1. Game of season
Two games came out as clear winners, game 34, the final home game against Omiya when we won the title ('I think it's the best game of my life') and game 18, Sagan Tosu away where we made a great comeback from 2-0 down at half time. The others mentioned were the big win against Kashima at home (game 22), Urawa at home (game 13) and Sendai at home (game 29).
2. Player of the season
A clear winner on this one and it's our captain, J League MVP and top scorer Kobayashi ('Goals win games'). Sung-Ryong was a few votes behind, ('the league win wouldn't have happened without our goalie making some outrageous stops in more than a few games'), and the only other player mentioned was Oshima.
3. Goal of the season
A nice selection of goals here but only Moriya's cracker against Cerezo at home and Kobayashi's second against Vegalta Sendai were mentioned more than once. Here are all the goals with the videos, hopefully starting at the right place.
Moriya - game 28 vs Cerezo Osaka (home)
Kobayashi's 2nd goal - game 29 vs Vegalta Sendai (home)
Abe - game 34 vs Omiya Ardija (home)
Abe - game 17 vs Vissel Kobe (home)
Elsinho - game 29 vs Vegalta Sendai (home)
Hasegawa - Levain Cup Quarter Final second leg vs Vegalta Sendai (home)
4. Disappointment of the season
Only two things mentioned here and the clear winner, or perhaps I should say loser, was the Levain Cup Final defeat ('So many crackers left in my kitchen as a reminder of it too'). The only other thing mentioned was the Urawa ACL second leg. Guess this shows that not turning up and losing a final hurts more than getting walloped after a red card.
5. Villain of the season (anyone, from any team or an official or...)
There were quite a few different answers here, so here is a list and some comments.
- 'Those people who had the flag at the ACL game in Korea.'
- 'Petrovic for getting sacked. We would have won that ACL game if he was still in charge.'
- 'Ikeuchi referee. I hope he improves his refereeing skills.'
- 'Everyone involved in the Kashiwa away game going forward. Absolutely dire conditions. If we'd lost that or had serious injuries as a result, I think we'd be complaining a lot more about it.'
- 'The Vissel Kobe pitch and most of the refs'
- 'Ikeuchi Akihiko'
- 'Kashima Antlers'
- 'Eduardo v Cerezo at the Levain Cup final'
Congratulations Ikeuchi! You were mentioned directly by name a few times so take the prize.
6. Best away trip (if you've done one)
The answers for this question are a bit of a mess as some people didn't go to any away games and I mentioned four instead of one. Also, I probably should have specified whether it was referring to this season or generally speaking. The only ones to get mentioned more than once were Sagan Tosu (one of my four choices...) and the Levain Quarter Final second leg at FC Tokyo. Other people's choices were Kashiwa, Kashima, Sendai and Thespakusatsu Gunma. I'm guessing that some of these refer to the general trip and some are more focused on this year's result or game. I have linked to the ones that I think refer to this year's match.
7. Opposition J1 team you like the most
Quite a variety of answers in this category. The narrow winners were Vegalta Sendai and Kashiwa Reysol, but Consadole Sapporo, Jubilo Iwata, Gamba Osaka and Cerezo Osaka were also mentioned.
8. Opposition J1 team you like the least
Only two teams mentioned and they are probably pretty easy to guess. Coming out on top were Urawa and not far behind them Kashima. Guess this shows that to upset Frontale fans, you probably need to be a good team who usually beat us. Perhaps surprising but quite nice that none of our local rivals were mentioned.
9. Team you're disappointed to see go down
All the relegated teams were mentioned but the clear favourites were Albirex Niigata. In second place were Omiya Ardija and bringing up the rear but still to be missed were Ventforet Kofu.
10. Team you're pleased to see come up
A fairly even split on this question with all three promoted teams getting roughly the same amount of votes but with newcomers V Varen Nagasaki on top and local rivals Shonan Bellmare ('6 points in the bag') and Nagoya Grampus Eight in joint second.
11. Best thing about the J League
For this and the next question, a list of answers from respondents. There were a variety of answers but the quite a few focus on the good atmosphere.
- 'The atmosphere'
- 'DAZN'
- 'It ain’t over till it’s over!'
- 'Warm atmosphere (applauding opposition fans and not booing players, but maybe this is a Frontale thing and not the whole J League)'
- 'Atmosphere, lack of aggression between fans'
- 'Passion without mania. Perhaps because it's not the country's number one sport, I feel as though the fans really do care about the game and their teams, but (with very few exceptions) not as tribally or hostilely as can be the case in other countries.'
- 'One season system's back (end of the Championship play offs)'
- 'Atmosphere, drinking beer while watching the game, and the mascots'
- 'Being welcomed at away games (by local people)'
12. Worst thing about the J League
A clear winner here and unsurprisingly it is the awful standard of refereeing. Next year we have video refs, so things could get even worse, judging by what I've heard happened in the K League last year.
- 'The November-December game times when you live on the other side of the planet and need to wake up at 5 or 6 on weekends to watch the games'
- 'Soft free kicks'
- 'Low level of Japanese referees'
- 'Referees' level (not good)'
- 'Referees'
- 'Is it just me, or is there a lot of pussyfooting around the edge of the box instead of just having a crack or getting stuck in?'
- 'Vs Reysol @ Hitachidai. Conditions were so bad that players couldn't play soccer. But the J League couldn't decide to call off the game.'
- 'Running tracks'
- 'System of having to queue for hours to get a decent seat'
13. Trophy you would like to win the most next year
No-one wanted us to win the Emperor's Cup for some reason! The clear favourite was us retaining our league title ('dominance!'), with the ACL in second place and Levain in third. I guess we have some unfinished business in both of those competitions.
14. What's Kengo's role next season? (first team regular, semi-regular starter, sub etc.)
It was very close on this question with opinion being split between first team regular and semi-regular starter with semi-regular starter just about taking it. I feel like I should include all of the comments on this question as Kengo is such an important part of Frontale for both footballing and emotional reasons.
- 'Won’t play every game but still an important player. Use wisely.'
- 'I think he's got another season in him as a starter, but if I'm wrong I hope he or Oniki recognizes it and they don't try to force it if it isn't working. I thought passing the torch to Kobayashi while remaining a key player this season was a great move. '
- 'I hope he will play as first team regular. I want to watch his play as long as possible.'
- 'I hope he will play as first team regular. I want to watch his play as long as possible.'
- 'Still a main player but needs to be playing once a week max - maybe less.'
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