Quick J.League thoughts: Matchday 18 & 19
Mini review of the past two weekends of the J1 2023 season!
Hi all. I thought I’ll fire off some quick thoughts on some of the games I watched these past two weekends. This is mostly because I’m imagining I’ll be quite busy during July and likely won’t have time to do a full deep-dive tactical review on a single game for this month.
Let’s get started!
Matchday 18: June 24th ~ June 25th
Sanfrecce Hiroshima [0] — [1] Yokohama F. Marinos
A big match for Sanfrecce Hiroshima who have faltered a bit in the past few games as their quest to fight in the title race has been hanging on a thread. This game saw manager Michael Skibbe change things to a 4-1-4-1 formation rather than the usual back 3 we’ve become accustomed to. Taichi Yamasaki took the single-pivot position with Sumiyoshi and Shichi taking up the Full Back positions.
Marinos, on the other hand, have been in pole position in recent weeks due to Kobe’s stumbles and they looked to extend their lead against a Sanfrecce side that they struggled against earlier in the season.
From what I saw, it looked liked Sanfrecce were using this formation to cut off the passing lanes into the half-spaces, where Lopes and Nishimura like to drop and receive vertical passes from the Marinos defenders. Despite the 4 midfielders positioned fairly narrow in front of Taichi Yamasaki, there were quite a few times where Marinos were able to simply pass the ball between the gaps and force Yamasaki or one of the Sanfrecce Center Backs to belatedly challenge Lopes or Nishimura. The reactions were too late and Marinos were able to progress into Sanfrecce’s half. Marinos as usual, made lots of rotations out wide in tandem with Lopes/Nishimura making these dropping movements and they were able to get into those “pockets” of space in-or-around the sides of the box to cross it in. However, Sanfrecce’s back-line held fairly firm to mostly prevent great chances. Sanfrecce had a few chances of their own but nothing hugely threatening.
At half-time, Sanfrecce introduced Douglas Vieira and Ezequiel for Ben-Khalifa and Shibasaki. Sanfrecce were much better defending higher up the pitch as they were far more narrow and properly cut-off the half-spaces like they were supposed to in this 4-1-4-1 formation. As a result, Sanfrecce were able to control the game more and spend more time in Marinos’ half but they couldn’t really create anything great as even shots from decent positions were mostly blocked by a resolute Marinos back-line (10 of their 22 according to FotMob, while another 11 were simply off-target!). Around the 75th minute after Marinos made some substitutions, they made it more of an equal game with Asahi Uenaka looking particularly lively with a point to prove but ultimately the game finished 1-0 for Marinos.
Kyoto Sanga [2] — [1] Yokohama FC
A huge game in the relegation battle as Kyoto hoped to keep the rest of the stragglers at arm’s length while Yokohama FC wanted to continue staying off the very bottom of the table.
Most of the game were big physical scuffles as long balls from either side sought to gain territory in the opponent halves of the pitch. Kyoto were the slightly better team as they were more proactive and willing to press, then they were able to keep the ball better and had prolonged spells in the final 3rd. Kyoto’s big strikers held off defenders and then the midfielders got involved to release Kosuke Shirai or Kyo Sato out wide to cross the ball.
Yokohama FC defended in their 5-2-3 mid-low block. Yuri Lara and Shion Inoue shifted from side-to-side quickly to support the wing-backs when the ball was out wide so that the Center Backs could all stay as centrally in the box to defend the vital area as much as possible.
Hirotaka Mita got sent off for shenanigans while complaining to the linesman, which was probably one of the more exciting aspects of this game.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yokohama FC weren’t completely toothless either as they looked quite dangerous on the counterattack. Yuri Lara in particular was sharp on the tackle and involved in a lot of the team’s best moments through shots of his own or through-balls.
It was Kyoto’s awful defending on set-pieces that proved to be their undoing again. They sought to remedy their lackluster ability by simply pulling every player back into their own box to defend but once the ball was cleared away, there wasn’t anybody willing to push out and close Yokohama FC down as they re-collected the ball and made their way back to cross completely unchallenged. A clever near-post run from Sho Ito disguised the fact that Kyoto’s marking was all over the place. Yuri Lara, who was quite far from being any threat, attracted 2 Kyoto defenders away and left the gap for Ito to exploit.
However, Kyoto would get the last laugh as Kyoto scored two quick goals from crosses to turn the game on its head with substitute Taiki Hirato at the center of things. The midfielder collected a loose ball and spread it wide to Kazunari Ichimi, who then cut in from a dribble on the Left Wing to cross for Asada’s flicked header in the 83rd minute. Then, 3 minutes later, Hirato himself received the ball on the Right Wing and provided a cross for Patric’s smart near-post run for another headed goal. I’m not quite sure why Svend Brodersen came out to try and claim the cross. If he was even a step or two back, he would’ve had time to react and make the save as Patric’s header ended up fairly close to his body.
FC Tokyo [2] — [0] Nagoya Grampus
It was the first game of Peter Cklamovski’s reign at FC Tokyo against former FC Tokyo Kenta Hasegawa, so the stories in the lead-up to this wrote themselves! Both teams lined up in their usual formation. FC Tokyo opted to play Trevisan (instead of Kimoto) next to Morishige at Center Back while Kei Koizumi filled in at Right Back due to various injuries in the squad. The teenager Kota Tawaratsumida made his 3rd start of the season with Teruhito Nakagawa on the opposite flank. Nagoya deployed in their usual 3-4-3/3-4-2-1.
FC Tokyo applied a lot of pressure from the start of the game, even if this look pretty risky at times like in the 6th minute when Haruya Fujii was able to dribble out of pressure.
However, Tokyo’s physicality overwhelmed Nagoya for large parts of the match. All of Tokyo’s players had the same intention of stepping up high aggressively as a team, with Trevisan being very strong in tackling and intercepting any attempts by Nagoya’s front-line from receiving vertical passes around the half-way line. Diego Oliveira was busy bullying Nagoya’s Center Backs, Haruya Fujii in particular like in the 6th minute.
This aggression paid dividends in the 18th minute when Trevisan won a cleared ball and FC Tokyo were able to maintain possession in the final 3rd. Shuto Abe found Ryoma in a pocket of space at the top of the box between the lines, which forced Shinnosuke Nakatani to step up to challenge. This simply left Diego free in the box to receive. The Brazilian still had an awful lot to do as he swiveled and took a shot from a difficult position but he managed to beat Mitch Langerak at his near post. 1-0.
Nagoya had a few chances themselves with quick combination play from the attacking trio and Ryoya Morishita’s supporting runs out wide but they weren’t able to fashion a whole lot of dangerous chances except for one Morishita cross that Junker just couldn’t meet at the far post in the 8th minute.
There were lots of duels and challenges all over the pitch and there were quite a few yellow cards dished out to Nagoya players, 4 in just the 1st Half! This physicality between the two teams also saw Teruhito Nakagawa go off injured in the 35th minute. Tokyo’s injury list continues to grow, especially with fellow winger, Adailton, also officially reported to be out for more than a month.
On the ball, FC Tokyo played it very simple or rather predictable. There was a sequence between the 41st and 42nd minute where Tokyo played the ball across the back-line to Masato Morishige wide on the Right and he simply booted it up as he had no options. Both times, Haruya Fujii read the play easily and stepped up to intercept the ball to keep play in Tokyo’s half which was rather frustrating to see. With Cklamovski only joining the team for a few training sessions before the game, it made sense that there weren’t any significant improvements on this front. Hopefully though, we’ll see some positive changes throughout the 2nd Half of the season.
In the 2nd Half, FC Tokyo continued to press aggressively and did not let Nagoya have any breathing space. The team had a good understanding to compress the space between the lines and prevent Nagoya’s attackers from receiving the ball easily. Then, midfielders like Kuryu Matsuki would pick up the loose ball and become the key trigger in transition. I thought Matsuki’s positioning sense was quite excellent as he always seemed to know where the ball might fall and was in the right place to support his teammates.
Diego scored yet another goal as he scored a header from a Shuto Abe cross. This was another scene where FC Tokyo were able to quickly recover a clearance and keep up the pressure in Nagoya’s box. Overall, a decent game from FC Tokyo even if the finishing touches came from the superb individual quality of Diego Oliveira in the box.
Urawa Reds [1] — [1] Kawasaki Frontale
Another game that really highlighted Frontale’s problems in possession.
Gamba Osaka vs. Kashima Antlers
This was a really good Gamba performance, in my opinion. They were doing a lot of the work in possession that I had expected them to be able to do earlier in the season but it seems to be clicking together now…?
The timing of the passes and the spacing between teammates to wiggle Kashima’s block from side-to-side then quickly penetrate the gaps, it was all quite nice to see.
Central to all of this was Yuki Yamamoto who played really well in the single pivot role in the absence of Neta Lavi.
Matchday 19: June 30th ~ July 2nd
Albirex Niigata [1] — [0] Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Niigata had hit pretty poor form over the past 2 months as their last league win came against Marinos in mid-May. Albirex faced a Sanfrecce side who have also been struggling, even as they remained further up the table and still in the fight for an ACL place.
Since the departure of mercurial talisman, Ryotaro Ito, Niigata have pushed Shunsuke Mito into the #10 role with Danilo Gomes and Yota Komi providing the width. Sanfrecce Hiroshima continued with their 4-1-4-1 formation that failed rather miserably against Marinos. This time, Yusuke Chajima started out on the Right flank while Douglas Vieira started up top.
The game was pretty much decided in the 1st Half as Albirex Niigata completely dominated. While there were some improvements seen in how Sanfrecce defended in their new formation, Niigata simply overwhelmed them with the sheer quality of their passing and clever movement to force Sanfrecce’s press into dilemmas that they couldn’t solve. Using goalkeeper Ryosuke Kojima as an extra man in their build-up phase, Niigata were able to disrupt Sanfrecce’s pressing patterns as Vieira and the attacking midfielders were forced to deal with an extra man, leaving other Niigata players open to receive the ball to escape the press. Yamasaki was left trying to fill in the gaps but this then left the center of midfield completely open for the likes of Koji Suzuki or Shunsuke Mito to drop down and receive the ball with ample time and space to face forward and drive into Sanfrecce’s half.
What I really like about Niigata is how aware players are of their positional rotations and creating space for each other. Whenever Suzuki or Mito drop for the ball, there’s always somebody (in this game, usually Yota Komi) coming inside to act as the striker and keeping the opponent Center Backs occupied and preventing them from following the dropping players.
I have been rather disappointed with Sanfrecce recently as they can’t even seem to produce shots anymore, which paired with their strong defense, were the things that had kept them in the top half despite not being able to score. Douglas Vieira seemingly lost every physical duel, despite that being his main selling point as he looked really awful. Even when Sanfrecce were able to hold onto the ball more in the 2nd Half, they lacked ideas as Albirex’s 4-4-2 mid-block completely shut out access into the central areas. Sanfrecce were mostly left with playing around Niigata out on the wings in that dreaded “U-shape” that’s representative of teams with a lack of penetration. Sanfrecce’s one really good chance came down to Takumu Kawamura whose half-volley from close range was just about tipped against the bar by Kojima at the end of the 1st Half. This could’ve been turning point in the game but as has been usual with Sanfrecce’s luck this season, it did not pan out and going into half-time at 0-2 down was a considerable blow which they simply did not recover from.
One could make that argument that the pressing and overall defending from Sanfrecce will improve as players get used to their new positions and tasks relative to each other but the big problem for me is, I’m just not quite sure what the actual merits of playing in a 4-1-4-1 are for Sanfrecce. They were already one of the meanest defenses in the league with the back 3 and now they are ruining that defensive strength from my point of view, with no clear idea of how the attack is supposed to be improved as they certainly did not create higher quality chances, it was the usual “cross it high into the box and pray” stuff we’ve seen all season.
FC Tokyo [1] — [0] Kashiwa Reysol
FC Tokyo played against a struggling Kashiwa Reysol side that simply haven’t been able to break out of their funk despite firing Nelsinho. Reysol went with a straight forward 4-4-2 with Yuki Muto partnering Mao Hosoya up top. Due to injuries sustained in the previous week’s game, Ryoma Watanabe moved out wide while Koki Tsukagawa took the #10 spot behind Diego Oliveira. Tawaratsumida and Trevisan kept their place after good displays against Nagoya Grampus.
Kashiwa Reysol were on the back-foot for the entire 1st Half as Tokyo showed an intensity to their game as they peppered Kenta Matsumoto with shots from close and long range from central positions. Like in the previous game against Nagoya, Cklamovski kept things simple at the back as the Tokyo defenders were fine with playing the ball long and not get caught out by Reysol’s pressing. Even when they surrendered the ball in these situations, Tokyo’s midfielders were very sharp in their counter-pressing and forced turnovers. Both Kuryu Matsuki and Shuto Abe were very good in transition.
A lot of good attacking play happened on the Left Wing with Kota Tawaratsumida receiving the ball high-and-wide to take on Ochiai and Kawaguchi to send crosses in. This was how Tokyo scored their goal in the 34th minute, Yugo Tatsuta completely befuddled by Diego’s rather simple movement in the box to meet the cross.
Reysol made changes at half-time as it was an atrocious performance from them, they did not take a single shot in the 1st Half! Jay-Roy Grot and Tomoya Koyamatsu came on for Yuki Muto and Ochiai in a like-for-like swap. While Reysol were slightly better, they still didn’t do a whole lot with their best chance coming from Matheus Savio’s clever movements like in the 55th minute.
FC Tokyo continued to win duels with Kuryu Matsuki in particular always in the right place to pick up the ball and transition Tokyo into attack while Tsukagawa, Trevisan, and Abe all fought doggedly to prevent Reysol players from receiving freely and preventing them from facing forwards on the ball. Tawaratsumida and Diego worked quite well together to threaten Reysol’s defense in quick attacks.
In the end, Tokyo were besieged as Reysol went all out to find an equalizer but managed to hang on fairly comfortably despite Morishige temporarily going off injured and leaving FC Tokyo with 10 men for about 5 minutes.
I am just a bit more optimistic about FC Tokyo under Cklamovski, even if the results have really come from Diego’s quality in the box in the two games. I really like Abe and Matsuki’s role in midfield and as a whole, FC Tokyo have a lot more structure to them now as player roles and tasks are delegated well and with clarity throughout the starting XI. Kosuke Shirai’s acquisition should free up Koizumi to provide more depth and tenacity in midfield. I’ve talked about Shirai quite a lot whenever I discuss Kyoto Sanga as he’s one of their better players. His unrelenting stamina allowing him to bombard up-and-down the Right flank was a huge part of Kyoto’s (limited) attacking arsenal. Keigo Higashi being used as a wide midfielder again hopefully puts an end to the experiment of him playing the single pivot role. The mantra over the past 2 games so far have been intensity and FC Tokyo have clearly shown that with the first and foremost thought when defending being to push up and try to challenge opponents on the ball. This can leave large gaps between the lines like the scene I showed in the Nagoya game but hopefully it’ll simply be solved with a bit more chemistry and understanding between the players. It’ll be interesting to see how Cklamovski chooses to work on building out from the back with the personnel available as well.
Sagan Tosu [1] — [2] Urawa Reds
The previous encounter between the sides came mere days after Urawa’s Champions League victory vs. Al-Hilal. As a result Tosu were able to spring a surprise result against the rather hungover Reds with two quick-fire goals to capitalize on Urawa mistakes to seal the result in an otherwise drab affair. Both teams lined up similarly in a 4-4-1-1 // 4-2-3-1 with Yuki Horigome (Tosu) and Kaito Yasui (Reds) drifting around as the #10s behind the striker.
Urawa pressed quite high to disrupt Tosu’s build-up in the first 10~15 minutes or so of the game but it was Tosu who were able to score first with Naganuma making a smart diagonal run toward the near-post to flick in Tezuka’s cross for 1-0 in the 7th minute. However, it was only a few minutes later in the 10th minute that Urawa struck back as Yasui intercepted a throw-in deep in Tosu’s half and spread it wide for Okubo. Atsuki Ito made a well-timed 3rd-man-run in the half-space to under-lap and enter the pocket of space behind Tosu’s defense to square it inside for Jose Kante to level the game.
This game was another good example of Urawa’s defensive shape, as their 4-4-2 mid-block closed down Tosu’s avenues for progression for large parts of the game. Kaito Yasui and Kante up top simply let Tosu’s Center Backs have the ball and focused on closing off passes into Tosu’s double-pivot while Atsuki Ito and Ken Iwao blocked the half-space gaps for any Tosu player drifting into these spaces. As a result, even when Kosuke Yamazaki and Hwang S.H. were able to carry the ball toward the half-line, they couldn’t find ways to push further forward.
However, Tosu as clever as ever, slowly started to find ways around Urawa. Yuki Horigome or Yuji Ono would drift all the way over to the wings to create a temporary 3v2 against Urawa’s wide players to receive in space near the sidelines. From here, dangerous runs from Yuto Iwasaki, Yuji Ono, and Yoichi Naganuma threatened Urawa’s back-line.
Despite this, Tosu still struggled to take shots as the forward momentum that drove the team past Urawa’s midfield and into the final 3rd stalled as Tosu lacked that extra bit of quality to consistently get past Urawa’s strong back-line. Urawa took the lead due to a fabulously intrepid goal as Ken Iwao spotted Park I.G. off his line from inside his own half. His quick thinking was the real difference between the two sides as the teams were fairly equal in the 2nd Half.
Yokohama F. Marinos [4] — [1] Shonan Bellmare
Shuto Machino’s final game before departing for Holstein Kiel in the 2.Bundesliga. Meanwhile Marinos continued to guard their lead at the top of the table.
This game was over fairly quickly with 2 goals inside the opening 10 minutes from Marinos. While Shonan did create some threatening moments with their press, all too often Marinos’ battle-hardened skills in the build-up found ways around it to then penetrate Shonan’s leaky defense.
At the very least, Machino got a goal in his last game as he scored a consolation penalty goal late in the 2nd Half. With their talisman leaving, Shonan have an absolute mountain to climb as they lie at the bottom of the table.
Thanks for reading!
A nice read Ryo…I’m glad someone else agrees re Yuki Yamamoto playing at the base of the midfield, he seems wasted as an inside half, I’d like to see him and Lavi switch positions at some point.