Part three of three of the end of season round up. Next up we'll have the review of the season by competition.
25. Renji MATSUI (MF)
0 minutes played
From a Frontale point of view, there’s nothing to say. Had no involvement and then was loaned out to Machida Zelvia in May where he seemed to have some success. The previous year his only involvement was playing out of position at right back. Perhaps the departure of Joao Schmidt might open the door for him slightly. Or perhaps he might go out on another loan. If he stays with us he'll probably just be played at right back in a couple of cup games.
26. Takatora EINAGA (FW)
170 minutes played
Was considered another exciting prospect and just as he seemed to be getting slightly involved was sent out on loan to Mito. Had some involvement there but maybe didn’t make quite the impact some may have expected him to. A very exciting player on the few occasions I’ve seen him play, but one whose path is currently blocked by another of our undroppables, Ienaga. Much like Matsui, not sure what next year will bring for him, but I would certainly welcome a bit of excitement in our attacks next year.
27. Yuto MATSUNAGANE (DF)
315 minutes played
Came in somewhat surprisingly at the start of the season to cover another defensive crisis. Did pretty well considering his age and inexperience. Clearly not the finished product and probably won’t become it by just training. I would expect a loan period for him next year, but that probably depends on departures and arrivals.
28. Yuto OZEKI (MF)
13 minutes played
I missed the only contribution he made as I was on the plane on the way to the UK for my holiday so can’t really comment. Would imagine he will also be loaned out next year, but much like Matsui, the departure of Joao Schmidt might slightly open the door for him. Have only ever seen him play for the youth team where he looked pretty good but obviously it’s a bit of a step up to the J League.
29. Kota TAKAI (DF)
1785 minutes played
Defensive crises meant that he was used more than he’d have expected in his first full year. Started his senior career looking really good and got everyone excited. But unfortunately had one really shocking game which dented his confidence and I guess our confidence in him. But he did manage to pick up a bit towards the end of the year. Looks good on the ball I think, but probably needs to improve his decision making a bit as there are only so many situations you can dribble your way out of. But excited to see how his 2024 goes.
30. Yusuke SEGAWA (FW)
1809 minutes played
Our fourth highest goalscorer and didn’t play that many minutes really. At times has looked really exciting, but has also missed some chances that looked easier to score. But like with most of our attackers, it feels unfair to pin any weaknesses of our attacks on the players when I think that for most of the year, it’s the tactics that have been at fault.
31. Kazuya YAMAMURA (MF)
1952 minutes played
This was another year of mainly being the ultimate back-up player for Yamamura. His versatility meant that he was often on the bench to cover the defence and pretty much anywhere else he was needed. But the truth is he was almost exclusively used in defence and only then sporadically. I wish he’d occasionally get more of a chance to play somewhere else but it seems to be his destiny that he’ll be playing in defence for us from time to time as long as he’s happy to put up with it. He had a good end to the season though and has played better than some others in defence this year.
33. Taisei MIYASHIRO (FW)
2460 minutes played
Second highest scorer and would have been top if you don’t count goals from penalties. Decent record on minutes per goal too. But has had his pitch time limited by Oniki. I don’t really know why. It’s been said that he doesn’t really fit the way we play, but when you consider how ineffective our play was for the most part, you could probably say that we could do with changing the way we play. I’m a little worried about the rumours I’ve heard that he’ll be leaving.
41. Akihiro IENAGA (MF)
3353 minutes played
Lots of minutes played again by Ienaga and you’ve probably got to say that it is for diminishing returns. He definitely doesn’t have the cut and thrust that he used to and recently has even struggled a bit to do that thing where he holds off the opposition players. So perhaps age is catching up with him. Quite why he is so undroppable is a bit of a mystery to me. He definitely has his moments still, but quite why we persist with starting him as often as we do and by doing so, retaining our unbalanced and increasingly ineffective formation, I don’t know. I also don’t know if he will accept less playing time. He seems like he is a strong willed player. And when he’s playing well, he’s still great. But the fact is, the great times are becoming less common.
49. Kazuki KOZUKA (MF)
457 minutes played
Another who never really got that much of a chance. But at the same time, didn’t really fully take the infrequent chances he was given. His departure so soon after his red card against Urawa seemed a bit harsh. Felt like he always had the potential to score some bangers but never was going to get the opportunities with us, with so many people ahead of him.
99. Naoto KAMIFUKUMOTO (GK)
1710 minutes played
Tricky year for our new keeper. Was signed with plenty of fans raving about his ability on the ball and saying how it was going to revolutionise our attacks. I think Oniki thought that would be the case too and perhaps his entire new year’s strategy was ruined by some dodgy performances. After Kami took over from Sung-Ryong, there wasn’t really any significant improvement in our distribution and he seemed to be not as good at actually stopping the opposition from scoring. Much like a few others, I feel like he had a bit of a baptism of fire and never really recovered from it. Sadly for him, it’s clangers rather than good things that stick in the memory, a hopeless attempt to save against Nagoya, the ridiculous header to gift Urawa a goal. But saying that when he was called on for ‘second string’ games later on in the season he acquitted himself pretty well. Perhaps he’s still settling in. I hope so. But the truth is, I don’t really know what the goalkeeping situation will be next year.
Toru ONIKI - manager
I guess most readers know how I feel about Oniki in general so I won’t go into that in much detail. He’s achieved great things with us, but I feel he’s run out of ideas. In 2023, he stubbornly stuck with players who weren’t performing and was quite unwilling to give players much of a chance. He’s definitely terrified of losing, and because of this, worried about taking any kind of chance when it comes to playing anyone who he doesn’t consider to be one of his best players, who he squeezes into formations, out of position in an attempt to play as many of them as possible. It feels tough to moan at him for our terribly dull football in 2023 when we finished the season scoring for fun and winning the Emperor’s Cup. The truth is though that we only started scoring goals when we were already well out of the league title race and even when we were doing this, we were also conceding goals for fun. And we were VERY lucky to win the Emperor’s Cup. I wasn’t particularly happy when he signed a new contract but I expected it was going to happen after our ACL results. He’ll really need to come up with some new ideas in 2024 in order to avoid another dodgy season, particularly when you consider that we might be losing a few of his favourite players.
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