Football Season Guide

Gangwon finished 2019 slowly, just 3 wins in the last 15 rounds, which saw their challenge to finish in the top 3 fading away and ultimately leading to sixth place in the rankings. The sharp drop in efficiency coincided with the season-ending injuries for the 2 main goal-providers of the squad (Jae-wan Jo and Ji-hyeon Kim had 18 goals between them in the first 21 rounds) halfway through 2019 and in other circumstances the table position could have been much higher. The off-season was very busy for coach Byung-su Kim as he let 16 players go and added 17 new ones to the squad. From the newcomers at least 5 are expected to be regular starters. Many of the changes were focused in defence, logical considering Gangwon had the worst defensive stats amongst the top 6 sides in 2019. New experienced goalkeeper and 2 likely starters at centre-back will have the task to improve the stability of the team. To avoid repeat of the injury-struck attack from last season the coach also added 2 new strikers, both arriving from champions Jeonbuk. Mu-yeol Ko and Seung-dae Kim are both proven goalscorers at K-League level, but still the big start up front remains Ji-hyeon Kim. Last season Gangwon had by far the most possession compared to any other K-League side and keeping the ball under control is major part of the manager’s approach to games. With no major changes in the heart of the midfield enjoying over 60% of the possession in most games seems given again. With not much young talent up field it might as well be 20-year-old goalie Kwang-yeon Lee given plenty of starts between the posts as every K-League team must have at least 1 player under the age of 22 in their starting XI. Also it’s important to stress that Japanese Nakazato is currently the only foreign player in the squad and this gives Gangwon freedom to sign as many as 3 more start foreigners in the summer if they want to.