Koreans Abroad Weekend Recap and Midweek CL Preview

Not too much went on this weekend but a surprise appearance by PJH was unexpected.

Tuesday:

Son Heung Min -- Tottenham go to Leverkusen at 3:45am KST on Fox Sports 1.  Son was rested with CL in mind on top of his fatigue and minor injury over international break.  He didn't get to see much of the ball when he did come on with 15 minutes left with a lot of defense bent his way.  But even then he made his mark, dribbling well in traffic in the box, passing to Eriksen whose shot was deflected into Alli for the leveling goal.  Good signs ahead of a likely start Tuesday against his former club.  We'll see if the pressure of impressing against Leverkusen is too much or enough to keep his good form going.

Recap:

Park Joo Ho -- Being called to the bench was expected with so many injuries but when Schmelzer pulled up lame with a muscle injury, PJH came onto the pitch as LWB.  To be honest he looked quite slow and rusty but he grew into the match and some decent runs and a good cross that would lead to Kagawa earning a PK.  Sadly PJH is ineligible for CL this week else he'd be thrust into tons of action but hopefully he prepares for more of a role and a chance to impress next weekend.


Ji Dong Won -- With Finnbogason out, Schuster tweaked the formation a bit with Ji teaming up with Altintop as forward pair.  Can't say it was ideal with Altintop too slow to create much danger and both too far up to help their midfield and defense which struggled to get the ball forward.  When he did get involved, there were some good moments, and the biggest disappointment was when a good run was not rewarded with an accurate pass.


Koo Ja Cheol -- Was better than he's been with some very good touches and runs, but still sometimes a bit too much: too fancy, too eager, etc.  He needs to find the balance and also some better chemistry with his DMs as they were too often not on the same page resulting in laborious and ineffective build up.


Kim Jin Su -- No change.


Ki Sung Yueng -- He was looking fine at the base of the midfield but then he turned over the ball in terrible location and Arsenal almost scored.  Such a glaring error wasn't ideal to impress new manager and overshadowed tidy and at times good if not great play. He's got a long way to go.


Lee Chung Yong -- Unused sub.  Didn't expect much of a role but disappointing for him to get nothing despite a close match.

By @KoreaFootAbroad