Dan Petrescu's Short Stint in K League Ends
The Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Becomes the 1st Manager to leave his position in the 2024 Season
We will forego our usual weekend catch-ups and focus on the big news that broke over the course of the weekend, ‘Brief Review’ of R5 and R6 at the bottom.
The only foreign manager in the K League and certainly the highest profile, Dan Petrescu, has left his job as the Jeonbuk manager after less than a year in charge. Petrescu leaves the team bottom of the table and the only winless team after the opening 6 rounds of the 2024 season. Not only that but the exit to arch rivals Ulsan HD in the ACL 2023/24 Quarter Final in February; adding to that the defeat in the 2023 Korean FA Cup final meant it was what could’ve been for the 56-year-old former Chelsea player.
On the Pitch - the Start.
Joining in June 2023 after a poor start to the season by Kim Sang-sik. Petrescu although losing his first match in charge away to Gwangju, actually started well at home with 5 consecutive wins at home, with 4 of those games to nil. Away from home was a direct contrast with no win in his opening 5 away games. His promise to bring back the ‘winning DNA’ to Western Korean City of Jeonju had started well enough and on the pitch the team were defining a style with wing play and going direct part of the attack while a 4-4-2 was deployed as the defensive shape. Speed in the wide area was a key part of that with Korean international right back Kim Moon-hwan heavily involved early on in his tenureship.
End of the 2023 Season
Things began to stutter more with injuries and the number of call-ups to the Asian Games in September, as well as the loss of Kim Moon-hwan in the transfer window. However, Petrescu was allowed to bring in a number of players including some of his own, with 2 million Euros spent on defensive midfielder Nana Boateng from his former club CFR Cluj.
A run of 3 defeats from 5 including 2 at home and conceding 3 in all the defeats. The last defeat in that sequence came in Bangkok just days before the winner-takes-all clash away to FC Seoul to determine who finishes in the top half. A bottom half finish for Jeonbuk was unheard of and on the back of a gruelling trip to the Thailand captial looked a real possibility. A 2-nil victory brought some breathing space and while qualification for the ACL2 was not the desired target, an FA Cup final and qualifying for the ACL knockout stage, albeit unconvincingly including an embarrassing defeat away to Singaporean outfit Lion City Sailors FC, was perhaps the best the team could’ve hoped for. The final day defeat to rivals Ulsan HD condeming them to lowly finish of 4th was a bitter pill to swallow and one that the team would have to swallow again shortly after. Defeat in the cup final away to Pohang having twice taken the lead showed the ‘winning DNA’ had not yet returned.
The End
Early preseason hope with a victory over much changed Pohang Steelers in the Valentines Day Last 16 clash and then progression to the QF to face Ulsan, faded quickly with their subsequent QF defeat and awful start to the league campaign. Injury to new signing Hernandes, recurrent injury to former captain Hong Jeong-ho, multiple penalty kick failings from 2023 K League top scorer and new signing Tiago Orobo, along with 2 red cards for kick outs and multiple defensive errors almost make the results on the pitch understandable. However pressure was mounting with the Round 4 game at home to Ulsan deemed a must-win for Petrescu with the 2nd consecutive penalty miss for Tiago against Ulsan condeming the side to a 2-2 draw; the writing was on the wall with a trip to Jeju a red card for Kim Jin-su and a 2-0 defeat midweek leading to Petrescu handing in his resignation post match. There are conflicting reports about the timing of resignation and whether it had been decided before the game but with the tight schedule he had been allowed to continue. Indeed the lead up to the Gangwon game this past weekend can’t have been easy for the players with Petrescu saying he would resign in the dressing room in Jeju, and then the news was leaked to the media that Gangwon would be his last and ultimately on the eve of the game Petrescu’s departure was announced with Coach Park Won-jae taking charge of the Gangwon game, which they went on to lose 3-2 and remain bottom of the table.
Final record
P38 W15 D11 L12 GF52 GA44
Failings
It’s probably fair to say that the former Premier League trifecta of Technical Advisor Roberto Di Matteo, Techincal Director Park Ji-sung, and of course Head Coach Dan Petrescu, all bear some responsibility. Di Matteo’s role remains a bit of mystery, while Petrescu was apparently a Park appointment; ultimately though results were not good enough from Petrescu and his own coaching staff that he had brought in.
At a board level the process of Petrescu leaving was perhaps representative of how things have been run in recent years. The international break prior to the 4th Round Ulsan game was said to be a time when they were considering sacking the Romanian but cost and indecision allowed him to continue with the shadow of a sacking looming of the club and the manager.
Transfers were, and have been, a massive disaster for Jeonbuk over the past few seasons. The expensive arrivals of Andre Luis (pre-Petrescu) and Nana Boateng didn’t and haven’t borne fruit, while the continual mistakes in the defence mean the centre back issue was never addressed with the off-season addition of Lee Jae-ik underutilised. In fact, all of Petrescu’s signings haven’t performed or have been underused with Hernandes’ injury another factor. Lee Yeong-jae’s preseason was hugely promising but he lost his place for more solidity in the 4-4-2. Tiago’s lack of goals only bagging 1 from an Xg of 2.74. with the whole team underperforming their Xg as well with 6 goals from Xg of 7.76. While, let’s not even mention the addition of centre back Tomas Petrasek as one of Petrescu’s first signings.
Style was a major part of the criticism from the media with the main method of attack being crosses and a lot of long balls forward. Personally, I thought they showed promise at times in build up with the early Song Min-gyu goal in the first leg of the Quarter Final with Ulsan HD my case in point. Petrescu in preseason had turned them into a team that would predominantly play in transition with the team sitting in a 4-4-2 mid-low block and the front two of Song Min-kyu and Tiago tasked with closing down angles and winning the ball back to start attacks. Against Ulsan this tactic worked to some extent with Jeonbuk probably marginally the better side against the K League back-to-back champions in all 3 meetings this season. Against other opponents where Jeonbuk had to be more progressive on the ball their were obvious weakenings that made for the football being less than entertaining for the fans. Ultimately, it was more individual errors and underperformance from the players than coaching mistakes in my opinion.
End of the Foreign ‘Director’ and What’s Next for Jeonbuk?
With the resignation of Petrescu and the sacking of ‘hewhoshallnotbenamed’ National Team Coach, the pennisula of Korea in Men’s football is absent of foreign head coaches. Certainly mid-season appointments should not be considered with mass overall of staff inevitable and translator requirements making the task of turning around ships difficult. Jeonbuk have been linked to another foreign coach with Park Ji-sung pushing for one, but safer hands in Shin Tae-yong and Kim Do-hoon seem better suited to attempting to resuscitate 9-time K League champions.
Brief Review
R5
Daejeon Hana Citizen 2-0 Ulsan - Champions first defeat as their poor run against Daejeon continues, who get their first win and avoid an early season crisis.
Pohang Steelers 1-1 Suwon FC - Much changed Suwon get a credible draw, largely down to Lee Ho-jae blocking a certain late winner of his own team.
Jeju 2-0 Jeonbuk - The loss that broke the camel’s back. Petrescu’s last game
Gwangju 2-3 Incheon - Incheon continue to avenge that 5-0 defeat with a late win after midfielder standing in as GK Ha Seung-un drops a clanger.
Gangwon 3-0 Daegu - A first win for Gangwon is a big one.
FC Seoul 5-1 Gimcheon - Biggest win of the season so far as the army team is blown away in the first half.
R6
Daegu 0-0 FC Seoul - The main talking point was a controversial goal disallowed for FC Seoul in a dull game.
Incheon 0-1 Jeju United - More Controversy as a Mugosa header was also ruled out for unknown reasons.
Jeonbuk 2-3 Gangwon - Despite another controversial moment in the Jeonbuk pk equaliser the home side fall to another defeat and remain the only winless team and now bottom
Ulsan 3-0 Suwon FC - Perhaps a flattering result with Cho Hyun-woo in fine form.
Daejeon 1-2 Pohang Steelers - Another late Jeong Jae-hee winner is becoming a regular occurance.
Gimcheon 2-1 Gwangju - 4 defeats in a row as 10 men Gwangju flatter to deceive