Football Season Guide

Pohang made it back-to-back fourth-place finishes in 2019, with only goal difference leaving Steelers behind FC Seoul in the end. After the slow start to the campaign young manager Ki-dong Kim was appointed in April and his all-or-nothing approach made Pohang exciting to watch. The team registered only 8 draws from 38 league games last season. The young coach also impressed with 2 key summer moves on the transfer market that proved decisive. After joining last July both Palocevic and Iljutchenko will again play key roles in 2020. The latter is particularly important as he is the only typical centre forward in the squad. In general Pohang’s depth is not amongst the more impressive ones and undoubtedly the team was weakened by the departure of their big star in 2019 Wanderson. To replace him Colombian Palacios was signed and he has large shoes to fill. The other important winter signing was that of Australian inner midfielder O’Neill, who is expected to play in deeper role with Palocevic preferred to operate closer to the forwards. In terms of the youngster most likely to take the obligatory starting spot in the squad left winger Min-kyu Song seems the favoured choice. He played a lot in 2019 already and his rapid development is expected to continue as his speed and ability to deliver accurate crosses make him very valuable asset. Pohang like to control the ball for as much as they can, but they also use their set pieces very well. Only champions Jeonbuk scored more goals than Pohang in 2019, with reports from the training sessions in April suggesting that the manager and his players spent lots of time working on their set pieces.