New player songs 2023

Here are the new player songs for 2023, with maybe a few in there that have either slightly changed, massively changed or have been forgotten after lengthy loan spells. And this post might actually be of some use this year as singing is back. So plenty of homework to do for me. If you can't find a player song in here that you think should be, perhaps it was in the last song post and you didn't realise because some of those songs have never actually been sung. All previous song posts are here for your reference. Get your vocal chords warmed up!


3. OMINAMI Takuma



Takuma Ominami
Takuma saa hashiridase
Takuma Ominami
Lalala Lalala Ominami


5. SASAKI Asahi



Sasaki Asahi Lalalalala
Sasaki Asahi Lalala Lalalala
Atsui Heart Moyaseyo Asahi
Sasaki Asahi Sa


17. TONO Daiya



Tono Daiya
Tono Daiya
Miseroyo Daiya
Tono Daiya
Tono Daiya
Kagayake Daiya!


20. YAMADA Shin



O Yamada
Misero yo Shin goal
Hashire Kaze No You Ni
(Shin Shin Shinshinshinshin)


24. MYOGAN Toya



Myogan Toya Lalala La La La
Myogan Kakeagare
Myogan Toya Lalala La La La
Myogan Toya Ole


26. EINAGA Takatora



Einaga Takatora
Kirisake Takatora
Einaga Takatora
Takatora Get Goal


27. MATSUNAGANE Yuto



Lalala Nagane Matsunagane
Lalala Nagane Matsunagane
Lalala Nagane Matsunagane
Lalala Nagane Matsunagane


28. OZEKI Yuto



It’s Alright Ozeki Yuto
Misero Ozeki Yuto
It’s Alright Ozeki Yuto
Misero Ozeki Yuto


29. TAKAI Kota



Takai Kota
Takai Kota
Kota Kota


30. SEGAWA Yusuke



Go Segawa
Segawa Goal
Segawa Yusuke Goal


33. MIYASHIRO Taisei



Miyashiro Taisei
Misete Yarouze
Goal e Buchikome
Miyashiro Taisei


99. KAMIFUKUMOTO Naoto



Kamifukumoto Tachiagare
Kamifukumoto Tsukisusume
Kamifukumoto Mamorinuke
Kamifuku! Moto! Naoto Ole!

2022/23 Players in and out

After completing all of the end of season posts at a fairly leisurely pace, I guess it’s time to start with the new season posts. Or perhaps the in-between-old-and-new-season posts, as this will be the one where I talk about people leaving and people joining and probably have a bit of a more general moan about things. So here is our off season transfer activity broken down into a few groups. As usual, I’ve cheekily screen grabbed some photos from the pre-season ceremony video. Some of the photos are awful, but I kind of like them that way. Apologies to Matsunagane in particular.

Out

Kenta Tanno → Iwate Grulla Morioka
Bit sad to see Tanno leave but it makes sense for him. I don’t know if the plan to bring in Kamifukumoto came first or whether it was as a result of Tanno deciding to leave. Didn’t really get many chances for us as Oniki seemed to be set on playing Sung-Ryong whenever humanly possible and you can’t really blame him for that. But I always thought that Tanno did a good job when called on, and he leaves us with an unbeaten record in the games he played for us. Good luck to him at Grulla, who I occasionally watch, so am looking forward to seeing him some time next season.

Shogo Taniguchi → Al Rayyan
I kept saying this transfer wouldn’t happen so look how much I know. For some reason, (presumably money), decided to move to the Qatar league. It’s very easy to moan about players chasing cash and it’s also quite easy to dismiss the Qatar league as just being about money. I probably did exactly that when Olunga moved there a few seasons ago. Was really disappointed to see Taniguchi leave as I thought he had a good season last year. Which I guess is probably another reason he decided to leave. As long as the manager of the international team keeps placing so much importance on players playing overseas, regardless of the standard of the league, I guess this will keep happening. Will definitely be missed, and for me this transfer has left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. Wish him all the best though.

Zain Issaka → Montedio Yamagata
Left the club but has been absent for the last two seasons anyway on loan to Yokohama FC. Whilst he was with us never quite did enough, (in the one or two chances he had), to show that he could provide back up for Yamane. I thought he did ok on his debut for us against Yokohama FC to show that he had some promise but it seems that Oniki disagreed. And perhaps so did YFC as he’s now been transferred to another J2 club rather than rejoining J1 with YFC after their promotion. Think his attacking style, (he used to be a winger I believe), will do him well at Montedio and hope he has plenty of opportunities to show what he can do. Good luck!

Kei Chinen → Kashima Antlers
This one came out of the blue. Perhaps our most effective striker last season albeit not the most elegant one, he did have a habit of putting away chances more often than anyone else who played up front in the middle. For him to join Kashima is a shock, but perhaps only because I dislike them quite a lot and would imagine that everyone else does too. Similarly to Tanno’s situation, I don’t know if Chinen leaving came before or after we knew Miyashiro was coming back from his loan. Or perhaps the fact that Damiao wasn’t leaving, (probably due to his injury), as some had suspected meant that Chinen found himself in a big group of players who all want to play in the one spot we have up front. I always liked Chinen, plenty of others didn’t so much, but he did have a habit of scoring which is a pretty good habit for a striker to have. I feel sorry for him now having to spend a lot of time with Yuma Suzuki and probably a lot of time in traffic jams in the area surrounding the Kashima stadium. Clearly is going to score against us in our first away game of the season. Good luck to him when he’s not playing us.

Out on loan

Kaito Kamiya → Ventforet Kofu
After a season spent at Fujieda MYFC in J3 where he seemed to slowly drop down the pecking order he’s gone on loan to Emperor’s Cup winners and next ACL campaign team Ventforet Kofu in J2. So it looks like his career is somewhat on the up. Don’t know how much he’ll play for them though. Another player who could give us some depth at the back back doesn’t seem to be fancied by Oniki. Once again I could moan about that on Kamiya’s behalf, but to be honest, we’ve seen so little of him that it’s difficult to make any kind of judgement. Good luck to him in the ACL!

Shuto Tanabe → JEF Utd (extended)
I thought Tanabe, after a loan spell at JEF where he was roundly praised, would probably be coming back to us for this season. Do I need to mention our lack of defenders again? I think he even took part in some of the end of season games we played in Asia. So it was a bit of a surprise to see him go back to JEF again, extending his loan. It’s good to see he’s playing and having an impact though, as this is the only way any of our loan players will get the chance to improve. Good luck to him in 2023 and hope to see him back in 2024.

Koki Harada → Nagano Parciero (extended)
Somewhat irritatingly, considering we sent him out on loan, spent most of the year not even making the bench for Nagano Parciero. Which is exactly what happened to him the previous year at Gainare Tottori. I was pleased to see him start the final three games last year though and hope that can continue in 2023. Clearly if he was with us, he’d be at the back of a long line of midfielders so it makes sense for him to try to get some football elsewhere. I’m not sure if we’ll ever see him back with us. He’s still young, but perhaps the last few years haven’t helped his development much. Good luck for 2023.

Taiyo Igarashi → Renofa Yamaguchi
Classic first season stuff for Igarashi last year. Came out of the youth team with a bit of a buzz and then had zero involvement in first team activities aside from a little ACL cameo and some end of season tour stuff. I guess Oniki likes to have the youngsters, (and new arrivals to some extent), training in the first team in their first season and then send them out for some experience somewhere in the second season. Hopefully at Yamaguchi he’ll get time on the pitch and some goals. Wouldn’t be surprised to see another loan the year after, perhaps following a similar path to Miyashiro. Good luck to him!

Ten Miyagi → V Varen Nagasaki
Something of a surprise to see him drop down to J2 for a loan, but at the same time, think it will do him good. Burst onto the scene with a bang and an amazing goal at Kashima in 2021 but struggled a bit last year, not being able to do the business in the limited opportunities he got when Marcinho wasn’t playing. Sometimes suffered from dribbling till he lost the ball instead of passing it, a bit like Kubo endlessly does. Feel like the step down to J2 to a club with some ambition and hopes of promotion should mean that he can get his mojo back. I think we’ll see him back with us at some stage, but I agree that one step back to make two steps forward is the right thing for him to do right now. Good luck.

In

Naoto Kamifukumoto GK - in from Kyoto Sanga

Almost ever present in goal for Kyoto last season which when you consider they finished third from bottom might not be too promising. But actually they conceded less goals than we did last year. Not sure what this means for our goal keeping situation in 2023 though. In 2022 Sung-Ryong had a lock on the position and I thought he was one of our best players. He is now 38 though, so perhaps he might be sharing the position a bit more with the slightly younger Kamifukumoto (33). If one of them starts most of the games and the other is always on the bench it seems like a bit of a waste of time as far as I’m concerned, but we do know that Oniki doesn’t really rotate very much. A new keeper wasn’t exactly top of my shopping list before this season so it was a bit of a surprise to see him join, but I think he’s shown that he will be an asset, if he gets the opportunity. Love the fact that he has a three kanji name and also that he’s gone for the squad number 99.

Takuma Ominami DF - in from Kashiwa Reysol

Finally we have signed a defender! Sadly we have also lost one of our best ones, so we’re basically in the same position or a slightly worse position than we were before. Ominami is 1.84m tall right footed defender who nominally is a centre back but can also play right back, (which he did a fair bit for Kashiwa last year I believe). So this is good news as we need cover for Yamane and we need more defenders. He’s also quite young, but has four seasons of playing quite a few games behind him so looks like a good signing. Taking my favourite squad number 3 so maybe he’ll be a future shirt purchase for me. I can’t see him really challenging for Yamane’s spot so I think we’ll be seeing him more at centre back. Where he fits into that pecking order, I’m not so sure.

Toya Myogan MF - in from Riseisha High School


Signed straight from Riseisha High school, lots of people are talking about Myogan. Has quite an unusual and interesting name! An attacking midfielder, will probably be used in the Marcinho position if he gets a chance. There’s a bit of a buzz about him so we can hope that he’ll be our new Mitoma. From the limited stats I can find it seems he played 21 games last year and scored eight times. Of course the J League is a different level, but I’m looking forward to seeing how he does.

Yusuke Segawa FW - in from Shonan Bellmare

 
Bit of a surprise signing for some. My Bellmare supporting friend said that Segawa was a nice guy but was one of the worst strikers he’d ever seen as he almost never scored for them. Perhaps this is a Bellmare issue though. Featured a lot last year, playing 32 games, scoring three times, assisting once and getting sent off once for a second yellow at the end of the first half. Seems to either play up front or on the left wing, so it seems that we’ve got two new players to play in a position that Oniki rarely rotates. Perhaps we’re not expecting Marcinho to hang around all year.

Shin Yamada FW - in from Toin Yokohama University

Surprisingly featured once last year as a special designated player, used when we were in the depths of our COVID cluster crisis. Played 83 minutes against Cerezo in a cup game that I’m afraid to say I didn’t see at all so can’t comment. Plays up front so is probably behind Damiao, Kobayashi and Miyashiro in the pecking order. Perhaps will get some time in the Levain Cup, but I’m guessing he’ll probably be having a Igarashi type season in 2023. But given that he’s come from University, rather than the youth team or high school, perhaps might get a bit more of a look in.

Back from Loan

Taisei Miyashiro - back from Sagan Tosu

I’m sure most readers will know all about Miyashiro from a few seasons ago or from his Tokushima and Sagan Tosu loan spells. Somewhat weirdly got sent out on loan first to Yamaguchi just when he seemed to be doing a decent job of getting involved for us. The loan spells seem to have done him the world of good though and he comes back with a real claim to get some good match time I think. And it could happen straight away as both Kobayashi and Damiao are starting the season injured. Eight goals and three assists in 22 appearances for Tosu last year is a pretty good rate. I think he’s going to have a good 2023.

Promoted from youth team

Kota Takai DF

Not sure if he should be here as he was kind of with us last year, having a squad number, but wasn’t actually called on apart from a brief ACL cameo and five minutes against PSG. Very tall and apparently still growing! Could be the solution to our centre back problem, but would be surprised to see him involved much this year as he probably needs to develop a bit first. Getting a fair bit of action for the national U20 team though. I wanted to buy his towel last year but they didn’t make one…

Yuto Matsunagane DF

Have seen him play a few times, once online and twice in person. Another three kanji name player! Seems equally at home at left back and centre back, but at 1.79m tall maybe needs a bit more height if he wants to play in the middle. As expected from a product of our youth team, looked comfortable on the ball. Probably won’t be involved much but looking forward to seeing him improve.

Yuto Ozeki MF

The new Oshima… maybe. But a bit taller (1.78m). Have seen him play in the anchor role and a bit further forward in midfield too. Like Matsunagane, seems comfortable on the ball and will maybe use 2023 to bulk up a bit as he still looks like a youth team player, Saying that though, he seemed to be pretty strong and difficult to knock off the ball, so maybe appearances are deceptive.


Overall, it hasn’t been a great off season of transfers I’d say, but mainly that’s due to our continuing complete failure to sign defensive cover with one player only coming in and a major one leaving. I’m a bit worried to be honest. If we get an injury early on in the season we could be in big trouble. I’ve also heard that we are practicing to play three at the back, which from the point of view of having a plan B is good, but seems a bit insane when you consider that we’ve barely got enough centre backs to play with a regular back four. But hell, what do I know? I wouldn’t say we got in any big names really, but I feel like our squad is decent. I suspect that the same players will be playing endlessly though. I’m sorry for my crushing negativity but I don’t have great hopes for 2023. This however is mainly due to my doubts over Oniki. which I’ve endlessly bored on about. We’ll need new ideas in 2023. I’ll be surprised if we will have any though. The extra Levain cup group stage games should mean that more players get involved, but I suspect it will actually mean that the same set of 15 or 16 players will totally run out of energy earlier than they did in 2022. I’d love to be proved wrong, but I’m not going into the upcoming season with any kind of optimism, other than looking to enjoy the away trips. Blimey…

2022 Season survey results

Finally, here are the results of the Frontale Rabbit 2022 Season survey. I don't think I'll be getting any more responses, but if I do, I'll do my best to somehow add them. This year we had a couple of sets of answers from non-Frontale fans which I'm quite pleased about. In the situations where their answer seems a bit strange from a Frontale point of view, I've added a note that it's a non-Frontale opinion just to avoid confusion. As always, in the interest of openness, I'll let you know what my response was too. 2022 was a season where we achieved absolutely nothing, so it comes as no surprise to find that the answers were not as positive this time round. Fingers crossed that 2023 will be better. I think that judging by our current lack of reinforcement and pre-season injury crisis, those crossed fingers might have a lot of work to do!

1. Game of season

WINNER - YFM home

A runaway winner here and it was our last minute victory over eventual title winners and ever-irritating neighbours YFM. As far as I can remember, it wasn't actually the greatest of games but it did show a rare example of Oniki changing something instead of just ploughing on with the same old stuff relentlessly. It's always nice to beat your local rivals and even better to do it in the last minute. Shame it eventually didn't count for anything though and instead was basically just us prolonging our agony and keeping our ultimately pointless hopes alive for a bit longer. Thinking about my answer, it's difficult to remember many positive games this year in an absolute ocean of mediocrity, (and occasional uselessness). I might say Avispa away as it was my first singing game for a long time and it was great to have that back again. In a fit of pettiness I'm tempted to say my choice was our 4-0 victory against Gamba as it was the game where Terada was nominally in charge instead of Oniki but to be honest, I think I had the most fun in the pub after the YFM game so I'll go with that too. Other games mentioned were Shimizu home by two people, in both cases because it was the only game they were able to attend, Sapporo at home and Vissel Kobe vs YFM in the ACL (which is obviously an answer from a non-Frontale fan, but given that YFM lost, I feel it's one us Frontale fans can also enjoy!

2. Player of the season

WINNER - Ienaga Akihiro

Before my vote is added it's a dead heat with Taniguchi and Ienaga tied for top spot. One person described Ienaga as 'timeless' which I think is pretty accurate. I hope he'll be back and banging next year, and perhaps he'll be able to do even better if he gets a bit more rest. Other players mentioned were Wakizaka a couple of times and Tachibanada. Oh, and Mateus of Nagoya Grampus (not a Frontale fan answer). When I was asked for my three players of the season by the J Talk Podcast I said Ienaga, Marcinho and Sung-Ryong (who I think saved us on numerous occasions). I'm surprised no-one voted for Marcinho so you might think I'd go for him. But, given that Taniguchi has abandoned us for the dizzy heights of the Qatar league, I'm instead pettily going to go for Ienaga in order to deny Taniguchi the joint prize. Yes, I'm a big old sulky baby.

Stop the presses, one late vote for Ienaga meant it's a clearer victory for him.

3. Goal of the season

WINNER - Jesiel vs YFM (home)

Getting a non-Frontale fan answer out of the way first, one was Everaldo's overhead for Kashima against Cerezo. The clear winner amongst Frontale fan respondents was Jesiel's last minute header against YFM at home which finished off our game of the season very nicely. Certainly the significance of the goal was greater than the actual goal itself.

In second place we have 'nothing stands out' which perfectly sums up 2022, I think. Behind that we have a load of goals which all got one vote. They were...

Ienaga Akihiro vs Gamba Osaka (home)

Miyagi Ten vs Gamba Osaka (away)

Kobayashi Yu vs Consadole Sapporo (home)

and my answer...

Seko Tatsuki vs Sappporo University (home)

I just feel like Seko has had a tough season, not particularly due to anything he's done wrong but more in the way that new signings sometimes have to put up with a very quiet first season with us. I hope that he could enjoy his goal which was a great strike. Fingers crossed he can push on next year. All in all, some quite nice goals, considering how mediocre we were in 2022.

4. Disappointment of the season

WINNER - our ACL campaign

Plenty to choose from when it came to disappointments in 2022 and our ACL campaign and the two Shonan games were neck and neck and right up there for me too. A late vote gave it to the ACL. Other things mentioned were Damiao's season (probably the only way was down from 2021, but I'm not sure if they meant that he didn't play well, or he got injured. Or maybe both), Oshima's physical condition (poor guy, hope he stays injury free in 2023), not winning a title, YFM winning the title, Nagoya postponing our match for 'disloyal reasons', the Sapporo away game and the one word answer Taniguchi. I presume this final one was referring to his departure rather than his play in 2022. I agree with all of the above, but I think I would probably say that the really disappointing thing was that we had the players to win the league and multiple opportunities to win the league, but just kept slipping up over and over again. And our football was often really dull in 2022. As I think I said in a blog post, watching Frontale was a fun experience in 2022 apart from when the match was actually taking place. Maybe I like travelling and going out more than football... It's clear that in 2022 the football didn't really get anywhere near challenging the pre- and post game experience when it came to fun.

5. Villain of the season (anyone, from any team or an official or...)

WINNER - Nagoya Grampus

The postponement of our away game due to slightly dubious reasons mentioned a few times in these answers took to the top spot. I'm inclined to agree as it clearly seemed to work out quite nicely to their advantage. Personally speaking, if cancelled we could have only got a tiny proportion back of what we'd paid for this game's expenses so decided to go ahead and make the trip anyway. Other answers were #1 J League hate figure Yuma Suzuki, ('hate ppl who flop so looking at you Yuma Suzuki'), our numerous injuries, the ref who sent Taniguchi off, COVID regulations, Cerezo Osaka fans (can't remember what they did, someone please remind me), Kevin 'the whistler' Muscat (who to be honest, I find much less objectionable than Postecoglou), Marinosuke (!), the somewhat mysterious answer '❤️' and our 'front office', which is one which I can really agree with. I don't know how much of our recruitment is down to Oniki and how much is out of his hands, but starting the season with our best defender long term injured and thinking that two players playing out of position would be enough cover is pretty disgraceful. This year we might be about to make a similar mistake but this time up front with both Damiao and Kobayashi now starting the season with injuries. But amazingly we signed a defender! Oh... but we also lost one of our every presents. For my answer, I don't want to say Oniki as I think he's doing his best, but I will say Oniki's inflexibility to make it slightly less personal. We constantly bored on with the same tactics, never looking like we had any other ideas, never really changing personnel and pretty much getting what we deserved. After a mid-season personal meltdown I decided to stop caring so much and found that going to matches was a lot less stressful if I didn't get annoyed about the same old shit every week. Not sure how long I'll be able to keep that going in 2023 if Oniki doesn't come up with something slightly different anfd significantly better.

6. Best away trip (if you've done one)

Only a few answers and no clear winner which is probably understandable given that COVID was still having an effect on J League activities. The majority had not made any away trips at all but the few games that were mentioned were Shimizu, (which I agree is always a good one), Sapporo 'although we lost', (which I agree is always a good one and was improved immensely this year by the new Hop Kotan Sapporo taproom), and Thailand away to watch Consadole and Frontale after the end of the season, (which was mentioned by a non-Frontale fan! Bravo!). I feel like I need to say Sagan Tosu away as I always do, not for the match, but always for the fact that I get smashed at the game on the selection of shochu they have available, a drink that I otherwise never drink, but now is an integral part of Sagan Tosu away for me. Of course, as is par for the course for us at a Kyushu away game, we didn't win and got a player sent off. There was one late vote for Kobe away, which was a great one as we snatched a not completely deserved win at the end. That's my spin on it though, rather than the person who voted for it.

7. Best stadium in the J League

WINNER - Todoroki

Definite homerism on this question as usual. The overwhelming majority of people voted for Todoroki. Other stadiums mentioned were Sagan Tosu's Ekimae Fudosan, Urawa's Saitama stadium, Gamba's Suita stadium, Kyoto's Sanga stadium and Shimizu's Nihondaira, which will be sadly missing from our 2023 schedule. Notably all of these are stadiums without running tracks. One answer which combined the two prevailing types of responses was perhaps my favourite one, the 'Future Todoroki Non-athletic Stadium'. I liked this mainly due to it being an answer from a different time. I'm certainly looking forward to it, but perhaps not the fact that I will be very old when it's finished. Oh and my answer? I always say Sagan Tosu for the booze, easy access and that nice terrace behind the goal.

8. Opposition J1 team you like the most

JOINT WINNERS - Consadole Sapporo & Sagan Tosu

I went with Sagan Tosu as in spite of us always getting horrible results against them, you can't help but like a team that constantly produces great young players and manages to prevail in spite of them being snatched away all the time. If they could somehow bring back the patatas bravas to the outside stadium food selections, they would be even better. Pretty unlikely I'd imagine though. I think Consadole probably got votes due to their relentless attacking positivity. They also had a pony in the stadium at the away game so kudos for that. Other teams mentioned were Kashiwa Reysol a couple of times, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, (which I think is a first, and perhaps due to them not being so boring anymore), Kyoto Sanga and 'I don't know' and 'no-one'.

9. Opposition J1 team you like the least

WINNER - Yokohama F Marinos

It's no surprise YFM won this I guess. Local rivals, and they had the cheek to win the league too. I think they were almost as average as us in 2022 so it hurt that bit more when they beat us to the title. My answer is 100% YFM. Aside from YFM, there were the usual mentions for Urawa and Kashima but in second place behind YFM were Nagoya, presumably thanks to their dubious cancellation of our game with them bending/breaking/not being aware of the COVID rules. It wouldn't have been such an issue if we hadn't been so awful in the rearranged fixture in Nagoya. And I guess it stings a bit that we messed up in our COVID game at Urawa where we had four goalkeepers in the matchday squad but which wasn't canceled. I said at the time that I hoped that it didn't come back to haunt us at the end of the season and it kind of did. Although there were plenty of other slip ups that we made. One amusing comment about Nagoya which suggests it's not all bad feeling about their COVID cancellation is 'It's not the team or the players, I just don't like the city of Nagoya'. Our other local rivals FC Tokyo weren't mentioned at all, which they probably won't be too happy about. Neither were Shonan Bellmare, who we contrived to lose to twice. A win in either one of those games would have got us the title. We didn't deserve to win either match though.

10. Team you're pleased to see come up

WINNER - Albirex Niigata

This question has gone slightly off-piste this year as I normally intend it to mean who are you happy to see joining J1 from J2. But some people have answered it from the point of view of a wish list. Next year, I think I'll split it into two questions as I think both are interesting. For me, it's Albirex Niigata as it's a great away trip that we haven't been able to do for a few years. Yokohama FC is less exciting for me, although I do like their stadium, (but not the walk up the hill to get there). I probably would have preferred any of the teams who were in the playoffs to have made it as all would have been fun away trips. But I'm pleased for Hasegawa to be back in J1. Respondents were split with a few more saying Niigata than YFC. On the wish list front, we had mentions for Blaublitz Akita, Venforet Kofu, Roasso Kumamoto, Fagiano Okayama and Ehime FC. In this category, maybe I'd like a Shikoku or Tohoku team in J1 again, purely from the point of view of away travel.

11. Best thing about the J League

Here are people's comments quoted. For me, I think it would be that it's fun and the match day experience, particularly for away games is great.

- Great managers (Petrovic, Puig, Skibbe). Players have more talent than MLS games are enjoyable to watch. They play w/ talent versus physical/flop unlike concacaf. The atmosphere of the stadiums w/ chanting
 - Food
- Oniki
- Supporters culture
- Mascots
- Everything Kawasaki Frontale
- Safe away trips
- General lack of shithousery from a watching point of view
- Peaceful
- Amazing supporters (most of the teams)
- Safe stadiums

12. Worst thing about the J League

I would say a few things, some of which are mentioned below. Players leaving for a supposedly higher level for little or no money is unsurprisingly annoying for me. The referees are still awful. And there's a been a real increase in the amount of know-it-alls on Twitter, but I suspect this is a problem of society and Twitter so it seems a bit harsh for me to blame the J League for it. Again, here's what the people said. 

- They are not maximizing their potential. Instead of reaching a global audience they'd rather increase their reach into SE Asia. Good players will be sold for no fee and increase of ASEAN players does not make J League better
- Annoying fan policing on the internet
- Muscat
- J league without song of supporter it's been too long
- COVID rules going on too long
- Referees
- Unreserved seats
- General lack of shithousery from a wanting to win point of view
- It's too expensive to watch on DAZN
- Clubs not making any money from their star players transferring to Europe
- I want to sing chants.
- DAZN considers J League not attractive.

13. Trophy you would like to win the most next year

WINNER - The league

Around 65% of respondents said the league and I agree with them. The other 35% said the ACL, but I think it would be a miracle given Oniki's record in knock out competitions.

14. What’s your view of Oniki?

The most interesting question for me, unsurprisingly. I have complicated feelings and wish we'd won the league in 2022 as I think then he might have left on a high. Instead he's stayed and I think that he's equally likely to bounce back or completely trash his reputation next year. Hopefully the former. You can't deny his success, but at the same time, I think even the most ardent Oniki-ites would have had some doubts in 2022. Here's what people said. 

- 'Undisputed great manager, but needs a few new ideas'
- 'Legend, 2nd place with that squad was arguably a greater achievement than winning the league.'
- 'Great Director, but I think team need more rotation for reserve players'
- 'I trust him'
- 'Please call JFA'
- 'Lucky'
- 'Does the business with minimum of fuss'
- 'BIG BROTHER'
- 'Should rotate more and give younger players a chance, also should have more than one tactic available. Otherwise seems like a very nice guy. I thought he stuck to same members too much, but after seeing our Thaiand and Vietnam tour, I realized he was right (at least last season).'
- 'The best of the best in spite of no trophy'

15. If you could have any J League player sign for Frontale, who would it be?

Just a list of names for you here with one comment.

- Alexander Scholz (Urawa)
- Kikuchi Ryuho (Vissel Kobe)
- Higuchi Yuta (Kashima)
- Ogawa Koki (Yokohama FC)
- Machino Shuto (Shonan)
- Handa Riku (Gamba)
- Thiago Santana (Shimizu) 'would suit this team, replacing Damiao'
- Usami Takashi (Gamba)
- Koizumi Yoshio (Urawa)
- Eduardo (YFM)

16. Which former Frontale player would you most like to see us re-sign?

WINNER - Mitoma Kaoru

Not a massive shock, considering how he's currently making an impact in the Premier League. Extremely unlikely though for quite a few years, I'd say. Perhaps with that in mind, a few people went for Miyoshi, which could be more likely. We do have a certain shirt number free... One person said Tanaka. And another said the 'Saginuma brothers' nicely getting in both Mitoma and Tanaka in one go. There was also a mention for Nara. And it didn't come from me, although I can get behind it. And one person said Itakura, ('Now we need a good defender!') which is a really good point. I wasn't sure who I'd say till I saw that last answer and the more I think about it, the more I agree with it. And there was a late vote for Morita too.

17. What’s your prediction for next season?

A mixture of responses with a mixture of positivity and negativity here. I'll list them all below, but personally speaking, I think it's going to be a long and tough season with not much fun, unless Oniki surprises us with some new ideas. Taniguchi leaving is a big blow and our incoming players don't exactly look like a response to a previous season that was a complete flop. We'll see, I guess. Here's what people said.

- J1 Champions!
- Jung Sung Ryong to come running out of his box at some point, do a flying karate kick, miss the ball, take the player out and get a red card. Trademark move.
- 'Taisei Mayashiro is top scorer'
- 'Taniguchi changes his mind (please)'
- 'J1 title back, out early from every cups'
- 'League title'
- 'Top three minimum but failure in cups.'
- 'It'll be the season for raising'
- 'Kamifukumoto will be a god in goal (if he actually plays)'
- 'I don't see a good future.  Morita, Mitoma, Ao, and Hatate left, and we haven't found their alternatives.  And now our captain Taniguchi left.  Without him, can we do better than last year? I don't think so.'
- 'Marinos or Kawasaki will win the J League title'

18. How do you feel about us having lots of players leaving for Europe?

This is a tricky one for me. I want them all to stay with us but understand that they have other goals and ambitions. The thing that annoys is that many of them go for little or no transfer fee and that basically we seem to be becoming a team who brings through talented players and loses them quite quickly and cheaply. And it is irritating where some of them go. I'm not sure the Scottish Premiership is actually a higher level than the J League. Likewise the second tiers of other European leagues. I guess because Moriyasu and the national team seem to place so much emphasis on players playing overseas it makes sense for talented J League players to go to play in countries in perhaps weaker leagues as it will help them get into the national team. But anyway, what do I know? Here's what other people said.

- 'Presents a big challenge obviously, but I just want to see them do well over there.'
- 'They should leave at the end of the season, not mid season. And if they go it should be for big bucks.'
- 'Sad but acceptable'
- :(
- 'I like when they rule the World Cup but I’m sad for Hatate.'
- 'Good for them'
- 'Can't really be helped but would be nice to hold on a little longer. Looks like Waki and Tachi will stick around another season? Bonus'
- 'Every players have their lives'
- 'Don't let players leave in midseason for a second division team and demand more money if they really want to leave'
- 'I believe players should play in Europe if they want to. But I miss all the players who left for Europe, and honestly I'm tired of thinking "Is he leaving too?" when I see good young players. And about leaving for Qatar, I just hate it. (The country is not the issue. It's about the level of the league.)'
- 'I am in favour of their transfers if European clubs pay us right transfer fees.'

19. How was VAR for you?

Yeah, maybe it means that more decisions are correct but I still feel that the delays and disruption totally destroy a lot of the fun of the sport. Add to that the fact that even when something is reviewed in the J League the decision doesn't always seem to correspond with the laws of the game and that it seems that having extra refs just presents more opportunities for someone to drop a clanger. I'd be delighted to get rid of it and just have goal line technology instead. I can't see it being abandoned now though, which is a real shame for me. Here's what the people said, and it seems that plenty of people feel differently from me.

- 'No big issues'
- 'Still shite, bin it.'
- 'I think in J league working better than some league in Europe'
- 'overused '
- 'Still hate but it’s 1 millimeter to change'
- 'OK'
- 'Unsure. Seems to be a hindrance sometimes, then helps get something important right (eg. Mitoma/Tanaka at WC!). Needs more work, faster, more open/explanation.'
- 'I like it'
- 'It just takes too long and there were quite a few bad mistakes, but I still think it can take some pressure off the referees and save some bad initial decisions'
- 'Not about J-League but the World Cup, I love VAR for Mitoma's one millimeter.'
- 'I want to hear conversations between referees and VAR.'

20. Any other comments

As ever, this question is mainly added to try to elicit some praise or encouragement for myself. Even though it is somewhat self-indulgent, here are the responses.

- 'Here's to another title run!'
- 'Awesome blog, I didn’t have DAZN this year so I watched highlights and read your blog.'
- 'Have a good year for Frontale and fans'
- 'FORZA'
- 'Allez Frontale!'
- 'Keep up the good work!'
- 'Come back early, Damiao!'
- 'Thanks for the entertaining blogs and keep it up for the upcoming season! :)'
- 'Sorry now I'm too pessimistic, but Taniguchi shock was too big.  I hope my prediction [for a bad 2023 season] won't be right.'

2022 season player round up part 3

This is the third and final part of the Frontale Rabbit 2022 season player round up posts. Today we're going from Miyagi to Oniki, who I realise isn't a player but who I always add to these posts. This will be the last post of the year but I'm still collecting responses for the season survey. I say collecting responses but only one person has bothered so far so please have a look at the questions here and send me some answers. So, yeah, this is it for 2022 and given that Oniki is the last person mentioned I guess I'm finishing 2022 perfectly ie. with a massive dose of negativity. Wonderful!

24. Ten MIYAGI (FW)

As mentioned in the Marcinho section, will be going out on loan next year and it’s understandable. Marcinho has really limited his opportunities but at the same time Ten hasn’t exactly grabbed his chance when given it. Perhaps didn’t get enough time to play himself into some form. Feel like he dribbles too far sometimes. He’s really good at it, but sometimes it’s good to pass before you lose the ball. Hopefully a season on loan playing regularly should really sharpen him up as we know he has a lot of talent. Good luck to him.

25. Renji MATSUI (MF)

Poor guy. Defensive midfielder who has almost exclusively been played out of position at right back when Yamane hasn’t been available. That wasn’t really that often even but it’s a bit of a bummer when you wait patiently for an opportunity and then when you get it you’re asked to do something unnatural. Looks pretty good on the ball as you’d expect knowing he’s played for Japan U23. Would love him to get a go at playing where he wants to next year, instead of being forced to play out of position. Had a few dicey moments when playing at right back and I don’t want them to affect his confidence. Think we’ll see a bit more of him next year.

26. Takatora EINAGA (FW)

Had a great debut, coming on as a sub and scoring but that was about it. Made it on to the bench a couple of times but only on to the pitch once, (I don’t acknowledge the existence of the PSG game). Looked dangerous when he played a half against Sapporo University in the Emperor’s Cup. Good on the ball and very attack minded. I won’t say he’ll be next year’s Mitoma, but if he did manage to get into the team, he could be very difficult to dislodge. I hope!

27. Kenta TANNO (MF)

Another season of sitting on the bench for Tanno and I can understand why he decided to leave. Delighted that he managed to remain unbeaten (results wise) in his time with us. But was a bit sad that even when he played really well more often than not he ended up conceding, and it was usually not his fault. Was definitely not as comfortable on the ball as Sung-Ryong and I think this is why he didn’t get more opportunities. But hope he’s enjoyed his time with us and wish him all the best.

28. Taiyo IGARASHI (FW)

Hardly any involvement aside from 45 minutes in the ACL but managed to get himself an assist. Makes sense that he’s going out on loan next year as he needs time on the pitch so I hope he’ll do well at Renofa, and perhaps follow in the footsteps of Miyashiro, who we’ll be seeing back next with us next year!

29. Kouta TAKAI (DF)

Good year for him but not really any involvement. Sounds a bit weird, but was still a member of the U18 team as well as having a squad number and they won their league and only just lost the final game at the national stadium. Also had some involvement with the Japan U20 team and was due to go to the world cup to train with the main Japan team. (Sadly that chance was messed up by COVID). We’re definitely short of defenders next year, so maybe he’ll be involved in some way in 2023.

30. Shuto TANABE (DF)

Few minutes in the Emperor’s Cup and a half against Guangzhou’s kids in the ACL and that was about it… until he went to JEF on loan and did really well. Has extended the loan for next year too. Was always a bit confused why he wasn’t a bit more involved as he is quite versatile, being able to play all the way across the back. Still young though, so perhaps there is a chance that he will be back at some stage and will play for us again.

31. Kazuya YAMAMURA (MF)

Yamamura always seems to suffer from being too versatile. Given that he can cover so many spots he inevitably ends up on the bench to cover for multiple possible emergencies. But thanks to our defensive crisis this year he played a decent amount of games at centre back. And at one stage seemed to be actually getting to play in midfield and up front. Pretty useful for those situations when we need to throw someone extra forward and lump it up to the big man ,which happened quite a lot in 2022. I hope he’s happy with his position with us as I think lots of people really like him. And his goal ‘celebration’ is always great. Hope to see it a lot more next year.

32. Shin YAMADA (FW)

Surprisingly started a game during our nightmare COVID crisis. Unfortunately I was traveling at the time and therefore didn’t see even a minute of the game, so I can’t and won’t comment.

41. Akihiro IENAGA (MF)

Many people’s player of the season and involved an insane amount given his advancing years. Most appearances, joint top league goalscorer and most significantly won the most Frontale Rabbit Man Of The Match awards,
he seems to be rolling back the years. In recent seasons has had spells where he seemed to really go off the boil and have some dodgy games but that didn’t happen to the same extent this year. Feel like he’ll probably need to be rested a bit more often next year but not sure how he’ll feel about that. I’m sure most fans will be delighted to see him putting away penalties and shrugging off opposition players for as long as possible.

Manager - Toru ONIKI

Not sure what to say really. I was really hoping he’d quit mid-season in our massive slump. I was really hoping he’d quit at the end of the season after we won nothing. I was really hoping Moriyasu would mess things up and Oniki would take his job. But none of these things happened. I was criticised a lot on Twitter for saying these things but suspect that I might know more about the state of the club and our performances than many people who had a go at me. I’m not saying I don’t appreciate what he’s done for us and I fully appreciate that he’s our most successful manager. But I think many people are letting his past achievements cloud what he’s done this year. I would love him to turn things round, but I feel that the only way he might do that would be by just carrying on doing the same things and waiting for our bad play to eventually change. And obviously that would mean a lot of bad games before we started doing a bit better which is clearly not a good thing. He’s been in this position before after the 2019 complete total failure season, (which was actually more successful than 2022), and he bounced back in style. Whether he is able to do so again in 2023, I’m not so sure. Our off-season recruitment doesn’t suggest that he thinks there’s anything much we need to change, but the total tedium of our 2022 performances suggest to me that there is a lot we need to do. Hopefully he can come up with some new ideas during his New Year break. I appreciate that when things go wrong he says he takes responsibility. But unfortunately that responsibility doesn’t seem to change anything on the pitch. I don’t enjoy moaning about him so would be delighted to see him back with a new plan and more success next year. And I’d also be delighted with a Christmas lottery win for me. I’m not sure which his more likely.

2022 season player round up part 2

This is the second of three parts of my 2022 player round up post. Today we're going from Yamane to Marcinho.

13. Miki YAMANE (DF)

I feel like it’s been a bit of a difficult second album of a season for Yamane. Admittedly this metaphor is let down by it not being his second season, but hopefully you get the point. To many though he’s had a great season it seems. I suspect that they haven’t been watching very closely. Much like everyone else he hasn’t scored or created as much as in previous seasons. And he’s been caught out with his defending a lot more often. I say with his defending but it’s felt more like he doesn’t really consider that part of his job anymore. There’s also the very justifiable distraction that his national team call ups have given him. Completely understandable, but for me, someone who isn’t that bothered about international football, it did feel like he didn’t care much about Frontale at times. I’m sure though that this has at least something to do with the fact that he’s been mercilessly overplayed by Oniki. Give the guy a break from time to time! The only time it hasn’t been him playing at right back for us the reason was that he was on international duty. So basically he hasn’t had a rest for ages. I hope (but I’m not holding my breath…) that we’ll have someone who can step in to give him a rest from time to time next year. I suspect that even if we do, it will still be Yamane starting unless we get a radical change of direction from Oniki.

14. Yasuto WAKIZAKA (MF)

Wakizaka has stepped in the shoes/shirt of Kengo this year and at times it did look like the pressure was weighing on him. However, I think that on the whole he’s had a pretty good year. Second most appearances, joint fifth most goals and highest number of assists means that he’s been a crucial player for us this year. Feel like Oniki hasn’t quite worked out who to play him with in midfield yet though. And perhaps maybe that we need a bit of a rethink tactically to get the most out of him and our midfield as a whole. But credit to Wakizaka, who is something of an unsung hero for me. I often don’t notice what he’s doing but when I make a conscious effort to watch him he looks great most of the time.

15. Asahi SASAKI (DF)

Rollercoaster season for Sasaki. Scored a great goal away at Kashima 17 minutes into his first start. Probably wouldn’t have got the chance if it wasn’t for injuries though. The low of his season was probably his own gaol away at Kyoto. But given that he’d come from nowhere and then was playing 90 minutes every game it’s no surprise that something had to give at some stage. As usual it’s probably a matter of us not having enough defensive cover. And our losses to Shonan and Kyoto were far from his fault. All of our players were in awful form at that stage of the year. Perhaps more damaging to his morale than the own goal was him being dropped and replaced by a midfielder for eight games in classic Oniki style. I think he’s got great potential, I hope he doesn’t suffer too much from his slight set backs in 2022 and has a great 2023.

16. Tatsuki SEKO (MF)

Classic first season under Oniki for Seko (come into the squad as an exciting transfer, but then don’t get involved much at all until the second season). Scored one amazing goal and looks good taking set pieces. His confidence took a real bashing midway through the year when he started commenting that he was on his last chance to succeed which is horrible to hear. I hope he doesn’t think that anymore. Our midfield is massively crowded so it’s difficult to break in, but I hope he gets more opportunities next year.

17. Kazuki KOZUKA (MF)

After mentioning the classic first season thing for Seko, perhaps Kozuka is having an atypical second season. Usually second season players get involved a bit more but Kozuka still seemed to be struggling for opportunities again in 2022. Like Seko, suffers from our glut of midfielders (I feel like I write this every year…). Feel like he’s never really been played in his best position and allowed to attack a bit more, but this is just a bit of a hunch as I’m not really sure where his best position is. Feel slightly worried that the writing is on the wall for him, if not before the start of next year, then maybe halfway through next season. But we haven’t got any big name midfielders in yet, so maybe he’ll be safe.

18. Chanathip SONGKRASIN (FW)

The big transfer coming into the start of last season but has had a bit of a mixed experience this year. Seems desperate to do well and I wonder sometimes if that isn’t helping him. Played well out of position a lot at the start of the season, then played in a better position and unsurprisingly did better. Then got injured just when things seem to be starting to click. Really like the look of some of the passes he was trying and maybe the more he gets to know his team mates, the better things will get. Feels a bit like a lost year for him, but hopefully he should be able to hit the ground running next year.

19. Daiya TONO (FW)

Seems to have been played more in midfield than up front this year which I would have thought wouldn’t suit him so well, but what do I know? Would have loved to see him play in the Ienaga role a bit more often, but then again Ienaga had a pretty good year, so it’s probably not a surprise. He can really shoot but the further back he plays, the fewer opportunities he gets to hit it. Was involved on 40 occasions this year, but the majority of them were from the bench. Just wish we could rotate a bit more and give him some more chances further up the pitch. Fingers crossed for 2023

20. Kei CHINEN (FW)

Our most effective central striker in 2022 much to the surprise of some. Probably made more sense as a replacement for Damiao than Kobayashi for the whole winning headers thing and did take his chances more than others. Never looked like a totally natural finisher but did have a habit of putting the ball in the net. Bit of a surprise to see him going to Kashima, but maybe fancied a new challenge and perhaps decided to move after hearing Damiao was staying, (if he is, I don’t think it has been confirmed), and Miyashiro was coming back. Good luck to him except when he’s playing us and extra good luck to him for having to spend time with Yuma Suzuki.

21. Shunsuke ANDO (GK)

A classic Ando season. Hardly any involvement but made it onto the bench a few times. Weirdly didn’t even get a chance against the Guangzhou kids in the ACL. As I always say, I hope he’s happy with his position with us as he seems like a nice guy. With the arrival of Kamifukumoto, presumably he will remain third choice keeper next year despite Tanno leaving. Highlight of the year as far as I’m concerned was him playing the drums at the fan event. Good on him!

22. Yuki HAYASAKA (GK)

One for the future with hardly no involvement at all this year until the post season Asian tour. Seem to remember him looking pretty good in that game, but it wasn’t exactly a real fixture. Was a member of the classic three keeper benches against Urawa and Cerezo. Would have loved to see him make his debut as an outfield player but it wasn’t to be. We’ll see if next year he gets a go, even just to sit on the bench. 

23. MARCINHO (FW)

Definitely an option for our player of the season as for long periods he was our most potent/only attacking threat. Feel like he’s really made the left attacking spot his own now after a start where things went well but not perfectly for him. Most goals, second most assists, we would have been in a lot of trouble without him. Was very happy when he turned down a big money move to Egypt to stay with us but slightly worried that might not have been completely his decision and that the story might not be finished. With Miyagi going out on loan, you’ve got to think that we are confident that he’ll be with us next year. Check out his Instagram to see his awesome outfits. I’m not a fashion lover but I can still appreciate someone with some style!

2022 season player round up part 1

This is the first of three parts of my 2022 player round up post. Today we're going from Sung-Ryong to Kobayashi. I'm sorry that there is quite a bit of negativity in these comments but it wasn't a great year, was it? There is a fair bit of Oniki moaning in here too which should irritate plenty of people. Part 3 will contain my Oniki season round up so that should be interesting. Anyway, here's part 1. Parts 2 and 3 should be following tomorrow and the day after.

1. Sung-Ryong JUNG (GK)

Another good season for the player who seems to be our perpetual number 1. Actually Sung-Ryong was one of my picks for our top player of the season when I got asked to nominate three. We conceded a lot more goals this year, but I don’t think this was in any way due to our keeper. He always gives our defence confidence and I’m worried for us when we don’t have him in goal. Particularly as Oniki seems reluctant to give any of our other options a go unless it’s absolutely necessary. Perhaps this will change with the arrival of Kamifukumoto and we could see some rotation. But that’s not really that Oniki like is it?

2. Kyohei NOBORIZATO (DF)

Injury plagued season for Nobori but he showed his worth when he was available. With Kurumaya increasingly being used as a centre back it will be Nobori who will be showing our young left backs the way. Let’s hope he can stay fit next year. Definite mood-maker in the camp too, which when we’re not doing well is a pretty important thing, I think.

3. Koki TSUKUGAWA (MF)

My shirt for the 2022 season and transferred to rivals FC Tokyo a few games after the shirt finally arrived. Can’t feel angry at him though as like many others, he never really had much of a chance with us. Did an amazing job when he had to fill in at left back for most of a game due to injuries. Always gave 100% but did seem to lack the polish that other players have. At FC Tokyo almost helped us take one step closet to the title due to his two goals against YFM. But we messed it up on the same day, and then also on many further occasions. Good luck to Tsukagawa at FC Tokyo where he seems like he’s really valued and appreciated.

4. JESIEL (DF)

Injured for most of the season and sorely missed. Why we didn’t sign any cover I’ll never know. Well actually I probably should have expected it as we never do that, do we? The change to the team when he did return and we could play two centre backs at centre back was extreme. He’s clearly one of the best players in our squad and I am in no doubt that we would have won the league if he hadn’t been injured for so long. The fact that we knew he would be and did nothing still irritates me. Which is obvious as I’ve mentioned it twice already in this paragraph. His highlight of the season for us is undeniably his winner against YFM. Hopefully he can stay injury free next year.

5. Shogo TANIGUCHI (MF)

Pretty good season for him. In the past I’ve been perhaps a little harsh on him but this was more to do with the fact that it seemed that he wasn’t treated the same way as other centre backs. (Definitely seemed to get preferential treatment as far as I could see). He was clearly an important player for us. The past tense in that sentence is because he is set to leave, probably for the dizzy heights of the Qatar league. Bit of a weird transfer as far as I’m concerned and I thought the rumours were just a ploy by his agent to get him a nice pay rise. But it seems he’s going. Always has a clanger in him but largely avoided them this year. Apart from Cerezo at home where he directly contributed to their first three goals. But otherwise looked really solid I thought. We’ll miss him, and I can’t help but feel that perhaps his exit will leave a little bit of a bad taste in the mouth. Well, depending on where he goes anyway. But good luck to him anyway.

6. JOAO SCHMIDT (MF)

Spent the start of the season looking like he was about to be scapegoated unfairly and sent into the wilderness again. But this time he came back. When we had a total lack of left backs and Oniki started playing Tachibanada there Joao came back into the team and made himself undroppable. I thought he was clearly one of our best performers in the second half of the season. But we now have the problem that he and Tachibandada both play best in the same position. Oniki trying to play both of them together really seemed to blunt our attack and given that Oniki doesn’t seem to want to play any other way, I’m not sure what will happen next year. We’ll see I guess.

7. Shintaro KURUMAYA (DF)

Apparently wants to play at centre back now, which is fortunate as Oniki seems to be in agreement. I think I’d rather have him at left back though. But has done a decent job wherever he played so well done to him. Saved us against Ulsan in the first ACL game. Will be an important player next year as we’re starting the season without one of our first choice CBs. Let’s hope he can grow into the centre back spot and occasionally do his thing at left back too when required.

8. Kento TACHIBANADA (MF)

Did amazingly in 2021 and did well again this year. Thought he would be the next player to leave but was maybe scuppered slightly by Oniki shifting him out of position all the time. I think he plays best in the defensive midfield spot and I don’t really want him playing anywhere else. But we do seem to pick the players first and then squeeze them into the usual formation, so I suspect his ‘versatility’ might mean he is shifted elsewhere at times in 2023. Presuming things stay the same tactically, as they almost certainly will.

9. LEANDRO DAMIAO (FW)

Tough season for him. Was playing pretty well I thought, but not really scoring goals which I think was affecting his morale. That just seems to be the case with whoever starts for us up front though so I hope he doesn’t feel bad about it. His injury was a bad one, and I missed it as I was rushing to the toilet at the time. There was a feeling that he would be leaving us at the end of the season but this seems to have disappeared recently. Perhaps due to the injury. So I guess he’ll be back in 2023, and I hope for his and our sakes that it will be more like 2021 than 2022 for him.

10. Ryota OSHIMA (MF)

Another season wrecked by injury. There was a rumour that he was considering retiring at one stage this year which would have been a massive shock. When he came back he showed what he could do. But it was all a bit too late for us. There’s not much else to say as he was absent for so long. Fingers crossed for 2023.

11. Yu KOBAYASHI (FW)

Another weird season for Kobayashi. In 2021 I’m sure he felt quite disheartened by his relative lack of success compared to Damiao who couldn’t stop scoring. In 2022, Damiao also couldn’t score and then got injured so Kobayashi had his chance but couldn’t really take it again. When you have both Damiao and Kobayashi not being able to score you’ve got to think there’s something wrong with the tactics perhaps. But don’t ask me what that is. I would say that our tactics don’t help the central striker score a lot of goals, but we used the same tactics in 2021 and it wasn’t a problem then. Although I guess it started being a problem towards the end of the year after Mitoma left. But then we replaced Mitoma with Marcinho who was our main attacking threat in 2022, being our top scorer and second top assist maker. So I dunno basically. Every time Kobayashi plays you can see how hard he’s trying and how much he wants to score but things just don’t work out for him. Even though he managed nine goals in 2022 you’ve got to imagine that he wouldn’t have been satisfied with that. Let’s just hope we can play a little differently in 2023 and that will suit him and will get him back into form.

2022 season round up

Normally this is a lengthy in-depth blog post but honestly, I can’t really be bothered to go onto much detail when talking about 2022. Since Oniki started our lovely run of titles in 2017, this was the first year in which we won absolutely nothing. I kind of knew it would happen when at the start of the season we slightly irritatingly added the sixth star on our shirt as the first of a second line, suggesting that it would be only a matter of time till we’d be getting more. But that wasn’t to be, and it wasn’t really a case of ‘close but no cigar’, but more of a bit of a disaster on all fronts. Of course it’s ridiculous to call us finishing two points behind YFM in the league a disaster. (But that’s the kind of thing you come here for, right?). However, there were so many awful results on the way to that second place finish that looking back, 2022 just feels like a massive run of missed opportunities. Of course we lost important players before the start of the season, but we still had enough in the squad to get the job done. At least as far as I’m concerned anyway. I had something of a mid-season meltdown when I got totally fed up with Oniki’s inflexibility and constant poor choices (as far as I’m concerned). After that came to a head, the second half of the season was quite a relaxed one for me. I knew we weren’t going to win the title. We did come annoyingly close in the end though and YFM being as inconsistent as we were meant that they left it very late to completely extinguish our hope. I’m going to write a bit about each competition below, but before that let’s think about some positives we can take from the 2022 season. Erm…. errr… There aren’t any, I think. Let’s hope 2023 is a bit better. 

Super Cup

The season kicked off with a game against Urawa for the Super Cup. We lost and were absolutely clueless and awful. So pretty much a good introduction to 2022. If you win this game you’re pleased. If you lose it, you just say it’s a meaningless competition and basically a glorified pre-season friendly. We were so bad though that I could only feel more worried about what might be coming rather than happy to write it off as meaningless. This game saw Chanathip being played out of position and being ineffective, something which was utterly obvious to many, but apparently not Oniki as he persevered with it for quite a few more games afterwards. Terrible game, terrible start to a terrible season. So utterly fitting, I guess. 

Levain Cup

As we were in the ACL we were parachuted into the competition at the quarter final stage. Even so, we didn’t make it any further and bowed out at the first time of asking. We took the lead in both legs, and gave it away very late on in both legs too. Particularly shocking was the second leg where we were winning 2-0 as the board went up for injury time in the second half and then conceded twice to go out on away goals. You’ve probably got to say too that we had what Oniki considered to be our best team (or at least best available team) out in the second leg. Looking back at my blog post, it seems that we didn’t take our chances which is something of a theme for 2022. 

Emperor’s Cup

Compared to other competitions in 2022 we had a great run in the Emperor’s Cup this year. Well, we didn’t go out at the first opportunity. We smashed a team of university students 5-0 at home but when it came to playing a team with professionals in it we lost. Tokyo Verdy didn’t have a great 2022 but they were good enough to beat us and our dull football. This game came at the height of my Oniki despair. I’ve managed to blank out most of the experience but my blog post said that even though some might blame the result on us playing some reserves, my take on it was that whoever we selected we would have struggled with our awful tactics. But I would say that, wouldn’t I?

ACL

We were targeting the ACL in 2022 apparently. But we did still start with one of our usual total failures to play in a game against Ulsan, only managing to scrape a draw with a goal from Kurumaya which was gifted to us in the 94th minute. A bad game about which I said ‘total lack of ideas’, ‘a dull, dull game’. We followed it up with a walloping of Guangzhou’s U18 team from which we could take a bit of positivity. And then were brought crashing back to earth by a 0-0 against Johor. We didn’t even have a shot on target. Quite how we went from that 0-0 to beating Johor 5-0 in the same stadium three days later, I don’t know. But then we messed it up again in the following game against our Kryptonite team Ulsan which we dominated but failed to take our chances in. This put us in a bad position going into the final game but we should have been ok as other results had gone our way somewhat. But then Ulsan scored an own goal in the 94th minute handing Johor a surprise win, allowing them to top the group and leaving us in second. Which in any normal year would have been fine but due to the different format of the competition in 2022 meant that we went out as we weren’t one of the better second place finishers. But we got what we deserved anyway, as we were rubbish. Something which was exemplified by our final game where we totally dominated against the Chinese kids team and only managed to score once even though we had 81% possession and 23 shots (nine on target). We didn’t take our chances. Again.

J1

It’s a miracle that we finished second, only two points behind YFM. 2022 was a season of some truly horrible results but many more truly horrible performances where we squeaked something. Looking back, the league season kicked off in perfectly typical style for 2022. We didn’t deserve to beat FC Tokyo and we squeaked a truly unfair but utterly delightful win late on. This was the case in many games in 2022. But not the case in the following game where we were rubbish against YFM and lost. My post said ‘Somehow now we can’t pass, tackle or keep the ball. And all of our players have forgotten how to play.’ I could go through the whole year just quoting myself moaning about every game but that would be pretty tough I think. So instead let’s just look at some lowlights. Shonan home and away. Jubilo home and away. Kyoto away. Urawa away where we had to put three goalkeepers on the bench. But of course all teams have bad games over the course of a season. My problem is more that we were so lifeless, dull and blunt pretty much all year. As I said, even when we won, on many occasions we had played very badly and got lucky. It wasn’t much fun to watch and I’m glad it’s over. But I’m a bit worried we might just carry on in the same way in 2023.

So in brief, we had possession, we had shots, we couldn’t score and we couldn’t defend. You can’t really blame Oniki for our strikers not being able to score. You probably can blame him for a complete inability to come up with any kind of plan B when things weren’t working. We overplayed it often, apparently wanting to walk the ball into the net. Confidence was low on many occasions. Our play and our manager drove me nuts but eventually I got over it and just didn’t care much. Which isn’t great, but was a lot less stressful. I guess plenty of people will disagree with me on my interpretation of 2022, but however you feel about it, we can all agree that we came out of it with nothing. Well apart from a lot of disappointment. I think we’re not particularly going to do any better next year but at least we can look forward to Albirex Niigata away. Yokohama FC away is not as exciting from an away travel point of view. We haven’t had to follow up a complete failure season for a while, (2019 was the last one and we managed at least the Levain Cup), so it’s an interesting way to be going in to a new season. Hopefully we can bounce back like we did in 2020, rather than 2022 being the second step is a long decline. I guess it has to happen sooner or later, but if we could avoid it next year, that would be nice.