The battle for the bottom of the K League 1 table appears to be narrowing down to just two teams.
With the Hana OneQ K League 1 2023 split into Final A (1st through 6th) and B (7th through 12th), the first matches of the bottom six teams were played simultaneously on the 22nd. All eyes were on 11th-ranked Gangwon FC and 12th-ranked Suwon Samsung, who are fighting to avoid automatic relegation from the bottom.
But neither team had much to smile about. Suwon played Jeju United away from home and lost 0-2. Gangwon fought back to equalize against FC Seoul, but couldn’t avoid a 1-2 loss. Both teams’ inability to pick up points keeps Gangwon (4W14D16L – 26 points) in 11th place and Suwon (6W7D21L – 25 points) in 12th.
When things don’t work out, you have to make changes. Gangwon, however, shows no signs of change. After parting ways with former coach Choi Yong-soo in the middle of the season, Gangwon handed the reins over to Yoon Jung-hwan in the 19th round. Yoon’s first words on the job were “attacking soccer” and he vowed to break away from the traditional passive soccer.온라인카지노
However, the ‘void’ remained. Even with the transfer of attacking nucleus Yang Hyun-joon to Celtic (Scotland), the team lacks firepower. The team brought in Brazilian striker Gabriel in hopes of rebounding in the second half of the season, but he has only scored two goals in 10 games. Despite the managerial changes and foreign signings, the team hasn’t been able to fix the underlying problem of a monotonous attacking pattern. As a result, they are still struggling to score the fewest goals in the league (26).
Suwon, on the other hand, has too many changes. The team has changed coaches twice, firing Lee Byung-geun for poor performance early in the season and sacking Kim Byung-soo. Despite the “shock therapy” of changing coaches, the situation seems to have gotten worse. The frequent coaching changes and changes in the starting lineup have only added to the confusion. In the end, all hopes were pinned on the team’s “living legend” Yi Ki-hoon, but he doesn’t have much time left.
There’s no point in ‘change for change’s sake’ in the remaining four games between Gangwon and Suwon. They need to build on the wrong notes they’ve taken throughout the season and get things right.