Gwangju were crowned champions of K2 last season after having by far the best defensive record in Korea in 2019 – conceded just 31 goals in 38 games. Despite not playing the most exciting football Gwangju proved very good at grinding out narrow wins even when they didn’t perform very well.
Coach Jin-seob Park starts his third season in charge, with Gwangju out of the top flight for the past 2 years while he was rebuilding the squad. Coach Park likes to use 4-3-3 shape, which regularly looks more like 4-5-1 when Gwangju don’t have the ball.
By far the most important defender in the squad is the Uzbek giant Ashurmatov, who is also very dangerous in the other box when it comes to set pieces. The other key figures are Brazilians Willyan and 2019’s top scorer Felipe (19 goals in K2).
Gwangju were unable to make Ratinho’s successful loan permanent move and his departure will be felt in the heart of the midfield where he was the main driving force in the second part of last season.
Gwangju’s main issue is the limited options in the heart of the midfield and this could cause problems as in the top flight the team is expected to have even less of the ball. With that in mind starting right-back Jun-heui Park could be used as holding midfielder in some games as was the case on 10 occasions in 2019.
Won-sang Eom is probably the most exciting youngster in the squad right now, with the 21-year-old winger expected to benefit from the rules of the K-League forcing every team to have at least 1 starter aged 22 or younger in every round. Eom showed promise last season and he will be looking to continue his development.
Target
Survival is the only goal, but many think this will be hard with the team lacking firepower.
