‘Supermatch back-to-back’ coach Kim Byung-soo’s response: “Who do you trust but our players” [Suwon Talk].

안전놀이터Suwon Samsung head coach Kim Byung-soo was unfazed by the defeat and put his trust in his players.

Suwon Samseong lost 0-1 to FC Seoul in the 29th round of the Hana OneQ K League 1 2023 at Suwon World Cup Stadium at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 2. Ilyuchenko’s early goal in the first half proved to be the difference.

With the loss, Suwon extended its winless streak to six games at home against Seoul (one draw and five losses) and failed to close the gap on 12th-placed Gangwon (21 points) with its second straight defeat.

Seoul, on the other hand, snapped a six-game winless streak with a third straight victory over Suwon. With their first win under acting head coach Kim Jin-gyu, Seoul jumped to third place with 43 points.

After the game, head coach Kim Byung-soo said, “First of all, I’d like to thank the fans for coming out and cheering us on until the end. The early goal was painful. In the second half, we tried a lot to control the situation through forward pressure. I think we showed some good things. We had some disappointing situations in terms of scoring, but we did our best until the end.”

“In the first half, they were the better team. But in the second half, we weren’t bad either. In soccer, you have to score in the end. That one goal was the difference between the winner and the loser today. I don’t want to say that because we lost today that our opponent played better. To be positive, I want to say that our players did their best.”

Suwon gave Seoul the lead throughout the first half. “In the first half, we had trouble marking Ki Sung-yong’s spot,” said Kim Byung-soo. We knew it was a tactical challenge, but we had more problems than we thought. In the second half, I think we did a good job of implementing what we had prepared in haste.”

Would the outcome of the game have been different if Kazuki had started? “I don’t think it would have been,” Kim Byung-soo said briefly when asked.

In the final minutes of the game, Han Ho-gang was sent off for a rough tackle. “I think he had a lot of energy,” said Kim Byung-soo. It’s a shame because it’s not a continuous mistake, but I think it can’t be helped,” he said calmly.

In the second half, Suwon dominated the midfield battle with the combination of Ko Seung-beom, Lee Jong-sung, and Kazuki. However, Kim Byung-soo explained that it will not be easy to see the combination of the three players. He said, “It’s actually a tough situation for us to use them as a back four. So it’s not easy to play three in the middle. We have no choice but to distribute them according to the situation.”

“Personally, I want to play aggressive football. Football is not necessarily technical or tactical, sometimes mental strength can overwhelm both. It can’t be constant, but when we made changes from moment to moment, the players’ will to play was really strong.”

There are now only four games left to reach the final round. “I can’t really calculate (the goal),” said Kim Byung-soo. But what’s clear is that today’s loss didn’t make things better, but it didn’t make them worse either. It will depend on what we do in the future. We’ve never been comfortable this season. The players have to take this situation for granted and keep their emotions under control. If we put pressure on them to win a few games, it will be unnatural. Of course, it would be nice to win them all, but we have to accept each situation and work hard.”

Finally, when asked if he thinks the current squad is good enough to win the match, Kim Byung-soo said, “I think so. If we don’t believe in our players, who will we believe in in this world, and we are trying to believe in our players until the end.”