11. KOBAYASHI Yu
Pretty decent first season as captain! Top scorer in the league and MVP. Plenty of assists to go along with the goals. Feels like he’s not particularly suited to being the striker but given that he scored more goals than anyone else in the country, the complaint seems a bit harsh. Feel like he played better on the wing with Abe up front but Ienaga becoming a regular starter means that in our best eleven Kobayashi usually played up top. If you want to look for flaws you could say that he needs a few chances to score a goal and he does occasionally miss some sitters. But this year his touch has really shone. Think it was against Sendai where he made space for the shot with a lovely little dab of the ball, completely doing the defender. Hope he can keep things going next year and stay injury free.
13. MIYOSHI Koji
High hopes for him before the season but this year has been a bit of a write off for him. He really hasn’t pushed on and staked a claim for a place. Only started 11 games and came off the bench for just nine so he hasn’t had a wealth of opportunities to shine. Definitely gives us something we don’t otherwise have, as he seems an out and out striker, always looking to shoot or score rather than pass, like most of his teammates do. Still young, so one for the future, but probably needs to be forcing himself into Oniki’s plans a bit more if he wants that future to be with us.
14. NAKAMURA Kengo
Another cracking season and pleased to see that he has finally got his hands on some silverware after sticking with us for years now. Age is perhaps catching up with him a little but you wouldn’t know it, playing 44 games this year with not so many off days. Whether we can rely on him to do the same next year, I’m not so sure. Decent goal return and loads of assists demonstrate that he’s still giving a lot to the team though.
16. HASEGAWA Tatsuya
Probably our best dribbler and another good option for us up front. Seems to do better coming on as a sub rather than starting and more often than not has a good eye for goal. Somewhat unfairly criticised for his Levain cup final performance, he’s someone you want running at goal rather than running down the wing and crossing. Third top goalscorer this season with relatively few starts shows that he’s a real asset.
17. TAKEOKA Yuto
A season beset by a couple of bad injuries means that there’s not much to say about him this year. Can remember him having the pregame double-song-injury-comeback-thing on two occasions this year. That’s about it really.
18. ELSINHO
If he’d been fit all year we’d have walked the league I reckon. Maybe. We definitely missed him at the start of the year after he’d been crocked by Urawa pre-season. Has scored some great goals and really gives us an attacking threat up the right. Well deserved his place in the team of the year. Wonder if he’s going to continue growing his hair. It’s getting quite epic. And wonder if perhaps he’ll get some offers from other teams. Very much hope he stays.
19. MORIYA Kentaro
Oshima’s injury was a good opportunity for Moriya, although I suspect he wouldn’t chose to play in that position if he was picking the team. Made a good fist of it though. Scored probably two of the best goals of our season, both hit in classic Moriya style, from way out and dipping and swerving. Looking towards next year, you’ve got to imagine that he needs a few injuries to other player to get more than a handful of starts though.
20. CHINEN Kei
Another one for the future, but had a few opportunities to show what he’s worth. Looks like he’ll be the big man striking option, (although I seem to remember discovering that he’s not actually that big). Apparently learning a lot from Morimoto. His two goals weren’t the most beautiful of strikes, but they were both at crucial times. Which is maybe the kind of thing we need. Looking forward to seeing more of him next year.
21. EDUARDO NETO
Another great season. Picked up plenty of bookings and still can’t really shoot very well, but we really missed him when he was absent. Still trying a few showboat passes, which are great when they come off, but very frustrating when they go wrong. Had a few dodgy games when he seemed totally out of sorts, but dominated games on plenty of occasions. Seems to be getting forward a lot more recently, which makes his lack of shooting ability all the more of a shame. Apparently Nagoya are after him. Hope he stays.
22. RHAYNER
Sad to see him return to his parent club but probably made sense for everyone. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t quite get going, due to limited opportunities and an apparent natural ability to irritate referees into booking him. Seemed to scare the opposition when he had the ball and got fouled a lot, but never really got the free kicks he deserved. Like Neto, wasn’t that good at shooting, which was probably more of a problem in his position. Was really loved by the fans and seemed to really love the club. Good luck to him!
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