Kawasaki Frontale 1 - 3 Kashima Antlers
This truly has been a season of superlatives for us. However, unlike previous seasons where we’ve struggled to find the right words to express how exciting our football was or how well we were doing, this year it’s a case of finding an endless amount of synonyms for ‘shit’. There are plenty of options to choose from when it comes to deciding what the worst game of the season is, but this one has definitely got to be right up there. After having lost 3-1 at home to a team we’ve spent the last five of six years beating pretty easily, when you hear me say that the 3-1 score line didn’t reflect the game you might think that it’s going to be a tale of refereeing howlers and us getting absolutely robbed. On this occasion 3-1 didn’t reflect the game accurately because we didn’t really deserve the one, and we should have conceded more than three. To sum things up concisely, this was another game where we didn’t bother turning up for the first half, conceded for fun and then tried really hard for the second half. So hard that I think their keeper only had to make one save in the whole game. In hindsight, the fact that the half time entertainment consisted of not only a comedian taking on the mystery runner but also the former Guinness World Record holder for running on all fours, it looks like some world class satire from the behind the scenes people who organise these things. Yes, in 2024 we are a joke of a team. And one whose manager’s involvement is basically the equivalent of running the 100m on all fours; it makes the task a lot more difficult and a lot less effective. I’m not going to spend too much time writing this as every minute I spend thinking about this game is a minute that could be better spent… erm… punching myself in the face, maybe. Anything right now is preferable to having to watch the crap we’re playing. Bring on the end of the season. It can’t come soon enough.
Oniki went back to 4-3-3 again, still apparently not having noticed that when he doesn’t play 4-3-3 we do a bit better and sometimes even win. But no, back to 4-3-3. But give him some credit, this time he managed to play two of the back four in their preferred positions, so some progress on that front. ‘Tachibanada at right back’ really does seem to be a phrase that is quite the often associated with ‘terrible performance and result’. But I don’t want to blame him as he is of course being played out of position. In the second half Oniki moved him and instead played Segawa out of position there. Godlike insight. I could start moaning about other selections but the fact is that whoever plays at the moment, we’re awful. As I continue to say throughout this extended period of misery, if one player has a bad game you can blame the player. If almost every player has a bad game pretty much every week, you’ve got to blame the manager. There was some bullshit in Oniki’s post match comments about how at half time he maybe felt that the players didn’t believe we could win whereas he was encouragingly confident that we could. Perhaps it was more a case of them being irritated that the tactics of the idiot in charge mean that every week we’re terrible in the first half and give ourselves a mountain to climb in the second. I mean, sometimes in the past when I’ve played Tetris on a long plane journey, I occasionally randomly fill 2/3 of the screen with blocks to give myself the challenge of trying to clear it up nicely. This is alright when you’re playing Tetris on a plane with absolutely nothing at stake, but if Oniki is intentionally trying to get results from difficult positions just for kicks, he should be booted immediately. At the same time, if that same idiotic approach to the first half of most games is how he thinks we’ll win matches, he should also be given the boot. I know he’s leaving at the end of the season but I’m starting to think that we should fire him before then. We should have done it at half time. We wouldn’t have much contract to pay off and it would significantly improve our chances of not being out of the ACL by Christmas. This time, he didn’t even take the blame in his post match comments as he has done recently. As for his job prospects, it seems that this was perhaps the worst possible result for him. It was widely reported that he’d maybe be going to Kashima next year. But jeez, he’s fucked that up, hasn’t he? If we’d beaten them or even put up a decent fight they might have still been interested. But consider the fact that their stand-in manager totally out-thought the guy who some seem to feel is the greatest manager in the world ever. I know Kashima are one of the bonkers teams in the league when it comes to insane decisions behind the scenes, but how could even they look at that game and think that Oniki would be a better option than the guy who’s keeping the seat warm right now?
As I said above, everyone was pretty bad in this game. The best encapsulation of this was when Yamada managed to miss two open goals within a minute. I haven’t watched the highlights because… well, why would I? I know I’m an idiot, but that’s taking things too far. Another perfect demonstration of this game and 2024 Oniki Frontale is us having 63% possession and only two shots on target. One save from their keeper in 90 minutes! Utterly pointless. The amount of people who left pretty quickly on the final whistle was definitely more than usual which suggests that there are plenty of people who are getting a bit cheesed off with this shite. Equally though, the fact that some of our supporters sang the players into the tunnel at half time after what must have been our worst 45 minutes of football all year, and the fact that they also continued singing after the final whistle still continues to bemuse me. I didn’t really hear any booing either. They got the silent treatment from me. I know I keep saying it’s not the players’ fault but at the same time, I don’t think that means they should be congratulated for what they served up. The highlights of the few notes I made in this game basically amounted to the following:
- Trailing before we’ve had a shot
- And two down before we’ve had a shot
- 20 mins we had a massively deflected shot!!!
- Three goals down before we’ve had three shots
- First shot on target on 50 mins from Kobayashi who Oniki’s playing in midfield.
This felt like what Oniki considers to be our best eleven which is a bit confusing too. Whether or not you agree with that, we have nothing to play for in the league. I don’t think anyone cares whether we finish in 9th or 14th. We theoretically have something to play for in the ACL, the next game of which is coming up on Tuesday. Why did he play his first choice team?! He won’t have that luxury on Tuesday though as Wakizaka is probably injured. Notably, we conceded the third goal whilst down to ten men, when a clearly unfit to continue Wakizaka was getting treatment right in front of Oniki after hobbling off the pitch, but Oniki didn’t bother to start warming someone up to make a change beforehand. Perhaps he didn’t have time to get the magnets sorted. We spent most of the second half racking up the passes rather than trying to score. And don’t forget, the second half was much better than the first! God it was a fecal match.
A little bit of the ref, officials and the opposition. Tanimoto is a ref I’ve described in the past as useless. Didn’t particularly get that feeling in this game, but I would say that he’s someone who is determined to give a free kick for everything but equally determined not to give a yellow card for almost anything. We didn’t lose because of the ref though. The lino on our side was pretty crap I thought, endlessly doing the delayed flagging but at the same time missing some clear offsides, one of which lead to the corner they scored their first goal from. But we didn’t lose because of the lino though. Kashima, well, they’re just a bunch of wankers aren’t they? Perhaps the ‘Spirit of Zico’ thing means waste time endlessly even when you’re 3-0 up against a team who are utterly hopeless. If I was a Kashima fan I would have been furious they didn’t score double figures. Their keeper spent so long adjusting the turf in front of his goal in the second half that I started to think he’d planted some potatoes there. And let’s be honest, he would have had plenty of time to do so given that we only hit the target once before the 92nd minute. Misao is a prime arsehole for his celebration in front of our fans. But then again, I knew he was a prime arsehole before he did that so I guess no change there.
Next up, potentially another turd of a match, at home against Kevin Muscats’ new team in the ACL. They’re only marginally ahead of us in the table, but we’ve scored one goal in three ACL games, so don’t expect too much, eh? Almost certainly 4-3-3 with as many players out of position as possible. Now I understand why they sold tickets for the home ACL games in a batch of four with a special present. If people hadn’t bought them already, I’m pretty sure they’d think twice before attending. Perhaps even those who’ve bought the tickets still will think twice. After that, we’re away to Kyoto next weekend. At least we’ve got something nice planned for before and after that game.
Oniki went back to 4-3-3 again, still apparently not having noticed that when he doesn’t play 4-3-3 we do a bit better and sometimes even win. But no, back to 4-3-3. But give him some credit, this time he managed to play two of the back four in their preferred positions, so some progress on that front. ‘Tachibanada at right back’ really does seem to be a phrase that is quite the often associated with ‘terrible performance and result’. But I don’t want to blame him as he is of course being played out of position. In the second half Oniki moved him and instead played Segawa out of position there. Godlike insight. I could start moaning about other selections but the fact is that whoever plays at the moment, we’re awful. As I continue to say throughout this extended period of misery, if one player has a bad game you can blame the player. If almost every player has a bad game pretty much every week, you’ve got to blame the manager. There was some bullshit in Oniki’s post match comments about how at half time he maybe felt that the players didn’t believe we could win whereas he was encouragingly confident that we could. Perhaps it was more a case of them being irritated that the tactics of the idiot in charge mean that every week we’re terrible in the first half and give ourselves a mountain to climb in the second. I mean, sometimes in the past when I’ve played Tetris on a long plane journey, I occasionally randomly fill 2/3 of the screen with blocks to give myself the challenge of trying to clear it up nicely. This is alright when you’re playing Tetris on a plane with absolutely nothing at stake, but if Oniki is intentionally trying to get results from difficult positions just for kicks, he should be booted immediately. At the same time, if that same idiotic approach to the first half of most games is how he thinks we’ll win matches, he should also be given the boot. I know he’s leaving at the end of the season but I’m starting to think that we should fire him before then. We should have done it at half time. We wouldn’t have much contract to pay off and it would significantly improve our chances of not being out of the ACL by Christmas. This time, he didn’t even take the blame in his post match comments as he has done recently. As for his job prospects, it seems that this was perhaps the worst possible result for him. It was widely reported that he’d maybe be going to Kashima next year. But jeez, he’s fucked that up, hasn’t he? If we’d beaten them or even put up a decent fight they might have still been interested. But consider the fact that their stand-in manager totally out-thought the guy who some seem to feel is the greatest manager in the world ever. I know Kashima are one of the bonkers teams in the league when it comes to insane decisions behind the scenes, but how could even they look at that game and think that Oniki would be a better option than the guy who’s keeping the seat warm right now?
As I said above, everyone was pretty bad in this game. The best encapsulation of this was when Yamada managed to miss two open goals within a minute. I haven’t watched the highlights because… well, why would I? I know I’m an idiot, but that’s taking things too far. Another perfect demonstration of this game and 2024 Oniki Frontale is us having 63% possession and only two shots on target. One save from their keeper in 90 minutes! Utterly pointless. The amount of people who left pretty quickly on the final whistle was definitely more than usual which suggests that there are plenty of people who are getting a bit cheesed off with this shite. Equally though, the fact that some of our supporters sang the players into the tunnel at half time after what must have been our worst 45 minutes of football all year, and the fact that they also continued singing after the final whistle still continues to bemuse me. I didn’t really hear any booing either. They got the silent treatment from me. I know I keep saying it’s not the players’ fault but at the same time, I don’t think that means they should be congratulated for what they served up. The highlights of the few notes I made in this game basically amounted to the following:
- Trailing before we’ve had a shot
- And two down before we’ve had a shot
- 20 mins we had a massively deflected shot!!!
- Three goals down before we’ve had three shots
- First shot on target on 50 mins from Kobayashi who Oniki’s playing in midfield.
 |
| This photo sums up how dangerous our attack was for most of the game |
This felt like what Oniki considers to be our best eleven which is a bit confusing too. Whether or not you agree with that, we have nothing to play for in the league. I don’t think anyone cares whether we finish in 9th or 14th. We theoretically have something to play for in the ACL, the next game of which is coming up on Tuesday. Why did he play his first choice team?! He won’t have that luxury on Tuesday though as Wakizaka is probably injured. Notably, we conceded the third goal whilst down to ten men, when a clearly unfit to continue Wakizaka was getting treatment right in front of Oniki after hobbling off the pitch, but Oniki didn’t bother to start warming someone up to make a change beforehand. Perhaps he didn’t have time to get the magnets sorted. We spent most of the second half racking up the passes rather than trying to score. And don’t forget, the second half was much better than the first! God it was a fecal match.
A little bit of the ref, officials and the opposition. Tanimoto is a ref I’ve described in the past as useless. Didn’t particularly get that feeling in this game, but I would say that he’s someone who is determined to give a free kick for everything but equally determined not to give a yellow card for almost anything. We didn’t lose because of the ref though. The lino on our side was pretty crap I thought, endlessly doing the delayed flagging but at the same time missing some clear offsides, one of which lead to the corner they scored their first goal from. But we didn’t lose because of the lino though. Kashima, well, they’re just a bunch of wankers aren’t they? Perhaps the ‘Spirit of Zico’ thing means waste time endlessly even when you’re 3-0 up against a team who are utterly hopeless. If I was a Kashima fan I would have been furious they didn’t score double figures. Their keeper spent so long adjusting the turf in front of his goal in the second half that I started to think he’d planted some potatoes there. And let’s be honest, he would have had plenty of time to do so given that we only hit the target once before the 92nd minute. Misao is a prime arsehole for his celebration in front of our fans. But then again, I knew he was a prime arsehole before he did that so I guess no change there.
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| Preparing for our second shot on target (in the 92nd minute) |
Next up, potentially another turd of a match, at home against Kevin Muscats’ new team in the ACL. They’re only marginally ahead of us in the table, but we’ve scored one goal in three ACL games, so don’t expect too much, eh? Almost certainly 4-3-3 with as many players out of position as possible. Now I understand why they sold tickets for the home ACL games in a batch of four with a special present. If people hadn’t bought them already, I’m pretty sure they’d think twice before attending. Perhaps even those who’ve bought the tickets still will think twice. After that, we’re away to Kyoto next weekend. At least we’ve got something nice planned for before and after that game.
Team
GK 1. JUNG Sung-Ryong
DF 8. TACHIBANADA Kento
DF 5. SASAKI Asahi
DF 2. TAKAI Kota
DF 13. MIURA Sota
MF 19. KAWAHARA So
MF 77. YAMAMOTO Yuki
MF 14. WAKIZAKA Yasuto
FW 41. IENAGA Akihiro
FW 20. YAMADA Shin
FW 23. MARCINHO
Subs
GK 98. YAMAGUCHI Louis
FW 9. ERISON (on for YAMADA 70')
MF 10. OSHIMA Ryota (on for KAWAHARA 70')
FW 11. KOBAYASHI Yu (on for WAKIZAKA 29')
FW 17. TONO Daiya (on for MARCINHO 82')
DF 30. SEGAWA Yusuke (Yellow card 90+5') (on for TACHIBANADA 70')
DF 35. MARUYAMA Yuichi
(on for YAMADA 68')
Goals
CHINEN (Kashima) 10' 0-1
HIGUCHI (Kashima) 18' 0-2
MISAO (Kashima) 28' 0-3
YAMAMOTO (Frontale) 90+2' 1-3
CHINEN (Kashima) 10' 0-1
HIGUCHI (Kashima) 18' 0-2
MISAO (Kashima) 28' 0-3
YAMAMOTO (Frontale) 90+2' 1-3
Highlights
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