2010 J. League Transfers & Off-the-field News

Honda: It's a strange move to start into the WC-year as the Russian Premier League is rather less in the focus, and it is highly speculative to count on more than 2 Champions League matches.

From another standpoint, it is interesting that the coach changed since summer with Juande Ramos fired and they still want him, apparently somebody likes him there...

 

Bando to Cerezo, the world's worst kept secret, should be made official soon.

 

So he likes to be a playmaker for the team? We do have a playmaker, Alan Dzagoev, but in a good team there have to be several players who can control the game. I think that he will be given such tasks that he will be able to do and he will not hate them.

And we are buying him as a central midfielder but in modern football players do exchange theirs positions a lot so the fact that he have experience on wings can be very helpful. It also gives an additional cover in cases of injuries and so on.

To be honest, I was thinking something like that when writing the first post but at my second post I was genuinely interested in your opinion when you've said that you think that Honda's style does not fitting into CSKA.

I've heard that Keisuke does not play only on the clear balls and is not afraid of physical fights. It makes him a good material for future English PL player, and I'd say that the Russian league is the closest to EPL on this aspect of the football (maybe competing with Bundesliga).
I cannot agree with you that the move is not "up" for Keisuke. He moves from a team which is in the bottom part of the Holland league and does not plays in European cups to a team which every year plays in CL or EL, one of the leaders in strong in competitive league (which is stronger than Eredivisie at last years). And it looks that he thinks the same because he will not rather move if it was not a move "up" for him.

Ramos came to CSKA only in September btw. I'd say that it was CSKA scouting department who have found and advised on Honda and every good coach is able to see a good player when he is presented such. Honda is fitting perfectly to the club policy of signing only players not older than 23 in general and not older than 25 if buying an established player for the first team.

 

I think SamuraiBlue is spot on when he said that Honda needs to play on a team that fits him and everything has to be cycled through him.

I agree that its better when there are more players that can control the game but at least for now, it really isn't the case with Honda. He is a selfish player. By selfish, I don't mean he dribbles all the time and never passes because he's not like that at all. It is more like he wants the glory rather than working hard for the team. Do not expect him to defend too much and give balance to you team. This has also been said before but he isn't good on the wing nor is he box to box. He is at his best when he is right behind the striker.

You are right on the second part. He is one of the rare players from Japan that has a fight in them. I can only think of Tulio and Hasebe like this. Maybe Nakamura too. He will get stuck in and is not afraid of making mistakes or trying something.

I actually think this is a good move for him (maybe not in terms of timing). It can really be a defining moment in his career. If he can learn to play with other stars such as Dzagoev and Krasic, it will make him that much better and dangerous because the potential is definitly there. I also rate the Russian League highly and teams like CSKA, Rubin, Zenit, Locomotiv, and Sparta can compete with the big teams in Holland.

Is CSKA in any sort of European competition next year? I heard they aren't in Champions League for next season.

 

CSKA will enter 3rd qualifying round of UEFA Euro League next season (2010/2011) as they only finished 5th in the league.

 

http://blog.reysol.co.jp/news/2009/12/2010_3.html

Kashiwa have signed 20 so far.....Otsu and Sugeno are on the list but Fransa and Suganuma are not. I'm really hoping Jang pulls his head out and makes real push for Suganuma.

 

I haven't seen any information regarding this, and I'm assuming this is a better place than any for this question, so...

When will the draw be for the 2010 season fixtures?

I'm back in less than 3 months, so I wouldn't mind having an idea of what's available.

 

yes it was released February 6th 2009

 

The season will commence on 6th March and will finish on 4th December. After round 12 on 15/16 May, J1 will break for a period of two months for the World Cup finals; J2 will have a one month break from round 17 on 12/13 June.

It may be handy to know the dates of the Nabisco Cup group games, which are as follows (each team playing six out of the seven options):

31 Mar
14 Apr
22 May
26 May
29/30 May
05/06 Jun
09 Jun

 

Katayama moves from Gifu to Mito, which might have meant something to either team 2 years ago.

 

Guess who's joining Honda at CSKA.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/soccer/80623537.html

 

Couldn't see this anywhere; Urawa's Junki Koike has moved to Mito Hollyhock.

I always liked Junki, though he didn't play much for the Reds. Wish him all the best.

 

Sanfrecce's free agent Ri Han-Jae to Consadole Sapporo.

 

What are some good points of him? I thought he was all right with Kusatsu last year but I didn't really focus. Any chance he's close to a level of being a replacement for Takasaki?

 

Baba on loan to Shonan Bellmare

http://www.vissel-kobe.co.jp/whatsnew/wn_3416.html

To be honest Im confused by much of Vissels actions lately, I agree they needed to clean up but I'd have kept Kenji

Popo from Kashiwa to Vissel

http://www.vissel-kobe.co.jp/whatsnew/wn_3417.html

hmmmmmmm

 

Also, Shu Kurata has joined JEF on loan and Bando to Cerezo is 100% official now.

I do hope that Gamba start announcing transfers going the other way soon.

 

me and you both! i'm very pissed off about some of the guys leaving, but this one i never saw coming.

and i will get to see my old mate popo next time i'm in kobe. interesting.