Goalkeeping

Catches

Daejeon Hana Citizen's Kim Dong-jun made the most catches per 90 minutes in K League 2 this season with 2.0 from 49 in 25 games. Gyeongnam FC's Son Jung-hyun also made 49 but over 28 games (1.8 per 90 minutes). Meanwhile, Ansan Greeners custodian Lee Seung-bin came in third with 47 from 25 games (1.9 per 90).

Punches

FC Anyang's Jeong Min-ki was the most likely to punch rather than catch and leads K League 2 in that regard with 46 from 33 matches (1.4 per 90). In second is Gyeongnam's Song Jung-hyun with 41 from 28 matches (1.5 per 90), while Busan IPark's Choi Pil-su also made 41 but over fewer matches (20) and so had a record of two punches per 90 minutes.

Clean sheets

In terms of clean sheets, Seoul E-Land's Kim Kyung-min kept the most in 2021 with 12 from 34 matches - 35.3% of matches he played in. Behind Kim was FC Anyang's Jeong Min-ki with 11 from 33 (33.3%) and Gimcheon Sangmu's Gu Sung-yun who, despite only playing 18 times, kept 10 clean sheets and had the best percentage at 55.6%.

Defending

Succesful tackles

Moving up into the backline, Ansan Greeners' Yeon Je-min made the most successful tackles with 30 over 33 games (0.9 per 90), followed by Cho Su-cheol of Bucheon FC 1995 with 29 from 27 appearances (1.1 per 90), and Daejeon Hana Citizen's Kim Min-duk who made 25 successful tackles over 30 matches (0.8 per 90).

Interceptions

In terms of interceptions, Daejeon Hana Citizen captain Park Jin-seop leads K League 2 with 109 over 31 games (3.5 per match), followed by former Purple and current Seoul E-Land midfielder Kim Sun-mun with 92 from 34 appearances (2.7 per 90) while FC Anyang's Nilson Junior also racked up a total of 92 but over 31 games to make it three per 90 minutes.

Midfield

Moving up the pitch and into midfield to the creators. While FC Anyang's Joo Hyeon-woo and Seoul E-Land's Leandro were the top two assist makers in K League 2 this season with eight and seven respectively, there were others who proved to be more efficient. Park Tae-jun of FC Anyang's six assists in 19 matches earned him an assist per 90 minutes ratio of 0.31, the best in the division. Close behind Park were Daejeon duo Gong Min-kyun with four from 13 (0.3) and Kim Seung-seop with five from 19 (0.26).

Key passes

Sometimes the pass connects but the finish doesn't, this would be a key pass. In K League 2 in 2021 Kim Hyeon-wook led with 69 from 34 games, averaging two per match, followed by Park Se-jin of Chungnam Asan with 54 from 33 (1.6 per 90), and Joo Hyeon-woo of FC Anyang with 49 from 33 games (1.4 per 90).

Dribbles

In terms of dribbles, Leandro of Seoul E-Land proved to be the busiest with 23 from 35 matches (0.7 per 90), Jonathan Balotelli was next with 20 from 30 (0.7 per 90) and to make it a hat-trick of dribbling Brazilians, Willyan made 17 from 27 matches (0.6 per 90).

Crosses

"Get it in the mixer," as the old saying goes. Park Se-jin of Chungnam Asan made the most successful crosses in K League 2 with 70 from 33 matches (2.1 per 90), Kim Hyeon-wook was next with 65 from 23 (1.9) and Joo Hyeon-woo with 47 from 36 matches (1.3).

Attack

Shots on target

In attack, it will be of little surprise to see that An Byong-jun, who ended the season as top scorer for the second year in a row, was the league's most accurate shooter. An had 53 shots on target from 34 games to give him an incredible average of 1.6 per 90 minutes. Up behind him was FC Anyang's Johnathan Moya who hit 30 in 28 games (1.1 per 90) and Busan's Domagoj Drožđek with 28 from 32 games (0.9 per 90). Jonathan hit 13 goals, Balotelli 11 while An scored 23.

Shots inside area

An Byong-jun is known for producing 'worldies' but he actually leads K League 2 for shots from inside the area. The former Suwon FC man had 77 attempts on goal from inside the box, an average of 2.3 per match. Up behind him is Jeonnam's Johnathan Balotelli with 51 (1.7 per 90) and Willyan of Gyeongnam with 50 (1.9 per 90).

Shots outside area

An Byong-jun leads in this regard too with 48 (1.4 per 90), followed by his Busan teammate Domagoj Drožđek with 36 (1.1) and Chungnam Asan's Alex Sandro with 34 (1.1)

Stats provided by K League Official Data Portal 

Paul Neat
Managing Editor