The #KLeagueFM18 Challenges: Citizens Unite - Season Two Part 13

After a long hiatus and a Chuseok break, Daejeon Citizens returns to action with a double header of Ulsan Hyundai, and our arch rivals Jeonnam Dragons. With the season in the balance of 10 games to go before the split, can we get some points on the board to starting believing in a possible top 6 finish.



Catch Up On Season Two -  Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10
Part 11 Part 12

Ulsan Hyundai at Home

Our 10th game of a near unbeaten runs sees Ulsan make the trip to our fortress of Daejeon World Cup Stadium. With only 3 days break between the last game verses Gwangju, the team is in desperate need of rotation. Kim Hee-Su and Seoul loanee Shim Je-Hyeok come into the line up, with both players given instructions to take out Orsic.

The Ulsan winger is in fine form with 9 goals and 7 assists this season, with Lee Jong-Ho in front of him with 14 goals it'll be important to try and keep them quiet as early as possible. With the squad selections made and a pre match talk about high profile scouts being in the ground, it seemed to work for motivation just hope they don't realise they're here for Orsic.

Left to right, the Ulsan narrow formation compared to our wide flowing structure.

Ulsan go close, Kim Jong-Woo escapes our midfield and rattles the bar with a strong effort. Only 20 minutes into the game and Ulsan are having 57% of the possession. The wide and narrow formations are causing some issues, they might dominate the game but we have the opportunities with counter attacks.

Hwang In-Beon he might be Portugal bound but that is spectacular, a corner to Ulsan. Hwang's 45 yard pass finds Shim Je-Hyeok who run's the channels against the two Ulsan defenders. For a second it looks like he's let the chance go by, but a whipped cross finds Chan-Hee running on for 1-0! 

Daejeon counter attack who would have called it. Ulsan are still pushing forward, highlight after highlight is for them but every attack fizzles out with nothing gained. They're overpowering our midfield and exploiting the gaps, but so far they don't seem to know where the goal is. 

Anything more beautiful than watching a volley knowing it's going in? Captain Fantastic at it again.

It's 2-0, Kim Chan-Hee at the double. A freekick in by Hwang In-Beon causes big issues for the defence, especially with Oh Ban-Suk pushing players away from the ball. It falls perfectly for Chan-Hee who makes no mistake and volleys it in for 2-0. Late title push anyone?

As with a lot of our goals we've conceded this year, I seem to have a knack for talking big just before they happen. A high and looking wide corner is lofted into the box, when Jeong-Hyuk for Ulsan comes out of no where and thumps it past Su-Hyun for 2-1. Tactical change as Park Dae-Hoon is coming on for Chang-Hyun, with Ulsan throwing men forward maybe his pace might help us on the break.

Lee Jong-Ho show as he dodges three defenders for this effort on goal.

No less than 3 minutes after their first goal, it's 2-2. Lee Jong-Ho pounces on a poor back pass in the midfield and skillfully escapes every marker. Leaving Oh Ban-Suk for dead he gives Su-Hyun the eyes and tucks the ball into the far corner. K league 2 relegation title anyone?

PARK DAE-HOON! The young striker straight from kick off saves our downturn. With a Park Ji-Sung like determination he kicks us off and like a training ground move, he makes a fabulous run that is spotted by Hwang In-Beon, with no one around him and just the keeper to beat. His fresh legs means he rounds the keeper for 3-2. I'm back to being a tactical genius. 

Sheer inspiration by Park Dae-Hoon for 4-2!

Super sub, just like the commentary line says Park Dae-Hoon tries his luck from an impossible angle. The Ulsan goalkeeper will be ashamed he must of thought that know one would try from there. It's squeezed under his body to the far corner. 4-2 Daejeon Citizens and that spells game over. All the spoils are staying in the new fortress.

MOTM- Park Dae-Hoon game changer 2 goals in 20 minutes. Wonder boy. 4-2 Daejeon. 

Jeonnam Away

Only one loss in 10 games, and only one game where we didn't score a single goal. Everything is coming up Daejeon. Our squad are all fulfilling their roles and more, with only Rae-Se under performing overall. With 7 points separating us from a top 6 position, can we avoid the downfall that is playing verses Jeonnam. With our horrendous head to head with Jeonnam and the infamous 'Getting Jeonnamed'. We couldn't ask for a better chance to prove that they were just accidents.


Lee Sang-Min left for Porto means a new defensive partnership, hopefully it won't have an effect on our unbeaten streak but Park Jae-Woo the youngster is stepping in as defensive cover. With £1 million added to the balance, the Daejeon Ahjussi's are hailing me as a god.

No further squad changes apart from Park Dae-Hoon getting his start after the stand out performance.

Jeonnam stadium is relatively full for this 7th verses 8th clash. 

Jeonnam are pretty scary of a team with Marcao leading their front line and Moon Seon-Min, they have a lot of tools to dismantle our organised team. They also appear to be playing the exact formation that we are playing and are matching up nearly man to man. Park Jae-Woo is nervously patting his boots, but with Oh Ban-Suk guiding him he should be fine. 

If you've ever watched Korean league football before, you'd know sometimes you get great games and occasionally you get dead rubbers of nothingness. Unfortunately with our evenly matched formations, neither team can get an advantage and it's the most boring, highlight-less game probably ever shown on naver. 

The only highlight of the entire match so far, and it's a complete tragedy of Daejeon errors. The ball is played in from a corner, Sung-Su nods it onto the penalty spot. In Kim Chan-Hee's desperation to be an heroic captain he slides two footed the wrong way and gift wraps a nearly open goal to Moon Seon-Min who takes it and it's 1-0. 

The only highlight comes and it's a shocker. 1-0 Jeonnam, it's happening again. 

The bogey team of Jeonnam, just can't be defeated. If the first half had no highlights before the goal, after the goal it's some how even worse. Possession statistic reads 50/50, which might suggest an even game, but no it's just both teams passing it to each other aimlessly.

A complete destruction of the team's performances in the half time talk, seems to have worked to give them some motivation. Lee Gwan-Pyo is coming on and so is Moon Chang-Hyun. The attendance is totaled. An incredible 8,000 for a midweek Jeonnam game, that might be the most shocking and entertaining part of the game so far.

A second half of nothingness continues. We have been Jeonnamed again, they've smashed a goal in and sat back much to their delight and our disdain the score board reads 1-0 with only 10 minutes to go. Desperation is setting in and Rae-Se is thrown on, maybe he can get his mojo back here.

Final score 1-0 Jeonnam, you wont see a worse performance by Daejeon, mainly because no highlights to see. We played without any creativity again, and worse the effect on motivation it's ended our unbeaten run. Park Jae-Woo is beating himself up but even if Porto Lee Sang-Min was here we would of lost that game.

Major questions will be asked for the next series of games with Gangwon, and back to back Suwon Bluewings.

TL:DR

A wonderful 4-2 victory over Ulsan, set us up for what could of been a turning point in our season. With our sequence of results broken by a cruel Jeonnam mistake, we look downcast for a very important and hard next run of fixtures. Possibly some late season recruits with our new inflow of money might give us the edge to push into the top 6. KRO Daejeon Citizens.