Preview: FC Anyang vs Daejeon Citizen

Anyang secured back to back victories after a superb victory over Suwon FC on Sunday. With their run of home games starting to pay off, and a unique home atmosphere building. Can Anyang secure yet another victory against a low scoring Daejeon Citizen team, and possibly advance into the playoff spots in the K League 2?

Last Time Out 

Anyang 2-0 Suwon
Anyang successfully won another game, in what could be a playoff position six pointer further on in the season. Although the score line shows a clear victory, the game was a lot tighter than the scoreline suggests.

There was a lot of early entertainment as the early Suwon pressure led to a series of entertaining goal denying saves. Those ultimately culminated with an Anyang defender saving the day with a vital goal line clearance.

However, as the match wore on Anyang really became a threat and proved even more to be a real contender in the top half of the league. Chances were plenty for both sides, both sides seemed to shoot from range, but the closer efforts were marginally better for Anyang. It wasn't till early in the second half when a questionable raised hand by Kim Young-chan was, after a long delay, deemed by the VAR to be a penalty offence.

After many arguments on the pitch over who should take the resulting penalty head coach Kim Hyung-yeol had the final say and Alex was given the spot kick. The penalty was scored in a stylish fashion and Anyang took the advantage.

Less than fifteen minutes later and Kim Young-chan had found himself with another yellow card and therefore a red card, after his calamitous attempt to stop the counterattacking Anyang side score another. With Suwon now only having ten men on the pitch, and being a goal down it was looking bleak for a comeback.

That impossibility of a comeback was all but confirmed when Cho Kyu-sung finally got his long awaited goal. After his performance last time against Suwon it was meant to be that he would score  and he did so with a wonderful curved shot into the bottom right corner. With the game coming to an end, that was the final nail in the coffin as Anyang finished the game victorious.

Full match highlights can be found here.

Daejeon Citizen 0-1 Gwangju FC
Daejeon fell to yet another defeat this time at the hands of Gwangju. The first half of the game saw Daejeon have the majority of the chances to score, but as with their season as a whole so far, they failed to capitalize. Defensively they were quite well organized and restricted Gwangju to mostly long range efforts. Unfortunately for Daejeon, Gwangju has the most potent striker in the league right now.

After some great hold up play by Felipe, the ball found it's way back to the top goalscorer in the division. On the edge of the box with no players around him he released a rocket of a shot that was too fast for the Daejeon goalkeeper to react to. With the game now firmly under Gwangju control, Gwangju changed to playing a very defensively minded system and restricted Daejeon to few chances. Despite controlling the possession Daejeon couldn't break Gwangju's defence. Which meant back to back games for Daejeon without a goal scored.

Full match highlights can be found here.

Previous Meetings

Anyang have a decent record against Daejeon Citizens in recent time, based off just the last three matches. Anyang have two wins and only a slender one nil loss over a year ago. Which when you factor in the current form of Daejeon Citizen, being only one victory out of their last fifteen games. It shows that Anyang could have a slight historical and form advantage leading into this game.

The most recent game was in game week eight where Anyang secured a relatively easy two goals to nil victory away from home. With the starting eleven of the side who got that victory still being the core of the current team, it's safe to assume that stylistically Anyang will play similar to that of last time.

Team News

Anyang are in a near perfect position from a squad point of view. The majority of the squad is fit and cleared to play. Some players are getting close to disciplinary bans but they're mostly all two cards away so that shouldn't be a concern. Anyang also have recently been showcasing and testing their squad talent off the bench. With the likes of Ahn Seong-bin given his first sub appearance of the season and Lee Jeong-bin also given his debut appearance. Both who provided a lot of energy and willingness in the second half of the Suwon game.

With more players being bled into the team and players who were suffering from fitness concerns now getting close to match sharpness, Anyang will have the ability to nearly pick all of their squad for this encounter. With Anyang at times playing a wider 3-5-2 or a 5-3-2, depending on their opponent, they will be able to test both tactics heavily in the week.

The Adversary

It will be an interesting game for Anyang as they face the test of a new unknown manager for Daejeon Citizen in Lee Heung-sil. Lee has made it very clear his intention of creating a new and improved team. It's possible that the new manager might bring a new style and formation to his team. Under the former caretaker manager, Daejeon were playing very unique formations such as the 3-4-1-2 in their losses. Daejeon will definitely be looking for change and with fan pressure and attention the manager might be inclined to opt for a safer more well known formation. Especially with the danger of Anyang counter attacks.

Last time out Daejeon only lost by a single goal to the best team in the league in Gwangju which shows their potential ability to defend well. It's just Daejeon's lack of goals that is causing the big issues with Daejeon having the least goals scored in the league. However, with an abundance of talent at the new managers disposal it will be interesting to see the new direction and changes he will try to change their fortunes.

What To Watch

With a new manager at the helm and a disastrous form streak to break, a lot of the focus will be on the away side in this match. Will Daejeon be able to make the mid season change they need to reform their season, or will the plucky Anyang side continue to impress and progress up the table. This match will seemingly be a very attack orientated match with both sides very eager to play attacking football.

Watch for both sides to try and play direct and loose football. Daejeon will want to quickly get rid of their lowest scorers in the league moniker, and Anyang will continue to play very fast and without much fear of their opposition countering. With both defenses not being known for their clean sheets, this has all the hall marks of a very goal heavy encounter.

Prediction

Anyang are developing a bit of a fortress like atmosphere at the new Anyang stadium and with their squad raring to go they shouldn't have any problems outscoring the team who have only mustered 11 goals all season. This is a wild card of a Daejeon Citizen team but Anyang should be able to outscore them.

FC Anyang 3-1 Daejeon Citizen