So it seems like Takafumi Hori will stay as manager for the next season. Not too many Reds followers are content with this move and I'm sadly among them. It's different when you have a great team that even was the best J League last season and you push it forward to the single common goal of winning AFC Champions League with a defensive display. It's easier this way but the gameplan against Shanghai or Al Hilal which are realy offensive teams from the Asian top should be completely different against, let's say Kashima Antlers (which I don't consider anything special) or Vegalta Sendai where you should be the attacking side. Hori haven't showed it up to this time in the league that he can do that and his results there were average. Another side of the story is the start of the new TV rights for J League which started this season. Urawa won a meager 3M USD while the winner of J League this season will get much more than that. Reds should be among the top clubs in Japan and every year fight for the top spots, let it be in Japan or Asia (like it was this year). For this you need money from J League for sure. With those money you can build something realy big signing above average names from Japan or abroad. So it's essential for Reds to be in the race from the start. It should be now but the max period should be two years from now. Otherwise other clubs could build up an edge that will be too hard to break without big sponsorship investment. Does Hori seem like he's the right man for the job? A manager with vision spanning years like Petrovic was? It might be a success story like it was with Moriyasu in Hiroshima but I don't see the likehood of this as being too big unfortunately. There's no glimpse of that from his work up to this moment.
Andrew Nabbout done deal from Newcastle Jets. He's been massive this season, but it's a big step up to Urawa from a relatively small club like Newcastle, and its only 2 years ago that he was running around in the Malaysian Super League....
And to Majster, I'm like you not sold on Hori either. Seems he already got the fans against him too, judging by all the booing after the Hiroshima-match.
The sooner he's gone the faster they will come back to playing some football as now they're doing everything against the coach. Urawa needs a man with a personality, otherwise this bunch will soon make him cry. I hate it but that how it works in many cases all around the world. Hori should coach a club like Mito and after winning a J1 spot with staying for the next season he could come back as a better manager. He will be soon out, I only hope that it won't be too late. The table looks like it looks, with clubs which will loose momentum soon at the top of the table fortunately.
The 1-4 loss yesterday doesnt look good, but it's the Levain Cup and shouldn't put too much weight on that. Urawa rested 6 players from their usual starting lineup too, while Gamba started with close to their strongest squad available (only 3 changes). But they are failing to outplay weaker teams in the league, so something is definitely not as it is supposed to be.
Yes and Gamba first team lost at home 0-4 against Sanfrecce reserve squad. Maybe Majster is right about Hori despite he deserved to stay after winning the ACL...
Got my hands on some box-tickets at Saitama for Urawa - Marinos last weekend. Was a great experience, with good food, free drinks (as much as you want) and some freebies like scarf etc. The game wasnt the best though, and Urawa really need to change their manager. Their game plan seems to be playing much wider, and then latch crosses onto Koroki but he's never been an all-out target striker. It would make more sense if they had someone like Jay up there, but the way it is now they just throw the ball away each time. The quality of the crossing were also bad, especially from the right-side. Ton of ball-losses in the middle of the field in dangerous situations by particularly Aoki and Muto left the very vulnerable to counter-attacks, and on a better day Hugo Vieira would have scored 3-4 goals. On the positive note Kashiwagi had once again a good game I think. He always give 100% and on several occasions was the player that saved them after sprinting back. He wasn't as creative as usual, but he's definitely their most important player as he contributes both ways.
Makino Makino Makino: https://www.instagram.com/p/B0pTeKwlCMw/?igshid=1e3j5xtr3cgso This guy is incredible.