Thread by @FPL_Sonaldo

Inspired by a conversation with @lateriser12

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐮𝐥𝐥, 𝐇𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧 (황희찬) - 𝐀 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝.

This is PART 1 of 2.

#FPL #FPLCommunity #GW8

Thank you to the community for the overwhelming support in the past 24 hours.

I’m truly grateful and wanted to follow up on @lateriser12’s shout-out and support by offering my personal opinion on Hwang Hee Chan.

Due to the length, there is a part 2 you can find at the end!

Quick Plug: @FPLBrunoo and I co-host a twitter space show called "The Enabler Show" and I would encourage you to join us weekly for great FPL conversations with the community. We're just getting started and still learning as we go, so please be patient with us 🙏

Yesterday, I was greeted by a DM from the upside-chasing FPL Legend himself @lateriser12. Like any fan, I was ecstactic and couldn't help but smile. It's really cool to see how a top manager such as LR, is still asking around for more knowledge.

Grateful for your support LR 🙏

A background on Hwang:

In the 2018 Asian Games Finals, a 2-1 win over Japan secured a critical 2 year military exemption for Heung-min Son.

Without getting too political, as a fan of Sonny, I was relieved.

SK's footballing treasure, was at the peak of his powers..

.. and eventually would help lead that Spurs team to a suprise UCL finals appeareance in 2019. The rest is history as we speak and Son continues to display world class quality every season.

But.. Guess who scored the winning goal vs Japan in the final?

Hwang-Hee Chan.

Hwang would go on to celebrate that goal with an iconic Ji-Sung Park "jogging" celebration and our whole nation was ELATED.

Yet, Hwang who was still only 22 at the time and still developing, was getting unnecessary hate because of his overwhelming confidence.

Personally, I loved it and in FPL, that's exactly what we want: hard working, fast, direct, no-nonsense and a HUNGER for goals.

In football and especially for forwards, confidence is KEY. You could see the self-belief in Hwang and there was something special about him mentally.

In the 19-20 CL season, he would be part of a very respectable trio of 'Haaland-Minamino-Hwang' for RB Salzburg and would be involved in a total of 8 goals that CL season. He was energetic and solid on the ball, but it was his off-ball movement that caught the eye for many.

His season was amazing, ending with 16 goals/22 assists in 40 appearances.

The following year, Hwang would move to his parent club in RB Leipzig and play in the much more competitive Bundesliga. I will be the first to admit: it was a season to forget (3 goals/26 appearances).

But to defend Hwang, as I really believe this, sometimes it is not about the quality of the footballer, but about what team he plays for and their tactics. As seen in many cases.

Hwang's strengths are apparent in his nickname…

…He is a physically a bull, as direct as can be and his off-ball movement is marvelous.

His movement reminds me of a player by the name, dare I say, Luis Suarez.

Hwang's weakness: Unlike Sonny and his teammate Traore, he struggles at times with taking on defenders 1v1.

Naglesmann is a coach with pressing tactics that requires more build up play with an emphasis on more link up play as well.

Hwang’s weaknesses were largely demanded at RB Leipzig.

Even after returning from having Covid, Hwang simply could not get into Naglesmann's plans.

On the flip side, Lage is a coach who can perfectly fit Hwang into his tactics.

At Benfica, Lage played a 4-2-3-1/4-4-2 formation with a dominating physical presence up top such as Seferovic and players with great ability on the ball such as Joao Felix would play right behind.

Unlike Naglesmann's more complicated build up tactics, Lage at the core is a simple coach that reaped the benefits of a "big and small" type forward duo.

Images taken from: bit.ly/3Ava9Kn

*fantastic Benfica tactics article by Gareth Thomas on:

totalfootballanalysis

At Wolves, Lage inherited a 3-4-3 system (5 back if you want to call it) handed over by Nuno.

One of the key reasons why I believe Lage didn't revert to his Benfica formation is because the players have been so used to this system already.

Furthermore, the two CB combination at Wolves is not quite strong enough to handle the quality of PL forwards (personal opinion).

Yet, Lage still implemented his "big and small" duo forward tactics as he tried to deploy Traore on the left zone this year to pair with Jimenez.

As we saw in the first few games, Adama was fantastic at creating big chances and getting into those positions as his movement shows a lot of outside-to-inside type direct runs.

But Troare as great of a player as he is, has one critical flaw: finishing.

Step in: Hwang Hee Chan. A perfect compliment to EPL proven class striker, Jimenez. Hwang's stats at a glance already speak for themselves this season:

- 3 goals in 4 appeareances (sub as well)
- xG 1.37
- On Target Shots 3/5

Clinical Finishing.

His two goals vs. Newcastle was a prime example of the "big and small" forward combo tactics employed by Lage.

As seen in the pictures below, Jimenez held up the ball very well and slotted in quickly timed, great passes to Hwang to finish.

Does this remind you of a special partnership btw? 😏

I'm excited at the real prospect of Hwang-Jimenez partnership booming.

If anything, in the 2018 World Cup, Korea beating Germany in the group stages allowed for Mexico to get through so…🇰🇷🇲🇽🔥💯

Plus, who doesn't love a great Bulgogi Taco?

It's also important to note that right before his move to Wolves, he essentially burned the bridge with RB Leipzig by saying he couldn't understand why he wasn't playing.

It shows his 💯 confidence in difficult times and an ALL IN attitude to his opporutnity at Wolves.

My only concern is the plethora of attacking options that Wolves posses and the potential benching.

But after getting some insight from the lads over at @wolvesfancast there is an overwhelming sense from the true Wolves fans that he will continue to start.

*Great podcast btw*

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟏, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟐.