1) The back three is not necessarily the problem. Japan uses it in a flexible and modern way. But Hong uses a very outdated back three where he forces the three center backs to always stay low for defense. We basically never saw the back three cross the midfield in the Mexico and South Africa game even when we were losing.
2) In 3-4-2-1, the wing backs are key. They need to cover a lot of ground dynamically. They are key parts of the attack, buildup, and defense, and they need to constantly run up and down. For some inexplicable reason, our wing backs were basically rooted in place all the way at the front. Something doesn’t add up. In the first place, if Hong wanted to use wing backs this offensively, he should have used wingers or attacking minded players like Jens or Eom Ji-sung. But he stubbornly started defensive full backs like Seol Young-woo all three games at this forward position. It doesn’t make any sense what his goal was. Even when the ball got to these guys, they couldn’t do shit because they are not wingers or even wing backs. The ridiculous Mexico game where Seol was played on the wrong side where he couldn’t even cross is baffling.
3) The outcome from the above two points can only be one thing. A weak midfield. In South Africa game, we constantly see 1 or 2 players in the midfield swarmed by 5-6 yellow shirts. This formation just fundamentally cannot advance the ball consistently because it cannot cross the midfield safely. How can you build up anything if the center backs cannot move past the midline and the wingbacks are told to stay up high?
4) In game three, he even took out Lee Jae-sung, the workhorse player that makes a lot of movements off the ball and helps out where he is needed. In one of the captured fan cams, you can see Lee Kang-in screaming at the coaching staff and mouthing something that looks like “We need Jae-sung hyung NOW.” There are some youtube comments that said Lee Jae-sung said something like “I don’t know what tactics coach is using” in a player interview. And he got taken out lol.
5) Because the attack is completely dead, Lee Kang-In constantly comes down to midfield or all the way to the center back line to get any kind of build up going. This is, in my opinion, his own decision rather than direction from Hong. He is just frustrated as fuck. You saw one time where he got the ball and escaped the pressure, looked up, and saw no one to pass to and throws his hands up. You can see how no one is moving off the ball. Sure, we could perhaps blame the players for not playing with urgency or something, but when it’s this systematic, I would assert that the coach is dictating this kind of lethargic play. Nothing else can explain why the center backs would never move up even when the opposing team is dropped in a low block.
6) You also see Kim Min Jae pushing up higher a few times to try and put pressure in the midfield battle. But this often backfired and resulted in a counter because the team as a whole is not moving as a unit. Unfortunately, one of the times he pushed up to midfield, the counter resulted in the goal against Korea, and he immediately got taken out. What you saw in the video where Kim has his arms out and arguing with coaching staff is when he says “the gap is too wide! How can we attack like this?!” The gap he is talking about is the gap between the wing backs up front and the center backs, and the barren midfield.
7) Kim Min Jae has complained in the past that the three back always gets into 1v1 isolation situations in the counter because the midfield is so neglected. So we have to ask the question. What even is the goal of the formation Hong is insisting on? Clearly, this guy is a pussy and is a very conservative defensive minded coach. But in fact, our defense is not stable at all. Leaving 3 center backs low at all time is not a good defense when the midfield is a weak point structurally that can result in a lot of turnovers. And because Hong wants to have “balance” in defense, he insists on playing full backs in the crucial wing back position, but for some reason, still instructs them to stay up high.
8) This guy has the in-game management of an amoeba. He is seen sitting on the bench the entire time. Not doing shit to respond to changing scenarios and the other team’s response to his entirely expected same strategy he used all three games. He doesn’t even bother to motivate the team or basically give any kind of direction. Son Heung Min did a post game interview where he said “Coach didn’t tell me anything specific to do” when he was subbed in at the left wing position as opposed to the center forward spot he played in most matches for Korea.
9) That’s it for the tactics, but the manager’s role goes beyond tactics. Although his rigid tactics is largely to blame for the pathetic display in game 3, the players’ conditioning was obviously an issue. Plus, the morale of the squad was almost certainly in the shitter. We can say that Hong is not really a tactical coach. We already knew this. But he is at least supposed to be a charismatic leader that can unite the team and increase their fighting spirit and confidence. But from the beginning of how he got the job and everything leading up to the WC, he was just a negative aura constantly bringing down the team’s morale. Son is a very emotional player as we have seen in the past where he is crying with joy or regret. But this time, he was just completely resigned.
10) Finally, Hong Myung-Bo, this fucker shows no remorse or regret at all in interviews. He says he will take responsibility, but his attitude is basically “Fine, I’ll offer this apology and resign. Happy now?” He says he will take responsibility, but in every interview where he is asked about the reason why the team played like that, he blames everything else except his own tactics and planning. Even until the very end with his resignation press thing, he held his head up high and shows a smug attitude. He rivals a certain orange man in the narcissism department.
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