@EBL2017: South Korea 🇰🇷3-2-5 high.H...

South Korea 🇰🇷

3-2-5 high.

Happy to play direct against man-to-man pressure despite lacking an aerial outlet.

They can do it with success because Seung-Gyu Kim can kick the ball a mile.

They also build in an Emery-esque 4-2-2-2 as they pack the middle to win the second balls.

Defensively, the 5-2-3 was clear.

The intent was to get pressure on the ball and to match up with Czech Republic's 3-2-5.

Sometimes, though, they were a little too passive with their pressure.

Against a wide build, the wingbacks often remained passive giving Czech an overload.

Ideally, to apply man-to-man pressure, the wingback releases to the fullback and the centre back shifts across to manage the winger.

However, South Korea were smarter to defend like this against the Czech's.

Why?

Because Czech constantly play direct. Korea needed a +1 low.

However, in open play, when Czech did get the ball down and tried to play football, you can see the risk and reward of releasing the fullback and letting the centre backs shift across.

You leave a 1v1 high but if you get good enough pressure on the ball you prevent that option…

This is exactly what South Korea do here as Kim min-Jae is aggressive to step out and press between the lines which creates a diagonal passing opportunity to exploit the Czech's in open spaces in transition.

This is why my preference will always be to press.

Not to be passive…