Acting head coach Kim Jin-gyu (김진규) has called for more “fighting spirit” from his players after taking over the reins of professional soccer’s K League One club FC Seoul and earning a 1-1 draw against leaders Ulsan Hyundai in his first game in charge.

“I tried to show a new team today, and I was disappointed that we played well in the first half and conceded in the second half,” Kim said at a press conference after the team’s K League 1 Round 28 home match against Ulsan at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sunday.

Kim, who has been associated with Seoul since his playing days and has worked with the club since 2018 as coach of the U-18 team Osango and since 2020 as coach of the professional team, played his first game as acting head coach.

After Ahn Ik-soo, the team’s head coach since September 2021, announced his resignation at an official press conference after the team’s 27th round match against Daegu FC on Sept. 19, Seoul entrusted Kim with the task of turning things around.

In their first match, Seoul drew 2-2 with reigning champions Ulsan.

After taking the lead through Ilyuchenko nine minutes into the match, Seoul was forced to settle for a second-half multi-goal effort from In-Joo In-gyu before a dramatic equalizer from Willian in stoppage time earned them a point.

“It’s greed, but personally, I thought we would win, and I thought we prepared well, but it wasn’t easy against Ulsan,” said Kim, adding, “It’s a shame that we didn’t improve our organization in the second half.”

Specifically, “After the goal, we talked about pushing forward aggressively in the second half and prepared tactically, but there were many situations where the players went down because they were trying to protect one goal. We asked them to raise the line, but it wasn’t fixed during the game.”

However, the story and the result were far from unfortunate.

“I think it was good in the first half to have a tightly organized line and to be able to move forward when we cut the ball off the second line,” Kim said.

“We said before the game that Ilyuchenko was going to do something today, and I think he was prepared enough. I told Kim Jin-ya and Kim Sang-hyeop beforehand that they would only play 45 minutes, but they fulfilled their roles.” He also praised his players.

Kim was not satisfied yet, as he had ordered his players to be ‘vigorous’ before the game, saying, “You will see ’10 Kim Jin-gyu’ playing on the field today.”

“I’m telling the players that I don’t want to use players who don’t have a fighting spirit and don’t fight. It was unfortunate that only three or four ‘Kim Jin-gyu’s’ showed up today,” he said. “In the next Super Match against Suwon Samsung, I will try to get three more players to show up with more fighting spirit.”

Willian, who scored the crucial equalizer with a dazzling dribble down the flank in second-half stoppage time, also took the draw to heart.

“Three points would have been better, but it’s important to get a point against Ulsan. It’s encouraging that we didn’t give up and equalized after coming from behind,” he said, “and it will give us confidence for the rest of the season.”

“It’s not an easy situation for the players when the manager changes in the middle of the season, but at the end of the day, it’s our job to play. I think we need to dominate the game, especially at home,” he said, emphasizing that the players should always play with the idea of winning. 안전카지노사이트