Suk Hyun-Jun @ Ajax 2009-2010 Thread

Honestly, I'm lost for words when I see people say that he needs to be called up to the national team. It's almost as if recommending Shin Young-rok wasn't enough.

 

Cmon man...Im not like Im saying he needs to be called up but honestly, what does the NT stand to lose by testing him out?

If we had an array of talent up front I could see where youre coming from but we dont.

The dude is big, fast and athletic and seems to have somewhat of a nose as a striker. Thats a hell of a lot more than what Ive seen from anyone outside of PCY.

 

I know you've gone far enough to conclude that the Ajax reserves could be on par with Jeonbuk, but trust me. He needs to get in line. There are plenty of players ahead of him in the pecking order who actually earned the right to be in contention for a spot on the team.

 

SYR? I'm guilty of that. Sure he hasn't done much but w/ the exception of PJY no one else is that convincing.

 

Big and athletic... JJJ?

 

I never said Ajax reserves were on "par" with Kleague teams.

I think I have a pretty good eye for talent and Im sorry but Ive been unimpressed with what Kleague teams have done in international tournaments. Thats probably being too judgemental on something I admittedly know little about but I can only call it like I see it. They may have been up against some classy teams in South American or Euro sides but still... I just dont think they measure up at the moment. Im just talking from a technical standpoint.

They might not get beaten by Ajax or Erie reserves but would they outclass them completely? You cant convince me of that right now.

 

I'm not trying to put the guy down by any means, but this kid is a project at club level at the moment. Nothing more, nothing less. For his sake, it's probably best he stays away from national team selection. He'll get his chance in 2011 U-20 WC and 2012 Olympics.

GOAL.com Korea had an interview with his high school coach and apparently he believes Seok already has what it takes to play in the WC. He even believs Seok has the pace to play on the flanks.

 

I guess any striker regardless of his level isn't going to help his cause by failing to score a single goal throughout the course of a season. My point is that Suk will probably have a longer leash than the usual striker due to the fact that he's young, popular (for now at least), and cost next to nothing.

As for the KNT discussion, in an ideal world I would bring him along if I knew he was going to figure in my future plans. It would be just perfect if he would get some field time, just a little bit of garbage time just to get the nerves out of the way before the next World Cup. Whether that benefit is more important than bringing along an AJH JJJ or SYR to fill out the squad is questionable but I would give it some thought...

 

So now K-League clubs can't "outclass" a U-20 amateur side. Whether or not you're convinced is out of my interest, but this is really not even worth spending time to have a debate on.

 

comparing a kleague team to any euro team or south american team is not really fair. mostly due to 1)money and 2) the "foreigner rule". if europe was to adopt basically a 8+3 rule their class would go down immensely. as for Suk i would pick Lee Seung Ryul anyday over him at this stage. they are completely different players but Seung Ryul has that experience factor. and despite what people say i wouldnt rate the kleague so poorly. there is a lot of talented players they just are mostly on certain teams *cough* FC Seoul *cough*

 

Actually if Ajax invested a significant amount of money to land him, that would actually be a factor in their decision to keep him for a bit longer even after a disappointing season.

 

Good point. I just saw his cheapness as lessening the pressure on him to perform as opposed to if he were brought in for a big fee, which would demand results to justify the price tag... but I see how it could work the other way as well.

 

Granted...Ill give FC Seoul looked good against United in a friendly last year. Suwon looked decent against Chelsea a couple years back I suppose.

 

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If you think Ajax isnot putting much money in him you forget that, him being non Euro, Ajax has to pay him a whopping minimum salary according to the Dutch FA rules.

 

Doesn't that reinforce the fact that being Korean does not help him if he doesn't score goals on the first team next year?

And Sky, now that you've explained your position a bit more I'm inclined to agree to a greater extent. However I must still hold to my opinion that he will get more than just one year. How long beyond that, who knows?

As for his inclusion in this year's WC squad, I think most of that was just hyberbolic talk after hearing his fairytale story. But when reality sinks in, none of us would (or should) be able to say he truly deserves to go to SA. I would also take Lee Seung Ryul over him any day, purely by virtue of the fact that Lee has trained with the NT and played in full international friendlies with them, whereas Suk would be a 'stranger.'

That being said, how much has Suk played with the younger generation of players, especially the FC Seoul contingent of the Fab 4 (PJY, LCY, KSY)?

 

They've got the kid for nothing. He may very well not live up to a higher standard where he would a first choice striker for Ajax but if he continues to develop at a nice clip it's likely he'll be farmed out to another team and then complete a transfer where Ajax makes money and SHJ hopefully finds football at his 'level'.

Too early, no one knows but they're not going to hold onto him without seeing significant progress.

 

JJJ is a totally different player with an entirely different skill set. He doesn't seem to have the same goal-scoring prowess either.

Having said that, in 2006, JJJ was not the problem. It was the fact that the team tactically depended too much on him. He actually won very many headers, but he didn't have a lot of support. I'm sure if someone like Hwang Sun-hong or another good striker were around, JJJ could have helped him.

It's so tiresome to constantly see JJJ scapegoated. Even PJS wasn't so hot in 2006, but I don't see him being scapegoated for Korea's lackluster tournament. The fact is that the entire team was out of shape. It was painfully obvious in the Ghana friendly, and Ghana's manager even said he was surprised how different the team was tactically from 2002.

Let's give JJJ a break, ffs.

Some of you are making a case that some of the other newbies on the Korean team should be selected, even though they have barely tasted any success even at club level.

As far as the striker situation goes, AJH's best has long gone and he's now about 7 or 8 years past his prime. He hasn't accomplished anything worthy of note in at least the past 5 years. I don't see how his experience would be such a big advantage, if his body doesn't allow him to take advantage of it.

I would definitely track Suk's progress, because he's worth consideration. I don't think any of Korea's other strikers are capable of achieving what he has even at the reserves level, except for PJY.

Suk also seems to be a better rounded striker than all the other Korean strikers I've seen. He definitely doesn't shirk his defensive duties, seems to have a good cross, and is a good dribbler. In one of the highlight clips I saw, he did a very Berbatov-like move to get past his marker and was able to create real danger. And he's not needlessly showy like Ahn. If he does something pleasing to the eye, it is because it is effective.

To sum up, these are the traits that the Korean team needs that Suk possesses:

ability to dribble past a defender;
physical presence and strength;
defending in advanced positions;
accurate and timely crossing and passing;
good work ethic in the striker position;
goal-scoring ability;
the intelligence to get into good positions in the box at the right time;
ability to hold the ball up and bring others into the play;
good speed;
tactical acumen;

I can also deduce that he has a very rapid rate of learning, because he has seen minutes with the senior team in European competition against good sides within months of his arrival. Another thing I noticed from watching the Jong Ajax footage is that when he is on the pitch, the team just attacks better, and the rest of the players play better and are given more opportunities to display their talent. Peter Huilstra seems to have found a diamond in the rough.

The "up factor" is greater than other players that are currently on the senior team, most notably Lee Dong-gook and Ahn Jung-hwan. These later are not players that will represent an investment for the future either.

I'm going to go on the record and say the kid will be a star well-known in Europe within the next 2 or 3 years.

 

AJH is no doubt past his prime. I'm not really a fan of his at this point in his career but he did look quite dangerous at times during IC match despite not being match fit. He got himself in positions to score and even when not he pulled the trigger that put pressure on the opposition keeper. Did a lot more than LKH imho.

 

I seriously find it hard to make a case for LKH's inclusion in the team anymore. If Ahn can fill the super-sub role and LDG is favored to play next to PJY, what is the point of taking LKH? I would rather take Lee Seung Ryul in that 'in-case' spot.

 

LKH needs to have his ticket to SA revoked. Utterly useless.

 

I kinda think LKH, as poor as he's been, is Huh's pet project. From what Ive seen, he just doesnt belong on an international stage. Even LDG is too little too late. Anyway, this is the Suk thread.

We'll see. That reminds me, shouldnt Huh have announced his team by now?

 

Yeah, I can see the board telling Jol: "Yeah, we know how miserably your Korean experiment failed at Tottenham. If this new Korean kid - god only knows how he signed with us - isn't a sure starter and a resounding success, you'll have exhausted your Asian failure quota. So you'd better start looking for another job."

 

footballchic: You're right on the money.

 

World cup is too much for that youngster, he is definitively too young.
And its been said numerous times : Ahn is a joker, he's not gonna play 90 minutes, so i think his physical condition is gonna be ok.

You guys may not remember but the goal against france in 2006 was mainly brought by the "old guys".

Ahn gives it to Seol, Seol owns Abidal on the right side before sending a superb ball on JJJ's head, then Park JS scores.

This goal was 95% scored by the 2002 guys.
Experience is very important at this level.

You can't send a 18 year old guy that only played few minutes with the main Ajax team (and couldn't even score), it would smell like shit.

This guy may have a bright future but for the mean time he clearly doesn't have the level and the experience for a world cup.

 

Again...All Im saying is you never know. And to really focus on the main point of why this is even being considered...look at who we have now in LKH and LDG.