Gangwon 1–0 Jeonbuk — Gangwon’s use of ‘W’ shape in build-up

After a delayed start to the season due to the coronavirus pandemic, the K league was the first league to return to play. Jeonbuk had the honours of being the first game back, defeating Suwon 1–0 in front of a worldwide audience. As the season starts to take a little more shape, Jeonbuk find themselves top of the table with 3 wins from 3. Gangwon on the other hand, while putting in a number of impressive performances, had only taken 4 points from their first 3 games. The game looked to be an interesting battle between the two sides, both competent in possession, being the teams with the two highest possession percentages in the league so far (Gangwon with 60.9%, Jeonbuk with 58.2%).

While the game was impacted by an early red card for Jeonbuk’s Hong Jeong-Ho, Gangwon were able to gain a lead to which they held on to for the rest of the game. While Gangwon dominated possession in the first half, Jeonbuk were able to show a greater initiative to attack in the second half. The hosts were able to hold onto the win that, at the time, took them to 3rd in the league. The analysis of this game will focus on two main aspects: Gangwon’s shape in their build-up, utilising a ‘W’ shape, and Jeonbuk’s defensive shape to try nullify this, both before and after the red card.

Gangwon’s use of ‘W’ shape in build up

Setting up in a 4–2–3–1/4–3–3 on paper, this was rarely seen by Gangwon when in possession. During their build-up phase, they would utilise a ‘W’ shape, with CB’s and 3 players in the next line.

The use of this kind of positions can be traced far back into footballing history. Legendary coach Vittorio Pozzo being a key exponent of a W-W formation (2–3–2–3) with his World Cup winning Italian sides of 1934 and 1938. Adapted from the W-M (3–2–2–3), the formation varied in that it allowed the centre half to be flexible in that they could drop deep to support the defensive line whilst moving forward to support attacks. Gazzatta Dello Sport journalist Mario Zappa wrote that the formation was, ‘a model of play that is the synthesis of the best elements of all the most admired systems’.

A rationale for Gangwon’s use of this shape could be to increase the stability in central areas. The ‘W’ set-up allowed for 5 players to be positioned centrally, allowing for both the creation of overloads in the first phase as well as maintaining a secure structure. The passing angles provided by this shape in build up also allowed for ease in ball progression. With one of the centre backs in possession of the ball, the positional play of the 3 players in the next line should allow for one option to always be open to progress the ball. Failing that, there is still an option to switch the ball to the ball-far centre back to maintain possession and create new angles to progress the ball.

This central occupation also allowed Gangwon to position wide players higher up the pitch. This was commonly left back, Chae Gwang-Hoon, who would advance, and Kim Kyung-Joong who would position wide on the right side. If required to support the build up, these players could make dropping movements within their wide zones. With wide players (including the left back) positioned in attacking areas, the construction of this ‘W’ could also help avoid being exposed in negative transition, allowing players to move and join the attack whilst leaving a suitable number of players in ‘resting’ defence.

If required for these players to maintain width in attacking areas, the full back zone could also be occupied by either of the outside players within the second line, through diagonal movements. This could help maintain a passing angle to play around opposition pressure. This was most common on the right side, with Shin Kwang-Hoon moving to occupy his usual right back position.

Issues with the ‘W’ Shape

While an interesting concept to occupy central space within build-up, the use of the ‘W’ shape was not without its problems against Jeonbuk. While able to create numerous passing angles and overloads, this is somewhat reliant on the amount of pressure from the opposition and the number of players they commit to pressing high up the pitch. With this often being either 1 or 2 players, Gangwon, would often have a 5v1 or 5v2 overload in the first phase. Easy to progress the ball from this, but problems would arise from this progression where Jeonbuk would have a large number of players already in an organised shape.

There was also issues in cohesion during the negative transition. As there was more space within the wide areas, Jeonbuk sought to exploit this space upon winning the ball back by attempting to play into their wide midfielders. The lack of cohesion stemmed from the defensive role of both Kim Kyung-Joong and Shin Kwang-Hoon, and who was supposed to occupy this right back space. This often caused both players to position in this space. While creating a 5-man defensive line, making it harder for Jeonbuk to attack through wide areas, having 2 players in the same role performing the same task created a less resourceful situation for Gangwon and allowed additional space elsewhere in the wide area that Jeonbuk could have potentially utilised.

Overload Creation in Wide Areas

With Jeonbuk looking to defend in a mid-to-low block, and remaining compact to protect from central penetration, Gangwon sought to use overloads in wide areas in order to draw pressure and create a route for penetration. Two clear examples of how this was used can be seen during the game. With the use of this ‘W’ shape, there was always a player positioned high in wide space. In the build up to Gangwon’s goal, upon receiving the ball in wide space, Kim Kyung-Joong makes an underlapping movement (causing the midfielder to track his run). This creates space that Shin Kwang-Hoon utilised before playing a cross that was converted by Ko Moo-Yeol.

In the second half as Jeonbuk searched for an equaliser and the game became more stretched, Gangwon were able to utilise overlapping movements from the wide players to offer a passing option or create additional space for the ball carrier. In this example, the overlapping movement of the left back is able to draw attention of the Jeonbuk defender. This creates additional space for Ko Moo-Yeol on the ball who is able to begin to move inside with the ball in the hope of creating a shooting opportunity, however an additional defender is able to recover and make an excellent sliding tackle to stop any progression.

Jeonbuk’s Defensive Shape

In the initial stages of the game, Jeonbuk utilised their 4–1–4–1 shape when out of possession. This would often leave them underloaded when pressing the centre backs. To help facilitate this early pressure on the ball, one of the central midfielders would position higher to be able to pressure Gangwon’s first line, with the defensive midfielder occupying this midfielder’s vacated space to create a 4–4–2 shape.

After Hong Jeong-Ho’s red card, Jeonbuk adapted by shifting to a 4–1–3–1 set-up when defending. In this shape, Lee Soo-Bin was tasked with covering Ko Moo-Yeol and the space he would occupy from his dropping movements when Gangwon sought to progress the ball. If Ko Moo-Yeol looked to position higher on Jeonbuk’s defensive line, Lee Soo-Bin would drop into this defensive line to cover the Gangwon forward, giving the idea of a 5–3–1 formation. This compact shape often denied Gangwon of any ball progression in central areas, though as mentioned above, provided space in wide areas from which they could utilise overloads.

In the second half, Jeonbuk adapted by using a 4–3–2 shape to assist in committing more players forward to pressure the ball and allow for more of an attempt to get something from the game. Lee was no longer responsible for tracking Ko Moo-Yeol. Instead, the centre backs were tasked with being more aggressive in their pressing, with the ability to move higher in order to win the ball or track the forwards movements.

The greater threat from Jeonbuk in the second half led to a greater amount of possession (compared to the first half) and more of an attacking threat. While they were able to create some threatening scoring opportunities (especially from wide areas), they were unable to capitalise and fell to their first league defeat of the 2020 season.