Incheon United coach Cho Sung-hwan blamed himself. He expressed his disappointment with the long winless streak.
Incheon lost 1-3 at home against the Pohang Steelers in the 18th round of the Hana Bank K League 1 2024 at the Incheon Football Stadium at 6 p.m. on Nov. 23. Incheon is now winless in five matches (three draws and two losses).
After the game, head coach Cho Sung-hwan said, “Before the game, I told my players that it was a home game and that we should play so as not to embarrass the fans. As a result, I’m sorry and ashamed of myself, and as a coach, I feel infinite responsibility. Obviously, I wish everyone was more eager, 텍사스홀덤 desperate and united to prepare. If I talk about it here, I feel like I’m blaming. I will blame myself. I’ll try to organize the players so that we don’t face difficult situations in the future and prepare them to rebound.”
When asked what he regretted about the loss, Cho Sung-hwan, who was unable to speak for a while, said, “Incheon has a game model, and we prepared for it, but I think it went a little wrong from the beginning. The problem was that we kept getting impatient while not winning, and we kept going against the team’s direction. We were also trying to organize the situation in various ways on the bench, and it seemed to have a bad effect on the bench, with plans C and D coming out.”
“We didn’t play according to our game model and concept from the first half, which is why we conceded early,” he added.
Mugosa, who started as a frontline attacker, had fewer chances to get the ball. “I think it’s the same offensive and defensive balance. We need to move in an organized manner, both offensively and defensively, but one person’s over-ambitiousness leads to poor positioning, which leads to unorganized play. It seems like we keep getting isolated or disconnected.”
Kim Bo-seob scored his first goal of the season. Coach Cho Sung-hwan said, “I think it’s more important to improve our overall performance than goals. We can only create such chances and goals if individual players perform well. If it doesn’t happen, it will be less frequent. We need to improve our team performance,” he emphasized.
Cho Sung-hwan explained why the tactics he had prepared were not being implemented. “I think the players need to clearly recognize the soccer that Incheon is good at,” he said, “I told them at the departure ceremony that this season could be tougher than any other year. I told everyone, not because I’m a prophet, but based on my experience that it can get to that point. I told them that we shouldn’t get complacent because of the ACL or the good results,” he recalls.
There is a chance to rebound. “I still think it’s not too late, it’s not over until it’s over,” said Cho Sung-hwan. I think it’s the attitude of a coach and player who don’t give the fans a hard time to play until the 38th round without getting tired. I will make sure that I can fulfill the expectations of the fans,” he said encouragingly.