Ulsan suffered heartbreaking end to 2019 after entering the final round of last season in first place only to slip up and gift the title to Jeonbuk. Despite this painful experience the campaign was good in general with Ulsan spending 21 of the 38 rounds in first place.
In 3 consecutive years Ulsan finished second and the hunger for more is great in the squad. During all of those 3 near misses the team was led by eccentric coach Do-hun Kim, who is famous for his passionate arguments with officials and in 2019 alone missed 8 games due to touchline bans.
In the off-season Ulsan parted ways with 4 of their regulars from 2019. The K-League’s MVP Bo-kyung Kim and winger Mix Diskerud were key players last term, but will be no longer available. Also main left-back Myeong-jae Lee and holding midfielder Yong-uh Park started their mandatory 2-year military service.
Ulsan recruited well though and at least 4 of the new arrivals are expected to be regulars. K-League’s poster boy Hyeon-uh Jo will be the new starter between the posts, Bit-garam Yoon will have important role in the heart of midfield, while Norwegian striker Bjorn Johnsen is expected to intimidate defences and carry major threat in the air.
Playmaker Jin-ho Shin was given the captain’s armband this season and he is seen as key figure in the middle of the park where a lot will depend on his creativity. With imports Negao and Johnson up front Ulsan will definitely be scoring lots of goals, while youngster Sang-heon Lee is expected to play on their shoulders and have breakthrough season as attacking midfielder.
With experience and depth in every area of the pitch Ulsan will definitely be amongst the title-contenders yet again, with the heartbreak from the past 3 years fuelling the squad even more.
Target
Only the title will satisfy the hungry Ulsan players and they will give it their all in its search. The squad is definitely good enough to finish on top and hard to see the team in position lower than third place.
