This midweek round was quite uneventful outside of a Messi-esque goal from Kwon Changhoon (easily the KPA goal of the season so far) and Lee Seungwoo finally getting a start for Hellas Verona (Coppa Italia, 90′)
Kwon Changhoon – Kwon scored one of the most amazing KPA goals I’ve seen in a long time:
https://twitter.com/butsligue1/status/935573128255860737
Three goals in his last three games with some insanely confident dribbles during the game:
I think it’s safe to say our RW position is locked down for the WC. Now we just need to get Lee Jaesung into Europe somehow..
SHM – came on at 57′ for Sissoko. Many fans were left scratching their heads as to why Son didn’t start considering 1) his form and 2) how bad Sissoko, Eriksen, and Alli have been recently. It was actually hilarious to see the reactions on Facebook to a status that read “57′ Sissoko off Son Heung Min on” – pretty much every comment either bashed Sissoko or said the sub came 57′ too late.
I still think Sissoko is a good player, but it’s hard to justify putting him in the starting XI, because as of late he has been completely ineffectual. Eriksen especially has been in poor form – ever since his hattrick against Denmark he hasn’t played the same for Tottenham. At some point Poch is bound to take Eriksen off the starting XI.
Lee Seungwoo – finally got his chance in a cup match, but unfortunately didn’t show all too much. That being said if you look at the highlights his raw talent is evident, but it’s also evident that he is not quite ready for the World Cup yet. On the bright side, Verona beat Chievo on penalties so LSW gets at least one more guaranteed start in the next cup match.
Warning you guys ahead of time, the ball touch vid is on the uneventful side
KSY – didn’t get too many touches in a 1-0 loss to Chelsea. Played 90′ though, which is promising for his fitness, which seems to be almost at 100% now since coming back from injury.
SHJ – came on late in a 2-0 loss to PSG of all teams – I didn’t watch this one because I turned my attention to Chelsea-Swansea instead, but Twitter and BSK suggests SHJ played very well with a number of close chances. SHJ most definitely deserves a callup to the NT now, considering that he scored three games in a row + has been back on form. It’s amazing to think how many times this guy can resurrect his career – he started high in the Netherlands so he went to Portugal, but fell out of order so he went to Saudi Arabia, somehow found his way back to Portugal and hit mad success with Nacional and Setubal only to “fail” with Porto, got banished to Turkey and Hungary, and now he’s thriving in France. Unbelievable. Why can’t Lee Jaesung sign with his agent?
Fortunately, we have a highlight video
Other news? The Tavern is going to be extremely active over the next month, and we have some exciting new developments coming up (seriously the Tavern writers group chat has been insanely active as of late with a lot of Skype calls and planning being done) – in the meantime though, check out our new Facebook group, and look forward to our usual end of the year series (17 for 17, Previewing the WC opponents, the World Cup draw, the East Asian Championship, etc).
Can’t wait to see Kwon at the WC. Hope he continues his form in Ligue 1.
Exciting to see LSW finally get a start for Verona, albeit in a cup match. After watching that video, you can definitely see glimmers of hope but he’s very much a work in progress. He tends to dribble for too long or is unable to link up with his teammates with some imprecise passing. Hope he gets more minutes. You can definitely tell by the end that he is not 100% match fit. I’m excited for the day when he scores his first goal.
There’s something surreal about watching Suk on the same pitch as Neymar and Cavani and taking on Thiago Silva. He had an immediate impact on that match, and he worked hard to salvage some scoring opportunities. I’m not sure exactly how he fits into the KNT with Hwang HC and Son. But, if Suk continues his form, he has to be included in the Russia 2018 squad.