Quick J.League thoughts: Matchday 25
FC Tokyo vs. Vissel Kobe, Cerezo Osaka vs. Nagoya Grampus, Kashiwa Reysol vs. Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Another quick-fire newsletter on some of the games I watched on matchday 25!
Let’s get started!
FC Tokyo [2] - [2] Vissel Kobe (August 26)
Yoshinori Muto (an ex-FC Tokyo player before moving to Europe, was the target of a lot of booing by the home crowd… myself included) and Koya Yuruki caused FC Tokyo’s Full Backs all sorts of problems while Masato Morishige and Trevisan had a real tough time holding off Yuya Osako. While the Center Back pair did a decent job for large sections of the match, all Osako needs is one lay-off or a flick-on to do real damage. Thankfully for Tokyo, a lot of these opportunities were offside while other chances were wasted by a profligate Kobe attack.
Tokyo’s manager, Peter Cklamovski throwing Seiji Kimura on and switching to a back 3 in the 70th minute got lots of heat post-game but I feel like this is a bit of hindsight bias. I don’t think putting Kosuke Shirai (the only other defensive bench option) on would’ve been an improvement as he’s been pretty poor since his arrival and he’s not really the type that would help you when you’re a team under siege anyways. On the other hand, one good reason to have done this instead is that you could’ve then moved Kei Koizumi back into midfield and provide a bit more protection and steel there as Keigo Higashi and Matsuki were doing a lot of running.
The game-plan from my perspective and knowing Cklamovski up to this point in his FC Tokyo tenure, was that regardless of whether Matsuki had scored his penalty or not, Tokyo were always going to throw on Adailton and Jaja Silva to create long counterattacking opportunities, so I don’t really think it was a bad decision as people were saying. It still isn’t great that Tokyo conceded two goals, both goals coming from defensive mistakes with Kimura getting turned far too easily to let Jean Patric through for the first, while Yuto Nagatomo let Osako have a free header at the far post and Jaja Silva completely forgot to track Hotaru Yamaguchi for the second.
Would Diego staying on for another 20~30 minutes really have helped? Maybe he could’ve taken the penalty then come off but while the Brazilian is Tokyo’s main penalty taker, he can still miss at times. FC Tokyo were certainly holding off Kobe up to that point, but Kobe were always going to be gunning for the equalizer/winner and would have thrown more players forward as they are in a title race. Especially with fatigue setting in from the 60~70th minute onward in a very physical match I don’t find it likely that Tokyo would’ve been able to continue as they had been doing and switching to a back 3 to soak up and counter wasn’t necessarily a bad move in my opinion.
Like I said previously in my newsletter about the Kyoto game, I’m really unconvinced by Taishi Nozawa when it comes to aerial balls. While the quality of the delivery and opposition is much higher than in previous matches with the likes of Muto, Osako, Jean Patric, etc., so some wobbliness is understandable but he continues to not inspire confidence in those situations.
Kobe were surprisingly passive after the initial burst of pressing in the opening minutes and Diego was able to drop to receive fairly unchallenged (like in the fairly long sequence of possession through the 28th minute) but I suppose Kobe were content with simply retreating on defensive transitions and packing the box rather than trying to get into a quick turnover-transition end-to-end festival, especially without Mitsuki Saito in midfield to maintain the intensity.
Kuryu Matsuki was well positioned to collect loose balls to recover possession. The young star had quick awareness to pounce and react before opponents in these situations as well. Playing in this deeper role in a double-pivot suits Matsuki in my opinion, he has a good nose for where the ball might roll (as evidenced in a lot of games under Cklamovski so far). Matsuki isn’t/wasn’t good in the air, especially against corner kicks and he would lose track of his mark to ball watch. He was oddly petulant and play-acting too, I’m not sure if the atmosphere at the National Stadium got to him as he’s usually not this riled up.
With the result, FC Tokyo stay in mid-table level on points with Kawasaki Frontale and Gamba Osaka in 10th place. Vissel Kobe meanwhile are still only 1 point behind Marinos as they lost to local rivals Yokohama FC. Both teams play at home on Sunday in Matchday 26. FC Tokyo host Avispa Fukuoka while Kobe host Kyoto Sanga.
Cerezo Osaka [3] - [1] Nagoya Grampus (August 26)
Out of all the forward combinations that Cerezo have tried this season, I feel like Satoki Uejo and Leo Ceara are their best striker pairing as they complement each other well. Both players have a good understanding of space and will move in tandem (usually one dropping, the other making a run behind). Simple but effective.
Seiya Maikuma had another decent game, I’ve talked about him quite a lot in previous newsletters as his positioning in both the half-space and wide areas, interchanging lanes with Croux (or whoever the Right Midfielder is that day) has been a crucial component of Cerezo’s ball progression throughout the past two seasons. Indeed, his performances have caught the eye of national team manager, Hajime Moriyasu, as Maikuma has been called up for Japan for the first time. I’m not quite sure how well he’ll adapt to a much higher level of play (especially against opponents like Germany and Turkey) but I guess we’ll find out…!
Cerezo Osaka don’t create large volumes of chances and I feel like they ruin good opportunities as Croux/Capixaba/Ceara love taking wild shots from outside the box. They could be far more patient on the ball and keep possession in/around the box for Kagawa and other teammates to arrive in the final 3rd to keep their opponents pinned inside their own box. Shinji Kagawa has been especially good at drifting around and pulling the strings in the final 3rd to prod and probe the defensive lines to find spaces to exploit (especially by biding time moving the ball around to then create space for the wingers to dribble 1v1 to enter the box with speed).
I think some people have questions regarding Haruya Fujii’s positioning for Uejo’s second goal in the 71st minute. I think Fujii does alright here, he’s blocking out the shot to the far corner and the pass into Capixaba (who is also covered by Izumi). He’s giving Langerak a good sight-line as he trusts his keeper to make the save… but the Aussie simply didn’t. In the first place, someone with the experience of Shinnosuke Nakatani should not be getting turned that easily in a dangerous area by Uejo.
Kasper Junker didn’t take a whole lot of touches but his clever movement always pulls people around in the box and opens up those opportunities at the far post for either Wing Back to get a shot off. A good example of this was in the 19th minute when Haruya Fujii won a 1v1 against Capixaba and set Nagai off on the counterattack. Fujii had a few of these instances where he was the catalyst of counterattacks after winning the ball cleanly.
Tsukasa Morishima is slowly getting accustomed to playing for Nagoya, he appeared in the right spots and was a part of a lot of what Nagoya did well, including an excellent cross to the far post for Ryoya Morishita’s goal. If Nagoya can start to get Naoki Maeda and Tojiro Kubo more involved then I think they can make up for the loss of Mateus via contributions from a variety of players in different positions instead of a single like-for-like swap.
Nagoya weren’t nearly as bad as the score-line suggested (individual errors more than a general tactical failure) and after their bitter loss against Urawa (where they were clearly the better team) they have been a bit unfortunate as to not be able to close the gap in the title race. If Yuki Nogami’s goal in the 2nd minute had been allowed to stand, the game may have turned out quite differently.
The loss leaves Grampus in 3rd place, 5 points behind leaders Marinos while Cerezo jump up to 6th, only behind 5th placed Kashima Antlers on goal difference. Both teams play at home against Kanagawa teams on Saturday in Matchday 26. Grampus host Yokohama FC while Cerezo host Kawasaki Frontale.
Kashiwa Reysol [0] - [0] Sanfrecce Hiroshima (August 26)
The way Sanfrecce Hiroshima under Michael Skibbe use the two floating attackers behind the strikers is quite different from how new signing, Marcos Jr., usually plays. You ideally want Marcos Jr. operating centrally or in the half-spaces, at the very least cutting inside from wide areas rather than chasing long balls down the wing, holding it up until help arrives, and helping the wing-back cross like what Nassim Ben-Khalifa does for Sanfrecce. Taking the ball on the dribble on quick counters toward the box like in the 42nd minute was more the Marcos Jr. we’re used to seeing rather than pulling out wide and helping the wing-back cross the ball into the box (without him inside as an additional threat) like in the 19th minute.
As usual, Sanfrecce used the positioning of their Wing Backs in their build-up to progress up the field quite well. Takaaki Shichi has been very good knowing when to drop deep or when to keep a position higher up the pitch to manipulate the position of his opponent marker, usually the Full Back like in this game. Hayato Araki had another good game, keeping a good lid on Mao Hosoya. The one time Hosoya was able to break free and bear down on goal, Keisuke Osako was equal to him by palming the ball away as Hosoya tried to round him.
Kashiwa in the past month have actually look OK. Even if things aren’t perfect, as to be sure there are plenty of things still to improve on, at the very least I can see they have more clarity on what they want to do in both attack and defense compared to the games leading up to Nelsinho getting sacked and the early games under Masami Ihara. In attack, they play quickly and vertically finding Sachiro Toshima/ Matheus Savio in gaps of the opponent’s lines and then feed Mao Hosoya up top with through balls centrally or down the wing.
The return of Diego from injury and getting Tomoya Inukai on-loan to replace the disastrous Yugo Tatsuta also has helped of course. With these two players in defense, Reysol are better able to play it out the back without simply resorting to long balls to the strikers and burden Hosoya with chasing lost causes. Kota Yamada as the #10 instead of Savio and giving the Brazilian the license to come inside from out wide on the Left is working a lot better. With Diego behind him at Left Back, Savio also doesn’t have to drop so deep to receive the ball before which was one of the issues with him playing out wide previously. Yamada also plays a purpose on the defensive as well, as his good instincts, working together with Hosoya to eliminate passing lanes into the opponent central midfielders has made Reysol far more coherent as a team without possession (compare this game to their discombobulated out-of-possession strategy against Frontale a few months ago).
Both teams got into the final 3rd relatively well, but from there entering the box was more difficult, Sanfrecce had a preference to cross the ball in quickly while Reysol focused on trying to find runners into deeper pockets on outside of box before crossing. In the end, it was a game of very little goal-mouth action as for the large part, both team’s defenses were able to re-set themselves back into their own box to fend off the opponent’s aerial bombardments.
The result leaves Reysol in 17th, 3 points above bottom place Shonan Bellmare while Sanfrecce Hiroshima remain in 7th place, 7 points off the last Champions League spot. Kashiwa Reysol host Marinos in matchday 26 while Sanfrecce Hiroshima travel to Kyushu to play Sagan Tosu.
Thanks for reading!