First, I'd like to announce that I actually got 5 out of 9 correct on my predictions! I'm particularly proud of my prediction of the Vissel win over Nagoya (I had doubled the stakes on the J's Goal betting card).
Congratulations to the J-League!! This is the anniversary of the first J-League game played.
Vissel 2 - 0 Nagoya: This was Vissel's first win since their first-round win over Cerezo Osaka. And it was the fifth game since the arrival of new coach Leao. In that short period of time, it seems that his first focus was the defense. In the last few weeks, you could tell that Vissel were slowly getting better. They lost 0-2 to Antlers, lost 3-1 to Gamba, lost 0-1 to Reds, then tied 0-0 with Jubilo, and now won 2-0 over Nagoya. Leao has switched the team to man-mark defense instead of zone, keeping the defense concept simple for the players. He also has introduced the option of using Atsu Miura in the offensive and defensive midfield as well as his "original" position on the left side, creating new possibilities for the team. In this game against Nagoya, Vissel were helped by Nagoya's declining confidence and quality of late. But you still have to give Vissel the credit for not allowing Marques to score at least one goal in his last game in the J. Nagoya had returned to their original 4-back system after four games of using the 3-back due to player injuries, etc. They did create a number of chances on a hunkered-back Vissel, but could not find an opening in.
Vissel still had problems creating varied opportunities, but they had a powerful weapon in Atsu Miura's place kicks. "Luck" seemed to finally be on Vissel's side when they were able to get an Own Goal off a corner kick -- although if you saw the video of this goal scene you'd give 99% of the credit to Atsu Miura whose kick had the ball go almost parallel to the goal line and curving back towards the goal. Even if no one touched the ball, I'd say it would have at least hit the far post. Atsu got a proper second goal when a tapped pass from fw Watada gave him the space to swing wide and send the ball in with his left foot. A beatiful and powerful shot from outside the penalty box that had the ball curve in a backwards-C to the left side of the goal.
Jef 2 -1 FCTokyo: If you were looking to watch a beautifully played game this weekend, you should have checked out Jef Chiba in this match-up. I hadn't been able to follow them as much as I'd like to this season so far, but after seeing this game I think I'll just have to squeeze it in somehow. I was rooting for Tokyo, but even I had to admit that Jef was basically doing what FCTokyo should have been doing, and doing it to perfection. Both teams place importance on speed/running, creating numerical advantage when on the attack.
The difference between the two teams may boil down to a few simple things. One, Jef coach Osim is working the players well during training. It shows. Jef players are fast and consistently running, even in the second half. My guess is that if they don't show their discipline in at least running, they will be getting a very harsh word from the dry-witted coach. Even players like Austrian international Haas, who is tall and looks like he shouldn't have speed, was out-running younger FCT defender Moniwa. I can only guess, but I imagine Jef trains in this area harder than any other team. Two, Jef have two amazing kickers/passers, Haas and Abe. These two send up such perfect balls during their speedy attack, that the momentum of the attack is not stubbed out by interception or difficulty in receiving. Tokyo's biggest problem is that even though they want to play speedy football, they just don't have the quality in their passing and crosses. All the balls they send up have been haphazard and off the mark. Jef's second goal, however, was a simple long forward centering from Haas to Maki for a header. The ball flew on-target to Maki's head. Tokyo really needs someone who can do this on their team; or at least their designated kickers need to work a little more at polishing their skills.
In this game, Tokyo also had the frustrating experience of not being able to get the ball in at the biggest opportunities. They did have their share of perfect chances, but the lack of a proper finish, or if you want to blame it on some curse (because if you have been following them like I have, it does feel like some curse has been put on the team), kept them from scoring first. It could be that the absence of a full-form Lucas is screwing up the Tokyo stability up front. Lucas did enter the game in the second half, and was able to get a goal off a pass from Danilo, but it looked like he re-hurt himself (he was whincing after the goal) -- for Tokyo's sake, I hope this break period will allow them all to recover from their various injuries.
Of course, Jef is not without their weaknesses. They are fragile still, as one key absence of the team (like losing Stoyanov, Bulgarian international, from the defense in the Antlers game) can greatly diminish their overall performance. It is possible that some time down the road, Jef may face a period where they lose a number of players to injury or cards -- when that happens, it will be interesting to see how Osim deals. Jef have also given up a large number of goals, about 19, which is not the worst but greatly affects their position in the crowded rankings.
If things get worse for FCTokyo, there may be a change of coach. I like coach Hara, but I feel that he has been a little soft on the team in this past month, not to mentioned a bit weak-willed. It may be that he is excusing the poor performance on injuries, etc. -- which is valid as an argument. But given the fact that the club has made the players take the responsibility of apologizing to the supporters and doing the PR work in that aspect, it is almost mean for the coach to make the players' job more difficult by not doing his job better. He should be getting down to business, stripping away at the main problems and helping the team recognize the main points. And the confusion he produces by forcing his players to play in unaccustomed positions is putting added emotional and psychological pressure. In the last two games alone, we saw the team flipping from 4-3-3, 4-4-2, having Konno play left sideback, etc etc. It makes the coach look unconfident about the team as well, bad for morale. Okay, enough of my diatribe.
Marinos 0 -1 Reds: Yawn. A rather boring game, considering the teams involved. The hard rain did add to any drama, though! Marinos' biggest problem today -- inability to get the ball within the frame of the goal. They depended mostly on long feeds, and had numerous close opportunities, especially memorable were the two shots that hit the frame and a Nakazawa header that went just above the top. Reds were not particularly great either -- individuals tended to dribble too much, which wasn't a great choice given the quality of the Marinos defense. Their goal came when Hasebe (I think) passed back from the top right to the center, allowing dmf Suzuki to run up and take a powerful long-range shot with no defenders on him. The ball bounced off the goalie, and flew back into the path of fw Nagai who sort of arched up for a nice lobbed header to the left side of the goal. Marinos subbed in fw Kubo who is now gradually returning to J1 play -- but Marinos were not able to do much damage. One thing that struck me: Reds df Tsuboi made a number of mistakes today, but I was also reminded of how fast he is. I forgot how fast he was. He's probably one of very few players who has the speed to cover for himself... heh heh. I can't wait to see him playing at his top level again.
Congratulations to the J-League!! This is the anniversary of the first J-League game played.
Vissel 2 - 0 Nagoya: This was Vissel's first win since their first-round win over Cerezo Osaka. And it was the fifth game since the arrival of new coach Leao. In that short period of time, it seems that his first focus was the defense. In the last few weeks, you could tell that Vissel were slowly getting better. They lost 0-2 to Antlers, lost 3-1 to Gamba, lost 0-1 to Reds, then tied 0-0 with Jubilo, and now won 2-0 over Nagoya. Leao has switched the team to man-mark defense instead of zone, keeping the defense concept simple for the players. He also has introduced the option of using Atsu Miura in the offensive and defensive midfield as well as his "original" position on the left side, creating new possibilities for the team. In this game against Nagoya, Vissel were helped by Nagoya's declining confidence and quality of late. But you still have to give Vissel the credit for not allowing Marques to score at least one goal in his last game in the J. Nagoya had returned to their original 4-back system after four games of using the 3-back due to player injuries, etc. They did create a number of chances on a hunkered-back Vissel, but could not find an opening in.
Vissel still had problems creating varied opportunities, but they had a powerful weapon in Atsu Miura's place kicks. "Luck" seemed to finally be on Vissel's side when they were able to get an Own Goal off a corner kick -- although if you saw the video of this goal scene you'd give 99% of the credit to Atsu Miura whose kick had the ball go almost parallel to the goal line and curving back towards the goal. Even if no one touched the ball, I'd say it would have at least hit the far post. Atsu got a proper second goal when a tapped pass from fw Watada gave him the space to swing wide and send the ball in with his left foot. A beatiful and powerful shot from outside the penalty box that had the ball curve in a backwards-C to the left side of the goal.
Jef 2 -1 FCTokyo: If you were looking to watch a beautifully played game this weekend, you should have checked out Jef Chiba in this match-up. I hadn't been able to follow them as much as I'd like to this season so far, but after seeing this game I think I'll just have to squeeze it in somehow. I was rooting for Tokyo, but even I had to admit that Jef was basically doing what FCTokyo should have been doing, and doing it to perfection. Both teams place importance on speed/running, creating numerical advantage when on the attack.
The difference between the two teams may boil down to a few simple things. One, Jef coach Osim is working the players well during training. It shows. Jef players are fast and consistently running, even in the second half. My guess is that if they don't show their discipline in at least running, they will be getting a very harsh word from the dry-witted coach. Even players like Austrian international Haas, who is tall and looks like he shouldn't have speed, was out-running younger FCT defender Moniwa. I can only guess, but I imagine Jef trains in this area harder than any other team. Two, Jef have two amazing kickers/passers, Haas and Abe. These two send up such perfect balls during their speedy attack, that the momentum of the attack is not stubbed out by interception or difficulty in receiving. Tokyo's biggest problem is that even though they want to play speedy football, they just don't have the quality in their passing and crosses. All the balls they send up have been haphazard and off the mark. Jef's second goal, however, was a simple long forward centering from Haas to Maki for a header. The ball flew on-target to Maki's head. Tokyo really needs someone who can do this on their team; or at least their designated kickers need to work a little more at polishing their skills.
In this game, Tokyo also had the frustrating experience of not being able to get the ball in at the biggest opportunities. They did have their share of perfect chances, but the lack of a proper finish, or if you want to blame it on some curse (because if you have been following them like I have, it does feel like some curse has been put on the team), kept them from scoring first. It could be that the absence of a full-form Lucas is screwing up the Tokyo stability up front. Lucas did enter the game in the second half, and was able to get a goal off a pass from Danilo, but it looked like he re-hurt himself (he was whincing after the goal) -- for Tokyo's sake, I hope this break period will allow them all to recover from their various injuries.
Of course, Jef is not without their weaknesses. They are fragile still, as one key absence of the team (like losing Stoyanov, Bulgarian international, from the defense in the Antlers game) can greatly diminish their overall performance. It is possible that some time down the road, Jef may face a period where they lose a number of players to injury or cards -- when that happens, it will be interesting to see how Osim deals. Jef have also given up a large number of goals, about 19, which is not the worst but greatly affects their position in the crowded rankings.
If things get worse for FCTokyo, there may be a change of coach. I like coach Hara, but I feel that he has been a little soft on the team in this past month, not to mentioned a bit weak-willed. It may be that he is excusing the poor performance on injuries, etc. -- which is valid as an argument. But given the fact that the club has made the players take the responsibility of apologizing to the supporters and doing the PR work in that aspect, it is almost mean for the coach to make the players' job more difficult by not doing his job better. He should be getting down to business, stripping away at the main problems and helping the team recognize the main points. And the confusion he produces by forcing his players to play in unaccustomed positions is putting added emotional and psychological pressure. In the last two games alone, we saw the team flipping from 4-3-3, 4-4-2, having Konno play left sideback, etc etc. It makes the coach look unconfident about the team as well, bad for morale. Okay, enough of my diatribe.
Marinos 0 -1 Reds: Yawn. A rather boring game, considering the teams involved. The hard rain did add to any drama, though! Marinos' biggest problem today -- inability to get the ball within the frame of the goal. They depended mostly on long feeds, and had numerous close opportunities, especially memorable were the two shots that hit the frame and a Nakazawa header that went just above the top. Reds were not particularly great either -- individuals tended to dribble too much, which wasn't a great choice given the quality of the Marinos defense. Their goal came when Hasebe (I think) passed back from the top right to the center, allowing dmf Suzuki to run up and take a powerful long-range shot with no defenders on him. The ball bounced off the goalie, and flew back into the path of fw Nagai who sort of arched up for a nice lobbed header to the left side of the goal. Marinos subbed in fw Kubo who is now gradually returning to J1 play -- but Marinos were not able to do much damage. One thing that struck me: Reds df Tsuboi made a number of mistakes today, but I was also reminded of how fast he is. I forgot how fast he was. He's probably one of very few players who has the speed to cover for himself... heh heh. I can't wait to see him playing at his top level again.
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