Thursday, January 21, 2016

Midweek Recap Jan 20th and Weekend Preview/Schedule Jan 23rd

Bundesliga returns!  Son scores!  Suk debuts! Hopefully some positive signs for weekend.


DayTime (ET)PlayerClubOpponentTV
Saturday7:30 AMYun Suk YoungQPRWolverhamptonBeIn
Saturday9:30 AMHong Jeong HoAugsburg@Hertha BerlinFox Soccer Plus
Saturday9:30 AMJi Dong WonAugsburg@Hertha BerlinFox Soccer Plus
Saturday9:30 AMKoo Ja CheolAugsburg@Hertha BerlinFox Soccer Plus
Saturday9:30 AMKim Jin SuHoffenheimLeverkusenFox Sports 1
Saturday10:00 AMLee Chung YongCrystal PalaceTottenhamUSA
Saturday10:00 AMSon Heung MinTottenham@Crystal PalaceUSA
Saturday12:30 PMPark Joo HoDortmund@GladbachFox Sports 2
Sunday8:30 AMKi Sung YuengSwansea@EvertonNBCSN
Sunday3:30 PMSuk Hyun JunPortoMaritimoNone


Yun Suk Young -- He also has a match Tuesday but don't think he'll play either.


Hong Jeong Ho -- Should be interesting which CH pairing Weinzierl decides to go with Saturday with three healthy options.  The new CH was bought to replace JICB, but it puts all three CHs into the mix with different positives and negatives to each.  I'm leaning towards HJH starting but it seems just as likely that he'll be on the bench.


Ji Dong Won -- Some will depend on the health of Koo and which XI Weinzierl will go with.  Initial inclination is to think that he's on the bench but he could start.


Koo Ja Cheol -- No immediate update so we'll see if he's healthy.  Will update if I hear more but I think that he'll miss this weekend.


Kim Jin Su -- He's the most likely to start with Stevens going with him even more than I'd probably want out of friendlies.


Lee Chung Yong -- He'll be looking to make the bench and hopefully make an impact if/when he comes on.


Son Heung Min -- Finally, Son showed the breadth of his talents midweek as he won MOTM for an outstanding performance.  He finally got the chance to score one of his patented shots from the edge of the box, and hopefully that becomes just the first of many goals he scores from that area.  He looked a lot more relaxed playing off a striker, and was sharper from the get-go with some good passes.  And after the goal, he started to excel, with a brilliant assist to Chadli, some great runs, and some good pressing as well.

The competition for spots is very tough, and Son looked a bit pained after the match (hopefully only from fatigue) so perhaps we'll see him on the bench, but he put together the best argument to start and I think Pochettino will strongly consider him this Saturday.


Park Joo Ho -- He'll get the start with Schmelzer still limited with injury.  This is his chance to earn back some of the momentum that was lost over the season, both in terms of his play and also the opinion of his coach and fans too.


Ki Sung Yueng -- New manager game is always tricky to predict but he should start.  With rumors of Swansea looking at returns for Allen and de Guzman, it will be a bit curious as to who would be sacrificed.  But that's a problem for another day and Ki will look to improve on his off-and-on showings.


Suk Hyun Jun -- Started for first time in debut.  I didn't get to watch but based on reports, he did get some good shots off even if Porto underperformed as a team.  We'll see how he fits into a more full strength side on Sunday but he'll definitely at least make the bench and possibly even start.