Jeonbuk Motors driving in wrong direction

Jeonbuk Motors driving in wrong direction

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It does not seem right to see Jeonbuk Motors, the most successful club in Korean history and one of the most successful in Asia with two continental titles, right at the bottom of the K League's standings. How did it come to this?

Unfortunately, it is good players leaving and not being replaced, injuries, coaching changes, bad decisions and sometimes, just bad luck. There is still time to turn things around this season but to get back to challenging at the top may take some serious work and plenty of patience.

In 2009 the men from Jeonju won their first championship, since then there have been eight more. From 2014, the team has finished first, first, second (and this was only due to a points deduction), first, first, first, 추천 first, first, second and fourth. This was a winning green machine down in the southwest. The last season was something of a drop with the team finishing 19 points behind Ulsan HD FC.

Now Jeonbuk is only 13 points behind the Tigers but the problem is that the season is not even a third over. Jeonbuk is not going to win title number ten this time. In fact, the team is going to have to worry about avoiding relegation to the second tier. That may seem far-fetched but last season Suwon Bluewings, not that long ago a rival at the top of the table, dropped down to K2.

The defense is obviously an issue with only Gangwon FC conceding more goals among the 12 teams this season so far. There have been issues with injuries at the back with veteran central defender Hong Jeong-ho missing games but while there is experience on that side of the field, there is perhaps a need for some new blood. Not keeping any clean sheet at all this season is a damning statistic.

And when the foundation is not solid, there is a need to score a lot of goals to compensate. Gangwon has done that to a certain extent but Jeonbuk has not. Brazilian forwards Tiago Orobo has left his shooting boots in Daejeon and Hernandes has been injured.

In April Dan Petrescu stepped down as head coach after the poor start. “It was a happy time to be able to work with the best team in Asia,” he said. “Jeonbuk Hyundai is a team that must aim for greater heights.” Nobody could disagree with the second of those statements though the first is now hugely debatable.

It has been over a month since the Romanian, who used to play for Chelsea in the English Premier League, departed and Jeonju World Cup Stadium is still without a permanent head coach. Park Won-jae, a former player has been in charge temporarily, but results have become even worse as Sunday’s 3-2 home loss to Suwon FC was a third in succession.

"I hope the team will hire a good head coach quickly," Park said. "The players have been waiting for a long time, and they are beat up mentally after losing three in a row. This is the time for a change."

Nobody could disagree with that.

 

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