Kawasaki Frontale 4 - 0 Shanghai Shenhua
Now that’s more like it! After what were probably the two worst games of Hasebe Frontale, (well, that probably goes without saying as they were the only two defeats, but I feel that the awfulness of Kyoto at home and Shanghai away needs to be emphasised a bit), we’re back to 4-0 wins again. Of course our first Hasebe game was a 4-0 win in the ACL which we followed up with a 4-0 win in the league. So logically our next result will be… hmmm, I doubt we’ll be winning 4-0 away in Okayama. But it’s nice to dream, isn’t it? Everything points to the Okayama game being more reminiscent of the Kyoto game sadly. But let’s not let any realism get in the way of what is another positive post! It’s going to be a short one as this month is pretty hectic for me. So let’s get this done and out of the way in the usual style.
Us -
A greatly improved performance with lots of stand-outs. Oshima being back in the team was a big surprise and you’ve got to say that it probably contributed to our victory. In my usual way, I didn’t notice Oshima that much, but I’ve come to associate this with him having an excellent game. I do quite often notice when our midfielders play badly, so Oshima just smoothly doing the job ends up passing me by. This probably singles me out as being a footballing imbecile, but if that’s the price to pay for great performances I’ll happily go along with it. I feel like with Oshima in the team, nominally alongside Kawahara, we didn’t suffer from the thing we have when Kawahara plays with Tachibanada, where both players are aiming to play in the same position. The interchange between the two of them was a lot smoother, with Oshima usually being a bit further forward, but the two swapping position a bit more fluidly when necessary. I think the same could be said about those first two 4-0's where Tachibanada or Kawahara played alongside Yamamoto. I think much like was the case with Tachibanada and Joao Schmidt, it should be one or the other of Tachibanada or Kawahara and not both of them. Hopefully Hasebe feels the same way. You can’t really argue with Erison coming back in ahead of Yamada too. Yamada is not having the best of seasons so far. And with Erison there, the attack seems a lot more varied. Erison was constantly winning the ball and laying it off for others. Yamada isn’t as good at winning the ball and doesn’t usually pass it. At least not recently. So although it may be an unpopular opinion amongst Frontale fans, I think Erison is better up front right now. Although you wouldn’t know it from looking at the player scores on Flashscore, which I feel are getting increasingly ridiculous week on week. Erison had a great game. As did Sasaki, who scored an amazing goal to ease the tension early on. It was slightly reminiscent of his first goal for us against Kashima. Not particularly in the way he scored it, but more in the ‘what the fuck happened there?’ delight that followed it. He also put in an amazing pass for Erison's goal, which was another lovely finish. Finally, I feel I should praise Yamaguchi a bit as he finally had something to do in this game and he did it well. I was quite surprised how good he is at catching the ball. I know this sounds ridiculous but there were definitely times when I think a lot of keepers would have punched or parried but the ball ended up sticking to his gloves. Well done Yamaguchi! To be honest, I could probably praise every player individually for one reason or another, so let’s just round up this part by saying well done everyone. A really good performance which will hopefully put a spring in our step for the next few games, away at Okayama and then… damn it, we have an international break. Not really sure why it’s necessary for the league to stop when there are international games as Moriyasu has clearly demonstrated that even if you’re playing semi-pro in the Maltese third tier you are more likely to get a call up than if you’re playing in the J League. I guess we could maybe do with a break, so that could be one positive, but if we do manage to get the job done away at Okayama it would be a shame to let some good form dwindle away.
Them -
Shanghai brought quite a lot of fans with them so fair play to them for that. Frontale Cafe and the club shop was full of them before the game which suggests that they are nice folks too. I thought they gave us a bit of a tough game early on but their threat decreased as the game went on. I feel a bit sorry for the two players who were brought as their first changes as we immediately scored after their introduction and then went on to get another a few minutes later. I feel considerably less sorry for Teixeira and Saulo Mineiro who whinged their way through the game. It was particularly amusing to see the former complaining to the ref after we scored our fourth as it was clearly him who’d given the ball away to us to facilitate the goal. I guess that’s what you’re told to do when you’re young. If you make a mistake, own up to it. Oh sorry, I mistyped. If you make a mistake, immediately moan and complain about everything other than your own actions. In terms of karma being served, it reminded me a bit of when that little shithead Oscar faked injury to get Ienaga sent off but then had to have a little cry as his team had lost the game. I guess the comparison doesn’t quite work, but I just wanted to call him a shit just one more time as I think he’s retired now.
Ref etc. -
I initially thought the ref was doing pretty well in this match. And to be honest, I’m not going to moan about decisions as I don’t think we got stiffed in this game like we possibly were in the first leg. (I still haven’t watched a replay of our disallowed goal and still don’t intend to). Our disallowed goal in this game was disappointing, but then again, we did have two others confirmed by VAR, so I’m not going to complain. It was particularly good to see Ito’s goal given the thumbs up as he’s already had one ruled out by VAR this year. My one slight whinge might be that once again in the ACL, the ref blew up early. Normally a couple of seconds doesn’t really make that much difference I guess, but I remember the announcements in my Orient season ticket days when the tannoy would always say something like ‘the fourth official has signaled that there will be a minimum of three minutes of additional time’. Perhaps instead it’s a maximum in the ACL. In the previous leg, cutting even five seconds of the game off was a blessed relief, but it was a bit annoying to see the ref blow up just as Erison raced clear, and even more annoying when I watched the replay and found that he did it early. Oh well, eh? One final official comment, I loved the linesman down in front of us. I didn’t love him for decisions, but instead loved him for the fact that he looked constantly bewildered, as if he was that guy from Quantum Leap who’d moments before been dropped into the situation and was still trying to work out when, where and who he was. My favourite part was when the ball left the pitch and he just held his flag directly above his head with both hands for an interminably long time, waiting for the ref to decide which way he should give it. I quite like imagining it as something like when that taxi driver ended up being interviewed on the panel of a BBC news program because he had the same first name as the guest they were expecting. The ‘linesman’ turned up hoping to buy a ticket on the door, went to the wrong place, got let in and was handed a flag. More power to him! I think that I too would probably also have been too embarrassed to say anything and would have just given it a go.
Next up, as mentioned before, a potentially spirit squashing visit to Okayama. At least if it does end up being a game like the Kyoto one was, we have the consolation that we’re doing an away trip. To get another pair of 4-0’s would be lovely, but I think I’d probably settle for it not being quite as mind-numbingly dull as the Kyoto game. What a way to finish this post. Bravo!
Us -
A greatly improved performance with lots of stand-outs. Oshima being back in the team was a big surprise and you’ve got to say that it probably contributed to our victory. In my usual way, I didn’t notice Oshima that much, but I’ve come to associate this with him having an excellent game. I do quite often notice when our midfielders play badly, so Oshima just smoothly doing the job ends up passing me by. This probably singles me out as being a footballing imbecile, but if that’s the price to pay for great performances I’ll happily go along with it. I feel like with Oshima in the team, nominally alongside Kawahara, we didn’t suffer from the thing we have when Kawahara plays with Tachibanada, where both players are aiming to play in the same position. The interchange between the two of them was a lot smoother, with Oshima usually being a bit further forward, but the two swapping position a bit more fluidly when necessary. I think the same could be said about those first two 4-0's where Tachibanada or Kawahara played alongside Yamamoto. I think much like was the case with Tachibanada and Joao Schmidt, it should be one or the other of Tachibanada or Kawahara and not both of them. Hopefully Hasebe feels the same way. You can’t really argue with Erison coming back in ahead of Yamada too. Yamada is not having the best of seasons so far. And with Erison there, the attack seems a lot more varied. Erison was constantly winning the ball and laying it off for others. Yamada isn’t as good at winning the ball and doesn’t usually pass it. At least not recently. So although it may be an unpopular opinion amongst Frontale fans, I think Erison is better up front right now. Although you wouldn’t know it from looking at the player scores on Flashscore, which I feel are getting increasingly ridiculous week on week. Erison had a great game. As did Sasaki, who scored an amazing goal to ease the tension early on. It was slightly reminiscent of his first goal for us against Kashima. Not particularly in the way he scored it, but more in the ‘what the fuck happened there?’ delight that followed it. He also put in an amazing pass for Erison's goal, which was another lovely finish. Finally, I feel I should praise Yamaguchi a bit as he finally had something to do in this game and he did it well. I was quite surprised how good he is at catching the ball. I know this sounds ridiculous but there were definitely times when I think a lot of keepers would have punched or parried but the ball ended up sticking to his gloves. Well done Yamaguchi! To be honest, I could probably praise every player individually for one reason or another, so let’s just round up this part by saying well done everyone. A really good performance which will hopefully put a spring in our step for the next few games, away at Okayama and then… damn it, we have an international break. Not really sure why it’s necessary for the league to stop when there are international games as Moriyasu has clearly demonstrated that even if you’re playing semi-pro in the Maltese third tier you are more likely to get a call up than if you’re playing in the J League. I guess we could maybe do with a break, so that could be one positive, but if we do manage to get the job done away at Okayama it would be a shame to let some good form dwindle away.
Them -
Shanghai brought quite a lot of fans with them so fair play to them for that. Frontale Cafe and the club shop was full of them before the game which suggests that they are nice folks too. I thought they gave us a bit of a tough game early on but their threat decreased as the game went on. I feel a bit sorry for the two players who were brought as their first changes as we immediately scored after their introduction and then went on to get another a few minutes later. I feel considerably less sorry for Teixeira and Saulo Mineiro who whinged their way through the game. It was particularly amusing to see the former complaining to the ref after we scored our fourth as it was clearly him who’d given the ball away to us to facilitate the goal. I guess that’s what you’re told to do when you’re young. If you make a mistake, own up to it. Oh sorry, I mistyped. If you make a mistake, immediately moan and complain about everything other than your own actions. In terms of karma being served, it reminded me a bit of when that little shithead Oscar faked injury to get Ienaga sent off but then had to have a little cry as his team had lost the game. I guess the comparison doesn’t quite work, but I just wanted to call him a shit just one more time as I think he’s retired now.
Ref etc. -
I initially thought the ref was doing pretty well in this match. And to be honest, I’m not going to moan about decisions as I don’t think we got stiffed in this game like we possibly were in the first leg. (I still haven’t watched a replay of our disallowed goal and still don’t intend to). Our disallowed goal in this game was disappointing, but then again, we did have two others confirmed by VAR, so I’m not going to complain. It was particularly good to see Ito’s goal given the thumbs up as he’s already had one ruled out by VAR this year. My one slight whinge might be that once again in the ACL, the ref blew up early. Normally a couple of seconds doesn’t really make that much difference I guess, but I remember the announcements in my Orient season ticket days when the tannoy would always say something like ‘the fourth official has signaled that there will be a minimum of three minutes of additional time’. Perhaps instead it’s a maximum in the ACL. In the previous leg, cutting even five seconds of the game off was a blessed relief, but it was a bit annoying to see the ref blow up just as Erison raced clear, and even more annoying when I watched the replay and found that he did it early. Oh well, eh? One final official comment, I loved the linesman down in front of us. I didn’t love him for decisions, but instead loved him for the fact that he looked constantly bewildered, as if he was that guy from Quantum Leap who’d moments before been dropped into the situation and was still trying to work out when, where and who he was. My favourite part was when the ball left the pitch and he just held his flag directly above his head with both hands for an interminably long time, waiting for the ref to decide which way he should give it. I quite like imagining it as something like when that taxi driver ended up being interviewed on the panel of a BBC news program because he had the same first name as the guest they were expecting. The ‘linesman’ turned up hoping to buy a ticket on the door, went to the wrong place, got let in and was handed a flag. More power to him! I think that I too would probably also have been too embarrassed to say anything and would have just given it a go.
Next up, as mentioned before, a potentially spirit squashing visit to Okayama. At least if it does end up being a game like the Kyoto one was, we have the consolation that we’re doing an away trip. To get another pair of 4-0’s would be lovely, but I think I’d probably settle for it not being quite as mind-numbingly dull as the Kyoto game. What a way to finish this post. Bravo!
Team
GK 98. YAMAGUCHI Louis
DF 5. SASAKI Asahi
DF 2. TAKAI Kota
DF 35. MARUYAMA Yuichi
DF 13. MIURA Sota
MF 19. KAWAHARA So
MF 10. OSHIMA Ryota
MF 37. ITO Tatsuya
MF 14. WAKIZAKA Yasuto (Yellow card 42')
MF 23. MARCINHO
FW 9. ERISON
Subs
GK 1. JUNG Sung-Ryong
GK 21. ANDO Shunsuke
DF 7. KURUMAYA Shintaro
MF 8. TACHIBANADA Kento (on for KAWAHARA 85')
MF 16. OZEKI Yuto
FW 20. YAMADA Shin (on for ERISON 78')
FW 24. MIYAGI Ten
FW 30. SEGAWA Yusuke (on for WAKIZAKA 85')
DF 31. VAN WERMESKERKEN Sai
FW 32. KANDA Soma
FW 41. IENAGA Akihiro (on for ITO 78')
MF 77. YAMAMOTO Yuki (on for OSHIMA 72')
My Frontale Man Of The Match
No shortage of candidates to give it to and also the possibility of wussing out and giving it to the whole team as we’ve qualified for the bizarre next stage which will be held in Saudi Arabia (naturally). But to keep things simple, I’ll give it to…
SASAKI Asahi - amazing goal and great assist too.
SASAKI Asahi - amazing goal and great assist too.
Goals
SASAKI (Frontale) 35' 1-0
ERISON (Frontale) 64' 2-0
ITO (Frontale) 68' 3-0
MARCINHO (Frontale) 90+1' 4-0
Highlights
