Weekend Roundup 1/16-18

This weekend only our Premier Leaguers saw action and it’s debatable whether that term is the right term to use considering neither LCY nor SHM can seem to nail down a starting spot with Crystal Palace and Tottenham. But we do have some better news with regards to our KPA in Germany who are playing preseason friendlies. And the best of all? The debut and second game of Lee Seung Woo and Paik Seung Ho – though apparently both of them were still heavily rusty from not having played competitive football for nearly 1100 days.

Something bothers us about every single one of the Premier Leaguers. KSY is still a regular starter, but his team has been a mixture of incredibly unlucky and incredibly awful. They were stuck in relegation for the first time this season as of yesterday until a win vs. Watford took them 1 point above 18th place. Meanwhile, LCY sees a mixture of garbage time + not being on the bench entirely, and Son keeps getting subbed late instead of starting.

Certainly the most worrying is LCY, who has only gotten one real chance to prove his worth (his lone start vs Chelsea, in which he played fairly well). The only thing that is somewhat positive is that Pardew seems to rate him (could be lip service?), saying it’s a shame that players such as Zaha, Sako, etc. are on the team with such a quality player. Son’s situation worries me a little less because he’s already shown his worth to the team, and his price tag has to be justified sometime right? But it’s concerning that his touches have been getting worse and worse – a lack of confidence perhaps – and that Tottenham might buy another wing-forward a la SHM this transfer season.

On the brighter side, JDW and HJH started a friendly vs. Basel – HJH opened the scoring early on with a header, and JDW notched an assist as well. KJC is still injured, while KJS also started a friendly.

As most of you probably know by now, Park Joo Ho started a friendly vs Jeonbuk in Dubai and managed to score in a 4-1 victory for Dortumund.

Suk Hyun Jun recently transferred to Porto but didn’t register in time for Porto’s game against Guimares this weekend, so he was not listed in the listings.

Now, the interesting parts: The Youth Players Abroad

PSH and LSW are finally playing again – they played close to 90 minutes in a 0-0 draw to Cornella, the team BSH was mysteriously loaned to for a month or two immediately after the ban. The game was broadcast on Barca TV unlike last week when BSH debuted but came off injured around 70′. Apparently, BSH lost the ball too much and was really rusty, while LSW had good touches but was also very rusty especially against two much bigger center halves. As Jae suggested, this latter half of the season should be a time for them to get match fitness, not a time for them to be evaluated against their peers.