Kawasaki Frontale 0 - 1 Vissel Kobe
Writing these blog posts and watching Frontale games; two activities which at some stage were quite fun and seemed to be worthwhile activities but now both of which are liable to ruin a whole day with their spirit sucking yet wholly predictable misery! Before we get on to the game, there are some other things that maybe need talking about. We’ve signed a player! I guess in response to us being so utterly crap this year we’ve decided to freshen things up a bit and inject some energy! Well, maybe. We’ve signed a 38 year old forward who won’t be with us for a few weeks by which time we might be out of all competitions. I guess his signing was with the ACL in mind, perhaps Oniki’s last hope for being able to hang on to his job with any hint of justification. I say this, but the truth is, from a very unscientific poll I did in the pub after the game, it seems that I am still very much in the minority when it comes to thinking that Oniki isn’t up to the job. Everyone else seems to be of the opinion that it’s unfortunate that we’re crap, but we’ve been a bit unlucky and it just can’t be helped. Anyway, back to our new signing Gomis. From what everyone has said, it seems that he could be a breath of fresh air and a very effective addition. But time will inevitably catch up with him eventually and this signing is both very much not one for the future, and also a signing in an area of the pitch where we already have way too many players in relation to starting spots if we don't change our formation. If the signing had been done purely to lift spirits, well perhaps it will work. In the club shop they had a Gomis shirt on display, perhaps significantly with no number at this stage. I was pondering why they wouldn’t have decided on his squad number yet, as surely it wouldn’t need a massive amount of effort to sort it out. But then it was pointed out to me that perhaps the number he’s going to have is currently occupied by someone who might leave before he arrives. You’ve got to think it would be Damiao, of whom we can never be sure if he’s fit or not this year as he clearly is just completely out of favour with Oniki, occasionally making an appearance and then disappearing. I guess the problem is that right now there might not be any offers on the table for him. I think he’d decided to leave a year or so ago but then got injured so the plan changed. Now perhaps we’re in the situation that his replacement has been signed, (his replacement being someone who is four years older than him, and who if I’m right will be the second oldest player in our squad), but he doesn’t have anywhere to go. A big old potential mess that is all quite appropriate for 2023, our worst season in years, where it’s still an absolute miracle that we’re in 8th. How shit must everyone else be in the league this year?! Pretty shit, because we are awful.
On to this game, another terrible game in a year so bad that it makes me yearn for the good old days of 2019. Before the game I had a feeling we’d win after we lost against Gamba last week. In 2023 we tend to lose when we shouldn’t so I was hoping the reverse might also be true. In the away fixture we flukily took a two goal lead and then threw it away. My confidence that we might get something out of the game took a knock when I saw the lineup before later getting absolutely obliterated in the 37th minute. It wasn’t the starting line up I would have chosen but then again I feel that it doesn’t matter who Oniki chooses at the moment, as his tactics could make a team filled with galacticos lose against a non-league team. I thought Joao was being punished for giving away the penalty last week by being dropped. This would not be wholly out of character for Oniki. In fact he did the same thing to the same player when he missed a penalty in the ACL a couple of seasons ago, didn’t he? I was slightly relieved to find out that perhaps Joao wasn’t playing due to him having broken his nose in training. I’m pretty sure we’ve had more injuries in training this year than we’ve had in matches. Perhaps we can put this down to bad luck. Or perhaps it’s something more serious. Oniki responded (perhaps) to calls for Segawa to get a start after he scored twice coming off the bench against Gamba. Yamada also got the nod. Not sure what our 2023 top scorer Miyashiro has done to be dropped for so long. Even when he’s played in recent times it has been on the wing. Of course the front line was completed by the undroppable Ienaga. It’s slightly ironic when writing this that undroppable autocorrected to unstoppable. In 2023, Ienaga is far from unstoppable. Much like Yamane, it doesn’t matter how Ienaga is playing, he’ll always start. I feel like that’s one of our biggest problems at the moment as he doesn’t seem like he can keep up with the pace in every match. (He’s younger than our new signing though...). In the second half of this match, I’d completely forgotten he was playing until he made a cock up, so unnoticeable had he been since half time. He also seemed to be feeling the pace when he was substituted as he barely exceeded walking speed when leaving the pitch despite the fact that we were losing at the time. Feel like there’s something going on behind the scenes there. The centre backs in this game were Yamamura and Ominami, new hope Takai dropping to the bench after a couple of horrible errors in the last match. Definitely no need for us to get any reinforcements in that area, right? I don’t know when Jesiel will be back, and I don’t know where Kurumaya has gone. Probably another injury from a bare-knuckle cage fighting training routine that Oniki came up with. Let’s get all of the light player grumbling out of the way here and now. Nobori isn’t having a good year and I’m not sure why he’s always starting. Wakizaka did some amazing things on the ball in this game which were breathtaking, but not as breathtaking as him blasting the ball well over with an open goal gaping. And it would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that his corners were once again terrible. Please just let Seko have a go from time to time. After he came on, Marcinho missed a few good chances too, and continued on in his 2023 style of dribbling nicely but not being able to shoot and hanging on to the ball for a bit too long. Yamane had his worst game for us for a while. I haven’t watched the ‘highlights’ of the game, but I think he might have stitched up Ominami a bit for the red card and much like Ienaga, he looked like he couldn’t really be bothered. The weather clearly didn’t help as it was hot and humid, but you can’t avoid the thought that the lethargy that is infecting our squad has less to do with the conditions and more to do with the direction of our esteemed manager.
Oh Oniki, you should have resigned at the end of last season. You presumably knew that you were hopelessly out of your depth and sinking slowly. But somehow you fluked your way to only losing the title on the last day of the season. You could have gone saying that you’d done your best and come close with your big successes at the club still very much in recent memory. Instead you’ve carried on, apparently determined to trash your own reputation as a good manager. It’s really not going to work out for either him or us. If we reach the end of the season in 8th, out in the ACL group stage and having failed in all competitions I can’t imagine there will be a massive number of clubs clamouring to employ him. And perhaps that means that well once again ignore everything that’s gone on on the pitch and sign him up for another miserable season. I don’t think he’s up to it and I think that anyone would do a better job of managing us at the moment. It’s difficult to say whether he has lost the changing room as everything we hear from behind the scenes is always about what a nice guy he is. But you’ve got to think that some players have their doubts about his capabilities. I wonder if his failure to ever not play Ienaga has anything to do with him trying to prevent any possible changing room disturbances. In this game we were dominating Kobe until the red card. Well I say dominating, but the reality was that we were dominating in recent Oniki style, passing the ball around slowly progressing to the opposition box and then playing it around in little triangles, resolutely refusing to try to get any closer to the goal or to shoot. So focused were we on not shooting that it was at times difficult to keep hold of the ball, concentrating intently on not entering the penalty box. I remember an occasion where after numerous triangles Wakizaka got the ball on the edge of the box, unmarked and with no one anywhere near him, and instead of trying to score, decided to dither a little before returning the ball for some more triangles. In the second half we had Kobe really rattled, even with one less player and still we couldn’t get anywhere near scoring. In the game we had 12 shots and not a single fucking one of them was on target. They could have not bothered playing a goalkeeper and they would have still won the game. Some might say it’s not Oniki’s fault that so many players missed the target. But it definitely is Oniki’s fault that everyone has been indoctrinated with the idea that shooting is something to be done as a very last resort. As we get shitter and shitter, Oniki gets more and more conservative. If Joao hadn’t got injured I’m pretty sure we would have gone with him and Tachibanada together. And then even when we’re in trouble, losing the game and with subs available he dithered. Down to ten men from the 37th minute and he didn’t make any changes till the 71st minute and even then it was only one, and that was Ienaga coming off who’d be totally anonymous for the previous 26 minutes of the second half. People might say that we’ve been unlucky with injuries and red cards, but to be so repeatedly unlucky is quite something. So perhaps it’s more likely that we just have a manager who isn’t up to the job. We’ve now had six red cards this season and it’s been six different players getting sent off. We’re not a dirty team, so you’ve go to point the finger somewhere else for that. You’ll be unsurprised to hear that I’ll point it at Oniki.
A few words about the opposition and the ref. Plenty of Kobe players wearing nappies again in this game. I think I went into that too much last time. I do wonder though if rolling up your shorts in an adult baby style isn’t good for your leg muscles as both Sakai and Osako seemed to have to spend a long time on the floor for injuries that appeared to have come from nowhere. Let your shorts hang free and maybe you won’t have to roll around on the floor so much. As what was going on with our attacking was just an endless exercise in futility, my attention shifted at times to the Kobe supporters. It seemed like they didn’t have a single original song and instead sung the same crap that loads of other J League teams sing with lyrics that barley stretched further than the two words ‘Ole’ and ‘Kobe’. I’m just trying to be an arsehole here really. I’ve said in the past that Kobe fans have probably taken a lot of stick as a result of their owner and his fripperies. So I guess they have the right to enjoy themselves now they’re finally doing well. Well apart from their fans who just support them because Iniesta joined them. They can fuck off. 😉 Although as he's gone now, they probably already have done! Nishimura was back at Todoroki again and once again he was utterly useless. No complaints about the penalty to free kick/yellow to red card. Plenty of complaints about the fact that until that moment he had let almost every Kobe foul go, absolutely refusing to book any of their players on the rare occasions he gave a decision in our favour. Their centre back got numerous final warnings from Nishimura but never got a yellow. In the second half one of their players kicked Takai in the face and didn’t get booked. Muto got away with numerous hacks too before he was finally booked. Guess Nishimura has a Rakuten credit card and they’ve been very understanding with his monthly payments recently. Right at the end of the match with Sung-Ryong in the box for a late free kick for us, he got totally flattened and of course Nishimura gave nothing. I haven’t watched it back because why would I want myself to be proved definitively wrong and instead I’ll enjoy my grumpiness and leave the possibly unjustified moan here. And another reason I haven’t watched it back is because it was just another shit game for us, and as fun as it is to moan, I don’t need to let Oniki’s mastery of football ruin anymore of my week than it absolutely has to.
So another shit game. Two moments of positivity though. The pitch looked a bit better than last week. And before the game an ex-member of Exile took a penalty against the boss of a local Kawasaki soul food noodle shop. The fun stopped there though. After that it was mostly passing triangles occasionally interrupted by us basting the ball high or wide. Next up, Hiroshima away next weekend and I’m not going. It is a shame that I can’t make the trip but is a very good thing for my mental health. I’ll find a pub to watch the game in and try my best to get plastered before kick off to lessen the blow when we lose to a team that’s maybe in worse form than we are. It was kind of ironic that halfway though the game, the advertising opposite me flashed up the slogan ‘Keep Smile, Keep Soccer’. Once again there wasn’t much to smile about, but I suppose it’s important to not get too stressed about all of this and try to not be so bothered. And it’s good that when what is happening on the pitch is so miserable, at least I can get some enjoyment and a morale boost from the advertising hoardings. Keep Smile Frontale fans!
A few words about the opposition and the ref. Plenty of Kobe players wearing nappies again in this game. I think I went into that too much last time. I do wonder though if rolling up your shorts in an adult baby style isn’t good for your leg muscles as both Sakai and Osako seemed to have to spend a long time on the floor for injuries that appeared to have come from nowhere. Let your shorts hang free and maybe you won’t have to roll around on the floor so much. As what was going on with our attacking was just an endless exercise in futility, my attention shifted at times to the Kobe supporters. It seemed like they didn’t have a single original song and instead sung the same crap that loads of other J League teams sing with lyrics that barley stretched further than the two words ‘Ole’ and ‘Kobe’. I’m just trying to be an arsehole here really. I’ve said in the past that Kobe fans have probably taken a lot of stick as a result of their owner and his fripperies. So I guess they have the right to enjoy themselves now they’re finally doing well. Well apart from their fans who just support them because Iniesta joined them. They can fuck off. 😉 Although as he's gone now, they probably already have done! Nishimura was back at Todoroki again and once again he was utterly useless. No complaints about the penalty to free kick/yellow to red card. Plenty of complaints about the fact that until that moment he had let almost every Kobe foul go, absolutely refusing to book any of their players on the rare occasions he gave a decision in our favour. Their centre back got numerous final warnings from Nishimura but never got a yellow. In the second half one of their players kicked Takai in the face and didn’t get booked. Muto got away with numerous hacks too before he was finally booked. Guess Nishimura has a Rakuten credit card and they’ve been very understanding with his monthly payments recently. Right at the end of the match with Sung-Ryong in the box for a late free kick for us, he got totally flattened and of course Nishimura gave nothing. I haven’t watched it back because why would I want myself to be proved definitively wrong and instead I’ll enjoy my grumpiness and leave the possibly unjustified moan here. And another reason I haven’t watched it back is because it was just another shit game for us, and as fun as it is to moan, I don’t need to let Oniki’s mastery of football ruin anymore of my week than it absolutely has to.
So another shit game. Two moments of positivity though. The pitch looked a bit better than last week. And before the game an ex-member of Exile took a penalty against the boss of a local Kawasaki soul food noodle shop. The fun stopped there though. After that it was mostly passing triangles occasionally interrupted by us basting the ball high or wide. Next up, Hiroshima away next weekend and I’m not going. It is a shame that I can’t make the trip but is a very good thing for my mental health. I’ll find a pub to watch the game in and try my best to get plastered before kick off to lessen the blow when we lose to a team that’s maybe in worse form than we are. It was kind of ironic that halfway though the game, the advertising opposite me flashed up the slogan ‘Keep Smile, Keep Soccer’. Once again there wasn’t much to smile about, but I suppose it’s important to not get too stressed about all of this and try to not be so bothered. And it’s good that when what is happening on the pitch is so miserable, at least I can get some enjoyment and a morale boost from the advertising hoardings. Keep Smile Frontale fans!
Team
GK 1. JUNG Sung-Ryong
DF 13. YAMANE Miki
DF 31. YAMAMURA Kazuya
DF 2. NOBORIZATO Kyohei
MF 8. TACHIBANADA Kento
MF 16. SEKO Tatsuki
MF 14. WAKIZAKA Yasuto
FW 41. IENAGA Akihiro
FW 20. YAMADA Shin
FW 20. YAMADA Shin
FW 30. SEGAWA Yusuke
Subs
GK 99. KAMIFUKUMOTO Naoto
DF 5. SASAKI Asahi (on for SEKO 81')
FW 11. KOBAYASHI Yu
FW 17. TONO Daiya (on for IENAGA 71')FW 23. MARCINHO (on for SEGAWA 81')
DF 29. TAKAI Kota (on for TACHIBANADA 38')
FW 33. MIYASHIRO Taisei (on for YAMADA 81')
Goals
OSAKO (Kobe) 39' 0-1
Highlights
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