Vs FC Tokyo (home) 23/2/19 - J League match 1

Kawasaki Frontale 0 - 0 FC Tokyo

After the relative high of last week’s Super Cup victory, here we are back to reality with a pretty dodgy league opening game. It always seems to take us a while to get going at the start of the season, but I think some of us thought we’d got that particular monkey off our back last week, along with the ‘not doing well in cups’ monkey. But no, it’s still there. It was a bit of a weird day for results all over the J League. None of the teams I tipped to be fighting it out for the title won, which either shows that the results were crazy or I have no idea what I was talking about. Probably a bit of both. FC Tokyo were a surprise, looking a lot better than Urawa did last week, a lot better than they did last season and a lot better than most people expected. They pressed and hassled us and were better than us in the first half. The windy conditions didn’t help, but you’d imagine it wouldn’t have been so much of a problem for us, given that we usually keep the ball on the ground. The ref didn’t help either, although many people will read this sentence and think I have lost my mind. I’ll go into that more later. We looked shaky and out of sorts for most of the match. Passes went astray, defenders were left flat-footed as ball after ball went either over the top of them or behind them down the wings. Either we had a terrible day or they’d done their homework on us. Once again, probably a bit of both. Anyway, here’s what we have learned from this horror show.

Refs and linesmen are still useless, but sometimes that helps

- FC Tokyo fans were justifiably furious with Murakami for not sending off either or both of Kurumaya and Nara for second yellow card offenses. I have some sympathy for them as if either player hadn’t received their first booking I’m sure they’d have got one for the later challenges. I think, and of course I would say this, that Nara’s foul which is being shared all over the internet looks a lot worse in the gif that it did in the flesh. I think it’s a reflection on how rattled we were that these kind of challenges we’re going in. But I think aside from these two major let-offs for us from the ref, he gave everything else their way. We had a stonewall penalty turned down in the second half when an FC Tokyo defender clearly handballed in the box, preventing a cross making it to our waiting player. Apparently this year the clubs are able to score the refs after the game. Pretty sure he got 0 from FC Tokyo, but I hope we have him a bad score too. FC Tokyo didn’t help matters with a lot of play-acting and diving but neither did we, with some downright clumsy and pretty dodgy tackles. We should probably have ended up with 9 players on the pitch, but that would have required some knowledge of the rules of the game from an official so I guess it was never going to happen.

Oniki probably isn’t sure about who our right back should be

- Once again we started with Maguinho and once again he was replaced by Mawatari after not really doing anything wrong. Certainly there were plenty of players who were playing a lot worse on the pitch. However, Mawatari coming on did seem to really give us a boost. He looked good going forward, much more comfortable on the ball than he did last week and was even taking corners later on. I have a feeling that Oniki might go with him ahead of Maguinho in the next game. His introduction coincided with our best period of the game with us creating chance after chance and really putting the under pressure. But…

We were pretty toothless up front

- Along with the defensive frailties mentioned above and the huge gaps we were leaving at the back, I think perhaps the most decisive factor in this game was our rotten finishing. Apparently we got half of our 14 shots on target, but I can’t really remember us testing their keeper. Kobayashi seems to have replaced his usual three clangers then a goal system with a less fruitful seven or eight near misses or soft shots straight at the keeper with no goal at the end of it. Damiao seemed totally isolated, the ball never really reaching him, a shadow of the player he looked last week. I don’t think we can blame the conditions, but I’d love to, because otherwise, we don’t have much to hang on to. Sure there were a lot of less than average performances, but we really should have troubled their keeper at some stage.

Super new tactics are maybe not so super. Or maybe not new tactics

- In the last post I was excited about what I saw to be our exciting new free flowing liquid midfield tactics. Perhaps it was due to a lot of poor performances, but it seems that the liquid midfield has dried up. It didn’t help that our usual talismen (can I pluralise talisman?), Kengo and Ienaga were both very ordinary for most of the match. Our pushed forward full backs meant that there was loads of space for FC Tokyo to run into. Kubo was giving us plenty of grief in these areas. People have been waxing lyrical about him on twitter, presumably wanting to take a break from Nara-hating, but the main clip I’ve seen of him ‘owning’ Ienaga is of a dribble, beating a few players, resulting in A CORNER! Amazing! He’s clearly a big talent, but I think we should probably remember that FC Tokyo only had six shots in the whole game and only one on target so you can dribble all you like, but it’s all a bit pointless if you don’t score. Yeah, he hit the post with a nice free kick, but the goal only counts if the ball goes in between the posts I believe.
So yeah, were the new tactics actually the old tactics but with a bit of pre-season rustiness? Or was this week the rusty one? Or are FC Tokyo actually pretty good this year? One things for sure, it probably doesn’t matter what tactics you play if there are so many bad performances in one team in the same match.

Diego Oliveira runs funny

- It’s probably a stupid point, but when he wasn’t rolling around on the floor the most noticeable thing about Diego Oliveira was the fact that he looks like he’s always running down a steep hill, arms flailing, just about managing to stay upright. But not as fast as that sounds obviously.

The blue running track

- Looks nice! But also looks a bit like water. And of course, it'd be much better if there was no running track at all, but guess that can't be helped.

This was a weird game. I went away feeling like we’d lost, but instead we’d just stunk the place up and managed to still get a point. Aside from one exhilarating 10-15 minute period in the second half, we were rotten. We really need to avoid another performance like this. I know goals and wins build confidence and that brings good results, but we probably should have had some confidence from last week’s performance and result and it appeared to be lacking. For the second game in a row, we’ve limited the opposition to one shot on target, which shows that we must be doing something right. I think we skirted a bit close to the edge on this occasion though. I know I have a tendency to go from euphoria to despair from moment to moment, but this was another dodgy start to a league campaign. Last year we beat Jubilo in our opening fixture, but if I remember rightly, the scoreline flattered us. This season, instead of the usual Shonan Belmare at home second fixture we’ve had for the last couple of years (possibly not 100% true, but that’s what it feels like), we have Kashima Antlers visiting next Friday, a team who suffered a shock defeat against newly promoted Oita in their first game. Hopefully we can get things sorted and maybe even score a goal! Our team now has an embarrassment of attacking riches on paper. But as we know, football is played on grass, not on paper, so we’d better start performing how we would hope to perform as soon as possible!


Team

GK 1. Sung-Ryong JUNG
DF 26. MAGUINHO
DF 3. NARA Tatsuki (Yellow card 79')
DF 5. TANIGUCHI Shogo
DF 7 KURUMAYA Shintaro (Yellow card 33')
MF 10. OSHIMA Ryota
MF 6. MORITA Hidemasa
MF 11. KOBAYASHI Yu
MF 14. NAKAMURA Kengo (Yellow card 66')
MF 41. IENAGA Akihiro
FW 9. LEANDRO DAMIAO

Subs
GK 21. ARAI Shota
MF 2. NOBORIZATO Kyohei
FW 8. ABE Hiroyuki
DF 17. MAWATARI Kazuaki (on for MAGUINHO 55')
MF 19. SAITO Manabu (on for LEANDRO DAMIAO 73')
FW 20. CHINEN Kei (on for NAKAMURA 81')
MF 25. TANAKA Ao

My Frontale Man Of The Match

If this were a disappointing performance of the match there’d have to be mentions for Nara, Taniguchi, Kurumaya, Morita, Kengo, Ienaga and Kobayashi. So, well over half of the team. Sung-Ryong had very little to do but made one crucial intervention after a potentially calamitous Taniguchi header back to him fell woefully short. Maguinho and Damiao are excused as they’re still settling in. Guess that leaves Oshima, who was quiet but unlike most of his teammates, didn’t do anything stupid. This would be a bit of an underwhelming selection though, so instead of that I’ll give it to…

MAWATARI Kazuaki - Not sure he played the best, but his introduction coincided with our best period. He looked like he was up for it and even took a corner! (Which unfortunately failed to beat the first defender. Must have been practicing with Kengo!) Have a feeling he’ll start the next match, which seems tough on Maguinho, but that’s Oniki’s way I guess. 


Goals 

None


Highlights
 

Vs Urawa Reds 16/2/19 - Super Cup

Kawasaki Frontale 1 - 0 Urawa Reds

 

We’re back! The 2019 season has (sort of) kicked off. At least as far as we’re concerned anyway. In the interests of my sanity and the sanity of my readers, I’m going to try to reform the way I write these posts into a general introduction part, some ‘what we have learned’  bullet points and then a conclusion. We’ll see how that goes, but  it seems clear to me that I’ve waffled on a bit too much in the past, with some of my posts being pretty text heavy and undigestible. Your feedback is welcome and may even be taken into consideration. Whilst last year’s Fuji Xerox Super Cup ‘final’ saw us flicker into life and then immediately extinguish ourselves, this was a whole lot more of a convincing start to a year, even if the scoreline didn’t completely reflect it. We got an opportunity to see some new faces, sing some new songs and celebrate a first cup title and a welcome win at the ‘neutral’ Saitama Stadium against Urawa, whose home ground is the Saitama Stadium. Here’s ‘what we learned’:

New players means new excitement!

- There was quite a buzz about the arrival of Leandro Damiao and it seems that he’s well up for fulfilling people’s expectations. He had a great first game, full of energy, causing big problems for the Urawa defenders and keeper with his pressuring and harrying. It was genuinely quite frightening to see him running towards the opposition keeper who’s trying to get rid of the ball. His goal was a nice one, with a lovely half-volleyed finish with plenty of power behind it. Maguinho had a decent game too, but, I felt, fell victim to some bizarre decisions from the officials. His replacement midway through the second half, Mawatari looked less comfortable, but admitted afterwards that he was quite nervous. I think it showed, and things will presumably only get easier for him from here. No sign of Yamamura or Jesiel, neither even making the bench, so the jury’s obviously still out on them.

Tactical juggling and perhaps even some flexibility!

- Apparently, Oniki spent the off-season in England, watching Premier League games and visiting an Arsenal training session. Interesting… This presumably resulted in us revealing our long overdue Plan B! Although perhaps this Plan B is actually the new Plan A and there still won’t be a Plan B, but who needs a plan B if the Plan A works well? The starting line-up was announced as being 4-2-2-2, with Kobayashi and Damiao up front and Kengo and Ienaga behind them. In reality we started more like last season’s 4-2-3-1 with Damiao being up top by himself. But any thoughts about this being a solid continuation of last season’s formation were soon in tatters. I’m not great with tactics, so I’m not sure exactly what was happening, but it seemed to me that the formation was very fluid. Kobayashi was at times alongside Damiao and at times on the right. Ienaga was all over the pitch, Kengo often back with Oshima as Morita bombed forward. It seems that maybe Kengo and Ienaga have some kind of agreement that while one of them does whatever they want, the other will stay in position. The lack of width is made up for by the fact that both of the full backs were pushing very far forward with Morita, Oshima or Kengo at times dropping back. It was pretty exciting from an attacking point of view and at the same time, we seemed surprisingly solid and well-organized at the back. The only drawback of this formation is the fact that the left side attacking midfield position that we are totally over-subscribed with talent for, and that Ienaga has now nominally been moved into, doesn’t really exist anymore. Perhaps we’re more likely to see Abe, Saito and Hasegawa further in-field and a bit freer when they get a chance. This would probably suit Saito quite well and he did well when he came on. It’s probably a bit early to declare Oniki a tactical genius, but this was pretty promising. Fingers crossed it doesn’t all fall to pieces in a week’s time against FC Tokyo.

New season, same poor officiating

- The ref was Iemoto again, and he still desperately seemed to be trying to prove that he doesn’t favour us since we stupidly cheered his announcement as the ref for our away game against FC Tokyo. Thankfully we were mid-song when he was announced for this game so we weren’t able to worsen the situation. Iemoto trying to appear like he doesn’t favour us can be the only justification for some of the truly bizarre decisions that riddled this game. But of course, I would say he was terrible and didn’t give us anything, wouldn’t I? I found it astonishing that Urawa only picked up one yellow in the whole game in spite of their constant fouling and destroying tactics. Yeah, this is all a bit biased, I guess, but it certainly seemed like we were getting the rough end of most of the calls in the game. Maguinho dribbled the ball up the pitch, through foul after foul, finally being felled just outside the box and Iemoto gave a free kick against him. Can’t really have any complaints about our two disallowed goals. Was furious at the time, my view at the other end of the pitch, directly behind play with perhaps a sub-standard prescription in my glasses clearly indicated two perfectly legitimate goals cruelly chalked off. Being able to watch the highlights proved that both decisions were right, with Kobayashi and Damiao being not perfectly in tune just yet. Can’t wait till they really start clicking!

Urawa: pride of Urawa

- I recall once being greatly amused by a Boston Utd flag which instead of having the expected ‘Pride Of (insert county)’ merely went with ‘Pride of Boston’ presumably realizing that Lincoln City or Grimsby Town had more claim on being the pride of Lincolnshire. Urawa have a similar flag, but I think in this case it’s probably more a case of the rest of Saitama being embarrassed by them. Leaving their supporters legendarily dubious politics and love of hooliganism aside, neither supporters or team left the stadium with much credit. I don’t know if it was because we played well, but Urawa looked very very ordinary, managing only one shot all game. Apparently they’d only played one pre-season game before this, which if it’s true is a bit bizarre. Presumably most of their pre-season training was spent perfecting fouling and I’ve got to give them credit, they were well drilled in that respect. As for the fans, as per usual (as far as I’m concerned), they were pretty quiet. I always say the same thing, but if they want to, they can make a lot of noise, but they seem to not be bothered most of the time. Although they piped up during the national anthem, which was a bit weird but not altogether surprising. Guess they are ‘patriots’. The other bizarre thing they did, apart from booing relentlessly the same few of our players they always do, was give Kurumaya a round of applause as our team was announced. I know he rejected an offer from them in the off-season, so perhaps the whole ‘treat ‘em mean, keep em keen’ thing works for them.

So, all in all, reasons to celebrate and reasons for cautious optimism. I never like to get too excited about things as I’m afraid of jinxes, but I’m looking forward to next weekend and seeing if we can pick things up from where we left off in this game. I guess if you’re looking for some doom and gloom, I could probably say that we only scored once in a game we pretty much dominated. In the second half things perhaps weren't as exhilarating as in the first, but we did actually score and there were new partnerships and relationships being built all over the pitch. Considering how poorly we normally start the season this either means that we’re going to be totally unstoppable, or we’re reversing the normal trend and will start well and then do a Hiroshima when it comes to the crunch. We should remember that this game with its multiple subs and rustiness all over the pitch is not a real indication of how the season will start. But at the same time we should consider that one-off games or cup competitions are the things that we normally mess up the most, so perhaps that monkey is off our back now. If we’d lost we’d probably be saying it doesn’t matter, but are now giving it added significance as we won. Whichever way you want to look at it, let’s enjoy another ‘title’ if you can call it that, enjoy sending out a message to our rivals this season and enjoy the thought of Leandro Damiao charging at the opposition defences equally committed, whether he has the ball or not. Go Frontale!


Team

GK 1. Sung-Ryong JUNG
DF 26. MAGUINHO
DF 3. NARA Tatsuki
DF 5. TANIGUCHI Shogo (Yellow card 66')
DF 7 KURUMAYA Shintaro
MF 10. OSHIMA Ryota
MF 6. MORITA Hidemasa
MF 11. KOBAYASHI Yu
MF 14. NAKAMURA Kengo
MF 41. IENAGA Akihiro
FW 9. LEANDRO DAMIAO (Yellow card 27')

Subs
GK 21. ARAI Shota
MF 2. NOBORIZATO Kyohei (on for KURUMAYA 14')
FW 8. ABE Hiroyuki (on for KOBAYASHI 88')
DF 17. MAWATARI Kazuaki (on for MAGUINHO 70')
MF 19. SAITO Manabu (on for NAKAMURA 70')
FW 20. CHINEN Kei (on for LEANDRO DAMIAO 79')
MF 25. TANAKA Ao (on for MORITA 79')


My Frontale Man Of The Match

Yeah, it’s a glorified friendly, yeah, people are rusty and there are new faces to integrate. But I’m still going to award this. Don’t think anyone had a bad game but there was probably one stand out performer, especially if you judge these things by the sprint count, a stat that Japanese football broadcasters seem to be obsessed with. So, it goes to…

LEANDRO DAMIAO - Bossed the Urawa defence with his power and drive, constantly chasing apparently lost causes, willing to shoot and scored an absolute blaster half-volley that wouldn’t have been stopped even if there was a player in the way. Bravo! (Please don’t get injured…). 26 sprints.


Goals

LEANDRO DAMIAO (Frontale) 52' 1-0


Highlights

 

New player songs 2019

New players = new songs. I'll be butchering some of these in a few weeks I guess.

4. JESIEL

Jesiel, Allez Allez Allez!
Jesiel, Allez Allez Allez




9. LEANDRO DAMIAO

Damiao, Oh Oh Oh Oh
Damiao, Oh Oh Oh Oh




17. MAWATARI Kazuaki

La la la, la la la
Mawatari Kazuaki
La la la, la la la
Mawatari Kazuaki




26. MAGUINHO

Maguinho, Vamo! Vamo!
Maguinho, Vamo! Vamo!
Oh Oh Oh Oh, Maguinho!




30. MIYASHIRO Taisei

Miyashiro Taisei,
Misete yarouze!
Goal e buchikome!
Miyashiro Taisei




34. YAMAMURA Kazuya

Otoko Yamamura, Tatakae Yamamura!
Yume o orerato, tsukamoze
La la la la la la la, La la la la la la la!
Yamamura koko de, buchikamase

(the last line got changed halfway through the season for some reason)




44. CAIO CESAR

Oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh,
Caio Cesar,
Oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh,
Caio Cesar!

2019 season new arrivals

Thought I'd write a few things about the new arrivals for this season. I can't promise to provide you with anything that a bit of internet searching wouldn't provide, but in any case, here you are. Before we get on to that a quick mention of where our departed players have ended up. Elsinho is now at Shimizu S Pulse, Moriya has joined Okubo at Jubilo Iwata, Takeoka has moved to Ventforet Kofu, Tasaka is now at JEF United and Edu has gone to Matsumoto Yamaga. Oh, and Itakura has joined Manchester City... These are all permanent moves. As for loans, Tabinas has gone to FC Gifu, Akasaki to Nagoya Grampus, Miyoshi to Yokohama F Marinos and Popp to Oita Trinita. To say that some of these were more surprising than others is an understatement. There's certainly some strange ones in there. I'm sure we wish all of them the best of luck, apart from if they play us. So, on to the new blood, in squad number order. Looking forward to seeing how they get on if they get a chance. Hopefully they will!

(By the way, apologies or thanks to the official website, where I nabbed the photo above from).


4. JESIEL (DF)

Centre back signed on loan from Brazilian team Atletico MG although he spent last year on loan to Parana in the Brazilian top flight, playing 18 games and picking up two bookings. Only 24 and fairly tall, his pedigree suggests that he might have been brought in as a regular starter. Certainly should give us some more options at centre back where we didn't have much strength in depth last season.

 
9. LEANDRO DAMIAO (FW)
 
Definitely the highest profile signing we made this year. Big goal scoring centre forward signed from Santos, but spent last season on loan at Internacional in Brazil’s top flight playing 14 games and scoring 10 goals. Perhaps most known for winning the golden boot playing for Brazil at 2012 Olympics. Has been linked with plenty of reasonably big European clubs in the past but never made the move due to a series of contractual issues. Apparently our offer was ‘irrefusable’ so it seems that he’s a big part of our plan for next year. I imagine this could mean Kobayashi moving out on to the right and Ienaga to the left but we’ll see I guess.


17. MAWATARI Kazuaki (DF)

27 year old right back (who apparently can also play at left-back), who signed for us from Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Spent most of last season on the bench after singing from Tokushima Vortis the previous year, although managed to score in the final game of the season. I guess someone who is looking to restart his career which seems to have stalled since he joined Sanfrecce. Will probably be playing understudy to Maguinho though.

 
23. FUJISHIMA Eisuke (GK)
 
Signed on loan from Renofa Yamaguchi to fill the vacant keeper spot since Popp went on loan to Oita. Started last season as an ever present but dropped out of contention towards the end of the season. I’d like to think this means he was playing when Renofa were doing well! Bit of a mystery as to where he’ll fit in the pecking order of keepers. Fun fact, he went to the same high school as Taniguchi and Kurumaya and was in the same year as our number 5.


26. MAGUINHO (DF)

27 year old right back signed from Vila Nova in Brazil’s second tier. Scored once in 30 appearances last season in the league, but got three goals in three cup games. Starter for most of the season, so you would imagine he’ll be the first choice right back next year.


30. MIYASHIRO Taisei (FW)

Young right-footed striker who comes as a bright hope for the future and is a product of the Frontale youth system. Made the bench in the last game of last season and probably would have got some pitch time if Kurumaya hadn’t gone off injured. Highly rated and has four goals in five games for Japan’s U19 team.


31. HARADA Koki (MF)

Young midfielder, straight from high school. Not the tallest so should fit in perfectly with us! Has been praised for being exceptionally skillful by many apparently.


34. YAMAMURA Kazuya (MF)

Apparently someone we’ve tried to sign a few times and we finally got him this year after he scored the goal to slightly flatten our title celebrations in the game against Cerezo. A reasonably tall right-footed midfielder who seems to be able to play in any of the midfield positions, at centre back, or even up front. Semi regular starter for Cerezo for the last three seasons with a decent goal scoring record too, although he only managed two last year.


44. CAIO CESAR (MF)

Not strictly a new signing but still a bit of a mystery as he was with us last year after Neto left but never even got anywhere near the bench. However, he must have impressed as he signed a contract extension in January. Left-footed attacking midfielder and is quite tall, which makes a difference from the majority of our squad. Played a couple of games in the top flight in Brazil but has spent most of his time in the second tier. Got three goals in four games in the Brazilian third tier in 2018 and picked up a red card too. Only 23, so maybe one for the future is what we’re thinking.

2018 Survey results

Thank you to all who responded to my call for answers to my survey questions. Here are the results with some choice comments in brackets when people offered them. My answers, (if you are interested, and I fully understand you not being so!), are included in the comments for each question. Thought it was only fair that I made my responses public.


1. Game of season
今シーズン1番良かった試合

A large majority for the home demolition of Vissel Kobe. ('Who doesn't love a dramatic comeback win?'). The huge victory against Sapporo picked up a couple of votes and Kashima home and Kashiwa away got one vote each. I went for Kobe home. Lovely to beat a moneybags team who are trying to buy the league convincingly and very happy to comeback after that rotten celebration from Kobe's Mita.
 

2. Player of the season
今シーズン1番良かった選手

Another clear winner and we agree with the J League awards, giving it to Ienaga. ('Just super!') The only other players mentioned were Morita, Oshima and Kobayashi. I would have loved to give my vote to Nara, but Ienaga was just a different class this year.
 

3. Goal of the season
今シーズン1番のゴール

We have two from the same game and it was our game of the season Kobe home. Again this was a runaway victory and again we agreed with the J League, giving it to Oshima's goal against Kobe. ('Football Together!'). These videos should start at the right point for the goal, hopefully.

 
This was my choice as I thought it was emblematic of our season, being very much a team effort. We seemed to share the goals round a lot more this year. Sad that one of Kengo's where he nicked the ball from dallying defenders didn't get mentioned. The other goals mentioned were:

Saito - Kobe home ('Kept our comeback momentum going, and look how happy he was')

 
Hasegawa - FC Tokyo away

 
Kobayashi - Sanfrecce Hiroshima away PK
 
 

4. Disappointment of the season
今シーズン1番がっかりしたこと

Bit more variety on this question but there was a clear winner again which was our ACL campaign. I'm inclined to agree but I actually went for the loss to Kashima in the Levain where we completely failed to turn up. A shocking game! The other answers were the wrongly disallowed goal against Hiroshima at home (more on that soon!), Neto leaving, the Emperor's Cup loss away at Montedio Yamagata and one respondent who simply answered 'Manabu Saito'. One other answer was our performance in all competitions aside from the league, which I guess probably is the best answer of all as it covers most of what people were disappointed by in one neat package.
 

5. Villain of the season (anyone, from any team or an official or...)
今シーズンの悪者(他のチームの選手でも審判でも誰でも)

No surprise to see a lot of answers relating to the Sanfrecce home game. Referee Tojo came out on top with one vote each for the linesman and Sanfrecce Hiroshima as a whole. Aside from this game, we had mentions of 'Robo ticket resellers', Kanazaki Mu and Oniki for his apparently random team selections at the start of the season. My vote was a choice between two Vissel Kobe players. Mita (for his smug and provocative goal celebration when he scored at Todoroki) is the runner up to Podolski, who for me is just a toerag, nasty fouling player, well past his peak and declining fast who thinks he's much better than everyone around him (at least until Iniesta joined! Hehe!). Him punching the opposition staff in that crazy game towards the end of last season sealed it though. Surely he should be getting a hefty ban for that?


6. Best away trip (if you've done one)
今シーズン1番のアウェイ遠征(もし行った場合)

No-one said the same thing on this question which is interesting. I'm insanely jealous of the respondent who answered V Varen Nagasaki as I was denied this experience by being worried about a typhoon, work and home commitments and the availability of a full refund on our plane and hotel. Cerezo Osaka (I guess more for the fact that we won the championship than the actual game!), Kobe and Sendai. My answer was Sagan Tosu, given that we won, it's a fun trip and the fact that I was able to consume Sake and Shochu in the stadium before the game as well as my usual beer. Consequently can't remember so much about the game. There were two sad responses, 'I wish' and ‘Only went to Super Cup and that was definitely the worst away trip’.


7. Best stadium in the J League
Jリーグで一番好きなスタジアムは？ 

This was slightly surprising for me. Todoroki won by a landslide. I suspect there is a little bit of bias involved though! (‘Needs more seats though’, ‘With memories with ex-girlfriend’). Nagoya's Toyota stadium was mentioned, as were Sendai's Yurtec, Kashiwa Reysol's Hitachidai and Gamba's Suita. Personally, I'm torn. I think Gamba's is probably the best but I have a soft spot for Sagan Tosu's and Shimizu S Pulse's due to their slightly unusual design and the fact that they are slightly old. I would definitely never vote for anywhere with a running track though!

 
8. Opposition J1 team you like the most
フロンターレ以外でJ1で1番好きなチーム
 
Quite close, but Nagoya take it, perhaps due to the Kazama connection. In second place Sendai, (which is my choice) and then behind that one vote each for Jubilo Iwata, Shimizu S Pulse, Kashiwa Reysol ('I'll miss them in 2019 season.  I want them be back to J1 in 2020'), Kashima Antlers and Yokohama F Marinos ('Hilarious to watch!').

 
9. Opposition J1 team you like the least
J1で嫌いなチームを１つ選ぶなら

Interestingly no mention of our rivals FC Tokyo. Leading the way are Urawa (‘Kobe trying hard to dislodge them though’), closely followed by three teams all with an equal amount of votes, Kashima, Yokohama and Sanfrecce (‘ I don't like the way the coach and players appeal to the referee’). Kobe picked up one vote and I'm sure they'll improve on that score next year if they continue to try to buy every player in the world. I was torn on this one, leaning towards Yokohama as I'm getting a bit fed up with them thinking they are the greatest attacking force in world football, but in the end couldn't tear myself away from the thoroughly and consistently despicable Kashima Antlers.

 
10. Team you're disappointed to see go down
J2に降格して欲しくなかったチームを１つ選ぶなら

Somewhat fittingly, with only two teams going down, the votes were split exactly between V Varen Nagasaki and Kashiwa Reysol. I went for the former as I really wanted to go to that away game after missing it in 2018.
 

11. Team you're pleased to see come up
J1に昇格してうれしいチームを１つ選ぶなら
 
Matsumoto Yamaga at the top here with over twice as many votes as Oita who tied with 'no-one' and there was a single vote for 'I don't know yet'. I said Matsumoto but I'm pleased about Oita too.

 
12. Best thing about the J League
Jリーグで1番良いこと

I'm just going to copy and paste these as they were written:

- Friendly atmosphere among the fans.
- Feeling of unity
- Not so far from my home
- Friendly away fans and locals
- Vissel Kobe's strategy
- That we win it every year
- The atmosphere
- It's all in good fun.
- Peaceful
 
I'll add to this my answer which is something to do with the experience of away games, where you're welcomed, the atmosphere in the stands is more focused and exciting than at home and you get to see some different cities.


13. Worst thing about the J League
Jリーグで1番嫌なこと

Once again, I'm just going to copy and paste these as they were written:

- Popularity. In Japan, most people like baseball more than football.
- Toss up between dire officiating and outrageous uniform prices.
- People queuing for queuing
- This year the World Cup break caused ridiculous fixture congestion
- Lack of Japanese referees' skill
- Queuing system 
- Not quiet
- Players transferring/retiring
- Referees' level should be higher. (Fans including me should learn rules more, too.) 

I think for me, the referee thing is potentially the most damaging thing as some of them are totally useless. But from a personal point of view, it's kind of annoying to queue for such a long time before the game and then have at least two hours to kill before there is any sign of anything happening. But I'm aware that I am part of the problem here.

 
14. Trophy you would like to win the most next year
来シーズン1番欲しいタイトル

The league takes it, ('Let's make it three in a row'), with double the votes of the ACL. No mention of the Levain or Emperor's Cup. I went for the League.
 

15. What's Kengo's role next season? (first team regular, semi-regular starter, sub etc.)

来シーズン憲剛の役割は何が良いと思うか)スタメン、準スタメン、サブ、など)

A resounding win for first team regular. ('Starter. I think he'll let us know when he's not ready for that anymore.' 'His role in 2018 was very good, I think. As a starting member, play at full power until around 60 minutes.'). Only a couple of people (me included) thought that he should be a semi-regular starter. My thinking behind this was that he had a few dodgy games and I think we relied too heavily on him in 2018. Let the man have a rest sometimes and someone else have a go. I think Ienaga will be starting in that position a few times next season.

16. What’s your view of Oniki?

鬼木監督についてどう思いますか？

I think I've made my feelings about Oniki well known, but I'll try to sum them up briefly before copying and pasting the other responses. I think he's a lucky manager, which is great, but I think some of our results have been achieved in spite of him instead of because of him. I'm most worried about his man-management, with his favourites being undroppable and others having to take the blame for them. But, yeah, stay lucky, won't you?

- Good motivator.
- Someone who can grow with the players 

- He should wear a formal suit.
- Lucky (to take over the team Kazama created)
- Must become accustomed to ACL

- Love him like a father

- I hate his squad management but I respect his regularity to get points in the crucial moments of the championship. I’d like him to know how to establish a valuable plan B next season. He has the squad to play great in all competitions

- We've won the league back to back, so I think there must be something going for him. On the other hand, some games he's more tic-tacs than tactics

- A good leader
 

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

Jリーグの選手でフロンターレに欲しい選手は？

I'll just list them:

Nishi Daigo (Kahsima Antlers)

Fernando Torres (Sagan Tosu)

Kosuke Nakamura (Kashiwa Reysol) 2 votes

Misao Kento (Kashima Antlers)

Amano Jun (Yokohama F Marinos)

Ruben Ira Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea...)
Nakayama Yuta (Kashiwa Reysol)

Matsubara Ko (Shimizu S-Pulse)

Personally, this is tricky for me. I get too attached to the players we have and don't want them to leave or get replaced. I have recently developed a bit of a love-hate relationship with Yuma Suzuki (previously a hate-hate relationship...), as he's the kind of player I thought we could probably do with in certain situations. But perhaps Leandro Damião could be that kind of player. Without having seen the new right backs in action yet, I'll say I'd like us to get the Shimizu right back Elsinho in. I've heard he's good...

18. Any other comments
その他コメント 

This wasn't supposed to be a self congratulatory question, but thank you for the nice things you said which I'll copy below, along with a few other comments that aren't pats on the back for me. My other comment is 'Thank you very much for responding and thank you very much for reading the blog. And please say hello if you see me at a game. I'm the British guy wearing the Nara shirt.'

- I hope Leandro Damião will be the key player for ACL.
- I hope I’ll come back to Todoroki in 2019 !
- Happy new year! 

- I'm looking forward to read your blog again this year!

- I enjoy your blog always.  Thanks:-)

- Great blog, keep up the good work and go easy on Oniki :P

2018 Season round-up

In the interest of getting these round-up blog posts finished before the end of the year, today I’ll post my general thoughts on our 2018 season. Let’s start with the league first.

It’s undeniable that winning our second ever title, with plenty of games to spare, by plenty of points, scoring the most and conceding the least is a pretty fantastic achievement. So full credit to everyone involved for that. Seven losses and six draws meant that we finished up with a slightly worse record than last year, but you could probably make the case that the league was a bit more competitive at the top and the bottom this year. Ten points separated Urawa in fifth and Nagoya in a potential relegation position. So clearly lots of teams were taking points off their near rivals. The shocking thing is that Urawa in fifth, (and very nearly Sapporo in fourth), were closer to V Varen Nagasaki at the bottom of the table than they were to us, just a few league positions above them. Hiroshima’s complete implosion probably spread a few points around the league that you wouldn’t normally expect to be shared around. We were well off the pace earlier in the season and would never have got the chance to make such an amazing comeback if they hadn’t really started stinking the place up. Certainly, pressure from us putting results together contributed to their collapse, but if we are in a similar position next season, we can’t expect our opponents to do the same.

Looking at the games we didn’t win, a few things stand out. Cerezo and Urawa both did the double over us. We still can’t beat Cerezo, although the complete off-season deconstruction of their squad could help us next year. We drew twice with Shonan, which in a way points to a similar problem. Both teams play pretty conservatively, sitting back, keeping things tight and then hitting on the counter attack. As did FC Tokyo, who beat us at Todoroki. Playing these kind of teams was a problem for us last season, and the fact that more and more teams are playing like that now can’t be a good thing for us. Our inflexible way of playing still means we struggle a bit against these tactics. I’m sure more teams are noticing. I feel Urawa worked this out and their two victories against us saw them playing in a less exciting but more effective way than we might normally expect them to. To round up the last few matches we didn’t take all the points in, we have draws against Sagan Tosu and Yokohama, teams who were right down the bottom for most of the season, and also draws against Kashima and Sendai who were doing significantly better (at least when we played them). One of our worst performances of the year was out defeat at Gamba who were in a dodgy position but seemed to be getting things together. Can’t help but feel that we helped them on their way with a stinker of a performance. And I guess I have to mention the defeat against Sanfrecce at home which featured one of the worst refereeing decisions we saw in a season that was notable for the amount of clangers from the officials.

On a more positive note, there were some big wins, the 7-0 against Consadole, which felt a bit mean on a team that were recovering from an earthquake, but was at the same time, quite exhilarating. The 5-3 against Kobe was more satisfying, given that it contained a comeback against a moneybags team that has been trying to buy the title for years and has failed so far and also saw a hissy fit from a Kobe player who had done a very unsporting goal celebration which had irritated me quite a lot and had then seen his team get dismantled. The other big win was the 4-1 against Kashima in the league which was great because it was a spanking for a team that always seems to beat us when it matters. It also featured an own goal from one of Kashima’s big stars Misao and a red card for Shoji. Lovely! My favourite Ienaga shoulder flick was also in this game. The best way to get a booking ever, and well worth it! All in all, a good season, but not as many points or goals as 2017. Only three points less, but a whopping fourteen goals less, and don’t forget that included seven against Sapporo. The defence was tighter though, (by five goals), and I think this was how things generally felt for most of the season. Whether we’d really want to sacrifice that many goals scored for the better defence though, I’m not sure.

On to the cups and I’ll start very briefly with the ACL. The campaign was a total disaster. Against the stronger teams, we displayed a complete tactical ineptness, not playing the way we could, perhaps hoping to tighten things up and not concede, but instead just ended up completely sacrificing any kind of attaching intent. After the first couple of games were lost we were up against it, and it seemed that the pressure told with the two middle games of the campaign against Melbourne Victory which we really should have won. The first home game was a draw after a late penalty, which I think caused Nara to be dropped for a while by Oniki. We should have been out of sight by then though, if we hadn’t been playing so badly. After drawing what should have been our easiest game, I’m not sure if Oniki had given up already by the return fixture as he sent a very strange squad. I guess he had one eye on the league and was considering the long travel involved, but we really should have won that game too, but once again can have no real complaints about losing. After four games we were out, and two of those games were our gimmes in the group. The final two games were draws, but you can’t really take much from either as we were already cooked by then and our opponents were already home and dry. The ACL isn’t my biggest concern, I’m much more interested in doing well in the league, but it would be nice if we didn’t stink it up so much. Not just for the fact that we want to show our best side and do our best, but also for the fact that our ACL failures manage to simultaneously irritate (we’re doing badly for Japan) and delight (we’re losing and showing we can’t hack it at the ‘next level’ up) our J League opponents fans. If we have to irritate and delight rival J League fans, I’d much rather we did it through winning games (Go Japan! Damn Kawasaki, kind of thing).

I think I’ll quickly gloss over our Levain cup this year. Two lacklustre performances against Kashima, one of which was a total disaster at our home stadium for the day, the Ajinomoto stadium. We were rotten in that second game. The supporters were so loud which was surprising given that we had so little to actually cheer happening on the pitch. I didn’t particularly agree with some of the tactics and selections Oniki made, but realise that this is pretty clearly the least significant competition for us and perhaps we treated it that way. I do feel though that we have unfinished business in the competition after our rotten final performance last year. It’s probably also the easiest trophy to win if you’re an ACL team coming in at the knock-out stage, given how lightly many teams take it. Maybe next year, but this has to go down as a missed opportunity.

Finally, the Emperor’s Cup. Another missed opportunity really, but not so surprising given how much of a meal we made of getting through to where we did. We struggled a bit against Sony Sendai, having to come back from 2-0 down at half time. It didn’t really feel that we were going to lose, but we only scored the winner in the 89th minute. Perhaps a bullet dodged. The next round away at Mito was different. In spite of leading for most of the game, the late equaliser felt somehow inevitable, if only for the potential journey home difficulties it caused. Extra time was tense, as were the penalties but we scraped through and we finally managed to scrape home around 3am. The next round was possibly our most straight forward game in the competition this year even if we did go behind once again. I guess Shonan were resting some players and there wasn't quite the giant killing potential in the game. A decent second half performance saw us comfortably through to the quarter finals to lose to Montedio Yamagata at home, although the game was played in Yamagata. I’d love someone to explain how that works. I was delighted to get the chance to go to Yamagata though, and aside from the game enjoyed my visit. I think Taniguchi might feel the same. There was a full strength team out for us and we still went three behind in the first 50 minutes. It was another game where we really didn’t turn up, but this time it was individual errors that cost us, with every goal coming from a Taniguchi clanger. A red card for Sung-Ryong didn’t help, but you could say we might have actually played better after that happened. Another good opportunity thrown away as the draw to the final looked pretty good for us. But no complaints from me about either Oniki or the result. Montedio deserved it.

Oh, I forgot about the Super Cup right at the start of the season. We were crap and Cerezo always beat us. That’s probably all that needs to be said about it.

All in all, I guess 2018 will go down as a success. It was great to get the second league title and this was the competition I was most interested in and I think it overshadows the others. However, there were a fair few missed opportunities. Of course we can’t expect to win everything, but perhaps whilst we have the squad we do, we might expect to do a bit better in the cups. Naturally, 100% consistency doesn’t happen, and we’re always going to lose games. However the manner in which we’ve lost some this year, and perhaps also the manner in which we’ve won some games suggests that we still had a significant portion of luck on our side. I guess luck is an important aspect of any successful team, but I’d rather we didn’t have to rely on it so much. As for what next year holds, we’ll have to wait and see. We’ve lost Elsinho, which looks like being potentially a big blow. We’re strengthening, but there are a lot of big teams that are also doing so, and you can’t imagine that the big sides will be content with us taking the league title again. I think 2019 will be a lot more competitive at the top, but perhaps that there will be more of a gap to the middle and lower parts of the table. Hopefully, we’ll still be in the top section, can push on from 2018 and keep our momentum going. Happy Christmas and New Year to all of you. Go Frontale!

2018 Season Player Round-Up Part 3

This is the third and final part of three round-ups of each of our players' 2018. A more general round up will be coming soon. Or at least as soon as I have got round to writing it and found time to post it.

25. MORITA Hidemasa

Morita has been a bit of a revelation this year. From being an untested rookie last season to a first choice player and our only national team representative is a hell of a lot of progress. I suspect he could be the next player to leave us for a foreign team as he seems more ambitious than some of his team mates. Apparently he doesn’t want a song till he scores a goal, but I think he deserves one next year. Has surprised with his strength, tackling, movement and skill on the ball. Pretty much everything really. Only possible downside is that he occasionally seems to try a bit of showboating and it usually doesn’t work out. Guess this happens when you spend a long time training with Neto! Really looking forward to seeing him and Oshima play together next year and hope we can hang on to him for as long as possible. Should also mention, his transformation from fresh faced youngster to beard, moustache and classic J League haircut look has also been quite sensational.

26. TABINAS Jefferson

A season even less eventful than last year if that’s possible. Not even the solitary bench appearance this time. You’ve got to wonder why we don’t send him out on loan if he’s nowhere near the first team as he was supposed to be a bright prospect.

27. SUZUKI Yuto

Decent first season, and seems to have sealed the spot of replacing Ienaga when he moves inside. Feels kind of like a European style attacker, being a bit tall, powerful and a bit fast. And more direct than many of our other players. Played a bit of time at right back too, so maybe that could be his spot next year with Elsinho gone. Couple of goals, one of which was crucial, and a couple of assists add up to a solid first season.

28. WAKIZAKA Yasuto

Seemed to be the youngster that people were excited about at the start of the year with people saying he would be Kengo's replacement. Has had his pitch time limited though, starting one, coming on once and being an unused sub once. Oniki scandalously (in my opinion), subbed him halfway through the first half in his one start in a cup game. Nice man management from him as usual! That can’t have done his confidence any good. I guess he’ll hope he gets more of a chance next year.

29. Michael James FITZGERALD

Last year’s wilderness man came back and played some football! He even started some games! Although we shouldn’t forget that in the middle of the season we were playing our right back in the middle ahead of him and two other centre backs. It’s difficult to say whether he’s improved on last year as we got so little opportunity to see him last year. Think he’ll struggle to dislodge Nara, but seems to be more at the races this year.

30. ARAI Shota

As always, a reliable back up to Sung-Ryong. His keeping is pretty good I think, but is nowhere near as good with the ball at his feet which has caused us to change our plans on a few occasions. Got an assist this year which he was delighted about. Hasn’t really been found wanting too much this season, and if he’s happy with that I guess we are too.

31. POPP William

One appearance as an unused sub meant we got to sing his name, but are still largely unaware of what he can do. Guess the only thing lonelier than the life of a third choice keeper is the life of a fourth choice keeper.

32. TANAKA Ao

Big season for Ao. He made his first team debut and on the same occasion scored his first goal. Time was otherwise limited until the last two games where he started due to an injury to Oshima. Not sure if this means he’s ahead of Shimoda in the pecking order or if Oniki was just using the couple of games after we’d won the title to give him a chance. Looked pretty wobbly in the first half against FC Tokyo but steadied himself and did a good job. Very much still in the one for the future category but much loved by the fans due to his long time spent with us from youth level.

33. MIYASHIRO Taisei

Still an unknown quantity. His one unused sub appearance came in the last game where it looked like he might be brought on for his debut, but an early injury to Kurumaya meant that we had one less late sub available and he missed out.

37. SAITO Manabu

Starred out injured but as our great hope, came on and almost won us the game against his old team and then kind of faded back into the shadows. It’s been a real stop/start season for Manabu with more stopping than starting. Another player in our most oversubscribed area, he was never going to walk straight into the team, but I think it’s been trickier than he expected. Oniki’s tactical ‘rigidity’ has meant that he’s never really had a run of games to get going and every time he looks like he’s getting somewhere, it doesn’t quite happen. But he’s an exciting player and can only do better next year. I think we’re all looking forward to seeing him really cut loose.

41. IENAGA Akihiro

My and many others player of the year, and the J League agreed. Streets ahead our most consistent performer, with very few off games, he’s brought goals, assists, skills and a kind of lovable on the pitch temper. Particularly like how he avenged Nara against Yuma Suzuki with a very amusing shoulder flick. It’s been said that he doesn’t like to stay at any one club did too long, but I hope he stays for as long as he can, as he’s really been the attacking heartbeat of the team this year.

44. CAIO Cesar

So underused that we don’t even know where he plays really, although I heard he’s a left footed attacking midfielder. If that’s true, whoever signed him must be insane as we have loads of them already. Will he still be with us next year, who knows? Looked a little bit like a signing which was made to keep up our quota of Brazilians.

ONIKI Toru - manager

As I’m sure anyone who has read this blog knows, I’m not Oniki's greatest fan. I realise this sounds stupid as he’s provided us with consecutive league titles in his first two seasons but I feel that these titles have been secured at times in spite of him rather than because of him. Our ACL campaign was a total disaster with just bizarre tactics employed. Hope he’s learned for next year. We also still have no plan B, and we’ve been a bit lucky that our plan A has been sufficient this year. Of course we can’t win every game, but when a team comes prepared, ably defends in numbers and sits back waiting for a counter attack (which many teams have at least tried to do this year), we are often found wanting. Equally worrying is his apparent complete lack of man management skills, which I’ve gone into in detail in individual player posts. Even so, I still feel a bit guilty criticising him. He has tightened things up at the back but we’ve definitely lost a bit of excitement going forward. So far it seems that he’s had luck on his side, and perhaps it’s better to have a lucky manager rather than a good manager. We just have to hope that he shows some more of the latter next season, whilst retaining plenty of the former.