A very disappointing weekend with injuries, benching and mediocre performances the dominant theme. That said, I'm writing this part ahead of Ki's match later in the day so we can hope for something good to salvage the weekend.
Park Joo Ho -- One of PJH's weaker performances, where he started off very tentatively and had one pass that gifted the ball to the opposition that led to a dangerous opportunity for Mainz. He improved defensively over the match, becoming a lot more effective with his positionig and pressing. But he was really inconsistent offensively, at times looking lost and going with the safe backpass and yet others where he helped drive the team forward and having a great chance to score in the final minutes. Not a great claim for more regular playing time with Schmelzer back in training but the season is long and far from a disaster performance.
Son Heung Min -- Still out with injury and the recovery window is really broad, with Pochettino saying he'll be out for 1 to 3 weeks. Hopefully on the shorter end though resting him through Europa match midweek wouldn't be worst idea especially with the match away.
Hong Jeong Ho -- He returned from KNT duty with a knee sprain (Google translate saying its an MCL). Not good news for a player whose lack of health has been a major career roadblock. And with defensive weakness vs last weekend, Augsburg could use him. Hopefully he only misses a few weeks and can get back to playing soon.
Ji Dong Won -- Weinzierl seemed to want guys who had been training all week with an beatable opponent in Darmstadt and that appears to have left Ji, who played a lot and traveled, out of the squad, especially with Caiuby returning to health. Disappointing as I think Ji would have helped Augsburg's lack of fluidity all match.
Koo Ja Cheol -- Like Ji, Koo's spot was knocked down a level, though that meant bench for him. He came on at the half with Augsburg needing to change something and that put Koo pretty far back into a CM role. He did a great job of finally bringing some linkage between defense and offense, but he wasn't able to help in the final thirds between his deep positioning and continuous Augsburg problems. A good performance especially considering circumstances if if not great.
Ryu Seung Woo -- Injured during Korean Olympic team and out of squad.
Kim Jin Su -- Again on the bench, but he was put on early after 20 minutes or so when the starting RB Kaderabek was benched after a bad performance and Hoffenheim being down two quick goals. Toljan moved to RB (where he plays for Germany's U21 side) and Kim Jin Su came on. But KJS performed pretty badly on the defensive end, repeatedly getting caught out of position and one was punished with a goal when he was covering empty space. It's unclear what the fullback mix will be like going forward but it was hardly a case of KJS taking advantage of the situation.
Lee Chung Yong -- Despite Pardew claiming LCY was fit and training, he was disappointingly left off the squad. With Crystal Palace deep on the wings, he may continue to struggle to even make the squad going forward.
Yun Suk Young -- Another disappointing person left off the squad, as Yun was fit enough to play with reserves earlier in the week and even travelling with the squad for the match. But he wasn't even in the 18 and looks to be on the outside looking in right now, despite QPR still struggling on defense.
Suk Hyun Jun -- He was rested on the bench and came on at 69' minutes in a win as they progress in the cup.
Ki Sung Yueng -- TBD.
