either. While Jeonbuk is off to a sluggish start, foreign players it has recruited after spending a lot of transfer fees and salaries have been suffering from sluggishness and injuries.
Jeonbuk Hyundai, led by acting coach Park Won-jae, fell to 10th place in the league with two wins, four draws and five losses and 10 points as of the end of the league's 11th round. Jeonbuk, which not only won the league last year, but also lost to the Pohang Steelers in the final stage of the Korea Cup, has been busy in the winter transfer market to recover its pride.
Under the leadership of Dan Petrescu (Cluj), who took office in the middle of last season, he recruited top-notch resources such as Jeon Byung-kwan, Thiago, Lee Young-jae, Kwon Chang-hoon, Kim Tae-hwan, Lee Jae-ik, and Hernandez one after another, but the start was the worst. He went to the quarterfinals with one win and one draw in the match against Pohang in the round of 16 of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League, but he was eliminated by Ulsan HD and failed to advance to the Club World Cup.
The team collapsed after losing consecutive games in the previous league match. In the opening match at home, the team had a dramatic 1-1 draw with Hana Citizen in Daejeon. Since then, Jeonbuk has failed to secure even a single win in the match against Suwon FC (Mo), Gimcheon Sangmu (Lost), Ulsan HD (Mo), and Jeju United (Lost), and ultimately parted ways with head coach Petrescu on June 6. Coach Park Won-jae succeeded in turning the tide for a while with the position of acting coach, but the team is collapsing as it has accumulated two consecutive losses in three recent league matches.
It raised the atmosphere by defeating Gwangju and FC Seoul in succession, but starting with a 2-2 draw with Daegu at home, the good atmosphere subsided as it collapsed in succession with Incheon-Pohang.
Jeonbuk, which desperately needs foreign activities, has a brutal history that continues this year
Jeonbuk continued to suffer from sluggish foreign strikers and injuries last year. Gustavo (Shanghai), who was in charge of the front line, scored six goals in 30 league games, and Hafa Silva (Cruzeiro) was sluggish with three goals and one assist in 25 league games.
K-League experienced striker Andre Luis (Cuiba) left Jeonbuk after failing to accumulate a single offensive point in 13 league matches. Jeonbuk has started to recover its self-esteem by transfusing foreign strikers who have been proven in the K-League as much as possible in order to avoid suffering the same foreign atrocities as it did last year. It recruited Hernandez, who showed off strong performances in Jeonnam-Gyeongnam-Incheon, by spending a huge transfer fee, and also brought in Thiago, who showed clear goal decisiveness in Gyeongnam-Daejeon.
In addition, Czech national defender Petracek and defensive midfielder Nana Boateng (Ghana), who were recruited last summer, remained in the team. Jeonbuk, which had expected stellar performance by foreign players unlike last year, completely lost its expectation at the start of the season. Hernandez, who scored the first goal in the first leg of the round of 16 Champions League against Pohang, was replaced by an injury after the end of the first half and disappeared in the stadium for about two months.
Hernandez, who appeared at a home game against Daegu on April 28, scored a goal at the last minute of the second half to raise expectations, but was out of the team's capacity after suffering injury for four weeks after the match against Incheon. Thiago, on the other hand, has no injury, but his slump is deepening. Thiago, who had 17 goals and seven assists in Daejeon last year, showed off top-class K-League offense capability, but since moving to Jeonbuk, he has fallen into silence with one goal and one assist in 11 league matches.
Another foreign Boateng has been showing a sharp drop in form since his exit from the match against Suwon FC in the second round, while Petracek has only played one official match. Amid the deepening slump and injuries of foreigners, Hong Jung-ho, Park Jin-seop and Kim Tae-hwan, key domestic players, are unable to play for the time being due to injuries.
They are Jeonbuk foreigners who spent a large amount of transfer fees and salaries, but they are disappointed with their performance. Jeonbuk, which desperately needs three points, is very desperate for foreigners.
BY: 안전놀이터