Official 2018 Nadeshiko Japan Thread [R] - なでしこジャパン（英語スレッド）

Spanish and Dutch teams sticking so much and tightly to 4-3-3 in so many cases and through all age levels (and in both genders) is also an insult to the players' intelligence?

Or does it make a difference, since it is a system that you prefer? or think suits them? And Nadeshiko Japan should copy that?

My thinking about that:
Those 3 nations are doing the right thing by building on a program and using a style of play, that has led them to great success in the past.
So why change a system, that is already working?

And if you are following, the German WNT:
The lose of identity and not knowing which style of play suits the team the best (possession vs. direct play) is currently causing them all sorts of problems.
So why bothering with that?

About the 4-4-2:
Nadeshiko Japan is not playing the way, you have mentioned here.
The classic way of using this system is, by playing with two talented strikers who are doing all the hard work and scoring all the goals by themselves,
while everyone else is just there to defend: Some sort of kick-and-rush.

Japan (since i can remember) is playing a collective way of the 4-4-2,
where all the players on the field are involved in attack and defense in the same way, which speaks for high cohesiveness and good team spirit,
and could be described nowadays as a modern way of playing the game,
regardless of where the players are standing on the field (formation).

And that's exactly the way Norio Sasaki's team has played in the past,
and Takakura wants her team to play for the upcoming years.
Have a strong defense first, and switch to a rehearsed attacking formation when in possession.

Football is a low scoring game, so the first aim should always be to have a strong defense that can keep you in the game, for you to have a chance to win the game.

Otherwise you will have the same fate as Argentina at the recent World Cup:
With a shaky defense like that, even the best player won't be able to save you.

 

I do not mind them defending in a 4-4-2, but watching Nadeshiko against good opposition going forward has been pretty painful. You only need to look at the games against Australia in the AFC - particularly the final - to see how bad they were.

They did not play out from the back and generally lost possession under pressure or hoofed the ball up field to the opposition. At times in both matches against Australia it seemed like they were just ignoring the midfield, or more specifically the central midfielders.

I love Nadeshiko, but they were very lucky to win the final and if they had played a better team they would have been beaten soundly. What was worse is that they played the same way against South Korea.

Japan has some very good central midfielders, so why don't they utilize their strengths more? I just hate the way they give away possession. If Nadeshiko are technically superior to other teams then why can't they hold onto the ball against good opposition? Partly because they get overrun in midfield.

Takakura has played Ariyoshi in central midfield, which I think sums up how she views central midfield.

I am not completely against 4-4-2, but I would like to see a little bit more flexible tactically.

 

Sorry I posted those WWC highlights in wrong thread

 

If it inhibits solutions the players would otherwise apply, yes, of course. Look, the coach's job is to combine the capabilities of the individual players and make the whole more than the individual parts, not restrict the individual players to make them fit a given system. The resulting formation may still be 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 or whatever, but the formation should never be the question but always be the answer to the best players available against the opponent they have to play.

Germany's case is exactly what I'm afraid of happening to Japan as well, for years they had a relatively decent system and strong individual players that fit together sufficiently to make an impact internationally, but they consistently failed to introduce more tactical flexibility and the individual strengths are now no longer a specialty. Decades on German women football is still surrounded by coaches incapable of basic tactical and strategical measures, and the focus in Bundesliga primarily is getting the (physically) best (often foreign) players, meanwhile the NTs of all age levels are essentially falling apart.

 

1063054965181239297 is not a valid tweet id

 

Her performance against Norway was impressive, and i also liked her partnership with Yokoyama. Slowly she is starting to play like the player, we were waiting for so long. The only question for me is now, can she endure the pressure of being the star and focal point of this team at the World Cup next year?

I think, no one is really happy with the way we played against Australia.
We lost supremacy in midfield against them, and as a result, Australia dictated the game.

Norio Sasaki's midfield 2011: Miyama - Sakaguchi - Sawa - Kawasumi/Ohno

In the past Norio Sasaki had a creative winger in Miyama, and a fast-paced
striker type of winger in Kawasumi or Ohno.
So after defending in a 4-4-2 shape and recapturing the ball,
we switched to a new formation, which was in harmony with the players' abilities and gave us significantly more opportunities to build well structured attacks.

Our attacking formation was very dynamic and in my opinion hard to describe in numbers: So at times fast-paced winger Kawasumi was joining Nagasato and Ando in the attack and we played some sort of 4-3-3, and sometimes we even played with a 3-back-line, when either Kinga or Sameshima were in Midfield,
to help to create possession.

The ability to identify, which way of playing is the most efficient one for a certain situation, was one of the main reasons, why that team was so strong for a very long period of time. So the overall quality of the players and their technical and tactical abilities made the difference here, not where they were supposed to be on the pitch. This by the way, would be an outdated way of playing the game,
not a modern one.

Our midfield against Australia: Hasegawa - Sakaguchi - Utsugi - Nakajima

This midfield is not on the same level as the one mentioned above.

(1) Nakajima for example is not a fast-paced winger like Kawasumi, so we can't
really change to a more advanced attacking formation, as we could in the past.
But thanks to very good youth teams we recently had, the team has now access
to fast-paced winger like Miyazawa, Kobayashi and Endo.
And once they are integrated into Takakura's team, we will be much more effective in the attack.

(2) Utsugi is probably the best option as a partner for Sakaguchi at the moment, but i feel we still need to improve there, if we want to be stronger than now.
And Nagano is the player, I have in mind here.

 

I agree with you. It should always be like:
players available (leads to) > Formation, that can get the best out of the team.
So i am not entirely against the 4-3-3.
But the question is, do we have the right type of players to play this effectively?
I guess we would have the midfielders, but who should play out-wide as
forward-wingers? Yokoyama and Iwabuchi are forwards, but no winger (so they lack endurance and workrate) and Hasegawa is a winger but no forward (she lacks pace and power to beat the last defender)?

 

When I were to coach Nadeshiko I'd first ensure that they always outnumber the opponent in central midfield and dominate possession there. Everything else follows from there. I honestly wouldn't put much thought on wingers, Nadeshiko should never go for high crosses, so I'd use the full backs to ensure the width from the back. The nominal "forward wingers" would better position themselves in attacking midfield within the half spaces (Mana is already doing that very well on her own).

 

https://www.fifa.com/u17womensworldcup/matches/match/300428475/#match-lineups
A lot of changes for this game.

 

5 mins to go...anybody got pics?

 

1-0 already, this starts well

 

It's quite popular these days and I figured I'd ride it's wave [emoji41]

 

And Osawa repeats for the 2-0, great

 

I like this South Africa team, they don't panic and try to play they way out of trouble if possible. Japan's obviously level (or two) above but none the less disciplined team from Africa at this age category is something new and worth the praise.

 

Is it me or is this game being played at twice the pace as the last game

 

Well, this is going to be a big difference result I guess.