2016 Hotaru Yamaguchi @ Hannover 96 (GER)

Cerezo press conference to announce Yamaguchi's departure. Too lazy to translate now.

 

Wtf about that Malmo rumor lol XD

 

Cerezo selling "memorial" jerseys personally signed by Yamaguchi online through 12/31. cc @takeuchi
https://www.cerezo.co.jp/news/2015-12-25-6/

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=rfCe928Q1b0

 

Erstes Foto mit dem neuen #H96-Trainerteam und den neuen Gesichtern Hotaru Yamaguchi, Adam Szalai und @IverFossum. pic.twitter.com/7aalOZn7So

— Hannover 96 (@Hannover96) January 4, 2016

 

"Frohes Neues Jahr" - Überraschung auf Deutsch von #H96-Neuzugang Hotaru #Yamaguchi bei der Pressekonferenz :) https://t.co/kQy7mZ3iD0

— Hannover 96 (@Hannover96) January 4, 2016

Press conference @ Hannover:

 

Time to practice your Japanese (and German)!

Some highlights:

• Can you compare your playing style to any defensive midfielders in Germany?
  • My favorite player is Arturo Vidal - I want to be strong in 1v1 duels and also score goals from midfield, like he often did at Juventus.
• Are you looking forward to playing with your old colleague Kiyotake?
  • Definitely - I didn't get to play with him for long at Cerezo, so I'm excited to play with Kiyo again.
• What drove you to seek a move to Germany? What will you bring to the team, which is currently struggling to avoid relegation?
  • World Cup 2014, where I realized my individual limitations as a player - I started to want to play abroad then. As for what I can bring to the team, I can bring my competitive spirit and emotions.
• What do you think of the city so far? Have you spoken much with your Japanese teammates?
  • I really like Hannover a lot, and my new teammates have been very friendly to me. Of course, I've spoken to Kiyo and Hiroki a lot.
• The sporting director Martin Bader praised the work ethic of Japanese players, saying that they would show up to training at 3am if asked to do so. Is this true?
  • It might be a bit of an exaggeration, but if asked, I'd be happy to train at 3am. (laughs)
• Do you have family to help you acclimate? What are the impressions of the Bundesliga in Japan?
  • I don't have a wife or girlfriend, so I'll manage the transition alone. The Buli is shown a lot in Japan, and there is plenty of info available there.

Schaaf also had his intro press conference, where he was asked about Yamaguchi by TBS TV from Japan. He understandably didn't seem to be familiar with Yamaguchi and couldn't pronounce his name ("Hutur..Huturu....?"), but called him a "very interesting player, diligent, high work rate but also good on the ball, disciplined, technically strong, can read the game well - I want to give him time to settle in."

 

Friendly in Belek against SV Wehen Wiesbaden of the 3.Liga:

Mit dieser #H96-Aufstellung (inkl. kleinem Tippfehler) geht es in den Test gegen @wehen! #96imBelek #NiemalsAllein pic.twitter.com/dxJjQq5bIr

— Hannover 96 (@Hannover96) January 11, 2016

Hier gibt's den Livestream zum Test gegen @SVWW_official: https://t.co/V44Dd1y8YL. #96inBelek #H96 #NiemalsAllein

— Hannover 96 (@Hannover96) January 11, 2016

 

Hotauru, haha.
(Don't even know why people have issues with his name. In German you can't do too much wrong by pronouncing it the way it's written.)

Edit: Was a neat match. Nice long balls whenever he was in DMF, though he used a very aggressive box-to-box interpretation moving up often and quickly, joining attacks there. I thought the DMF space was deserted and defense isolated too often due to that, but this combined with the agrressive pressing of the whole team is already pointing to Schaaf's style.

 

Yamaguchi definitely got forward more often than his double-six partner Gülselam, especially in the 2nd half. Some clean touches and passes, though it's hard to draw much conclusion from this match playing alongside backups, youngsters and guys coming off injury. It would be more informative if he was playing with the starters in the Hertha friendly later in the day.

I think Schaaf will find Yamaguchi's work rate and distribution useful, hopefully he can acclimate to the pace and intensity of the league once it starts back up.

 

So Gülselam is supposedly on his way out.

 

Yamaguchi will likely start with the first team in the next friendly against Stuttgart due to Andreasen's injury.
Good review of Yamaguchi's first live action:

 

Playing with the starters in a friendly against Stuttgart. Yamaguchi made a great run behind to create the first big chance for H96, but couldn't finish off the 1v1:

Dickes Ding für #H96! @06Crz hatte das 1:0 auf dem Fuß (37.)! Schade!!! #96inBelek #sunexpresscupofbelek

— Hannover 96 (@Hannover96) January 13, 2016

 

96 lost 2-0 to Stuttgart in the training match with a pretty shoddy display. Yamaguchi had a solid outing though, seems like a good number of fans feel like he should be in the starting lineup. There was some initial puzzlement over why the club acquired a "defensive" mid from J2 while the team needed someone with more attacking qualities, but he's displayed good skill and vision to make a case as the attack-minded counterpart in the double-six, more of a #8.

 

Highlights from the training match vs Stuttgart. See ~0:50
https://www.hannover96.de/aktuelles-termine/news/details/17763-96tv-in-belek-tag-7.html

With Andreasen injured Yamaguchi looks like a lock to start for H96 when the BL season resumes.

 

Hotaru is a 100% sure starter even before Andreasen was injured. No player on DM can match him at Hannover beside Sane. Yamaguchi/Sane is a sure thing.

 

Finally they got a striker. Hugo Almeida, the 31 year old striker from Portugal. He has not scored well in seasons so I am very skeptical. But for Hannover I hope it will be a good choice.

 

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They also got Adam Szalai.

 

Plus Sobiech...a collection of mediocre journeymen. As the local paper's beat reporter aptly concluded, the biggest winter transfer is easily Schaaf.

 

Szalai isn't mediocre, and they got Sobeich from the start of the season.

 

Right, perhaps framed better to say that H96 are in no position to get anyone better. Not exactly fear-instilling, though.

 

An example of oxymoron.
Scoring rating of HA are bad. Really bad.

 

Well, Schaaf and Almeida know each other. Almeida was pretty decent when he played for Schaaf at Werder ages ago. He came as a free agent, appears to be a risk free arrangement (aside of the risk not having a decent striker otherwise).