Official 2019 Samurai Blue thread

Discussion in 'Japan' started by Samurai Warrior, Jan 2, 2019.

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  1. mushu21_2

    mushu21_2 Member

    Manchester United
    Vietnam
    Sep 1, 2018
    First half against el salvador
    japan 2 - 0 el salvador

    Nagai, Ito, Kobayashi are having a good match.
    On the other hand, the so called poster boys offered next to nothing.
     
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  2. Samurai Warrior

    Samurai Warrior Member+

    Dec 2, 2008
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    So a 3-6-1 or 3-4-3 again looks like this:

    Schmidt.
    Tomiyasu - Shoji (captain) - Hatanaka.
    Junya Ito - Hashimoto - Kobayashi - Haraguchi.
    Doan - Nagai - Minamino.
    HT: 2 goals by Kensuke Nagai (assisted by Tomiyasu and Haraguchi respectively).

    First time to see Junya Ito playing as a right wing-back since his first couple of seasons at Ventforet Kofu/Kashiwa Reysol.

    Kensuke Nagai doing a great job as the striker. Haraguchi is working hard for every ball, sacrificing his own interest for the team’s interest. On the contrary, Doan, Minamino, and Ito are trying to do too much by themselves (everyone is trying to do it by himself by dribbling through the whole Salvadorian defence and ended up losing the ball).

    Having Ito and Haraguchi as an offensively-oriented wingbacks made the team vulnerable to counter-attacks, but the 3-backs did a great job to neutralise any possible Salvadorian counter. Tomiyasu in particular doing great at the right-back position, contributing very well to the attacking build-up and assisted Nagai’s first goal, while Shoji seems to be worthy to be captaining the team with his calmness and composure.

    Yuki Kobayashi is working hard at the central midfield, trying to play the No.8 role in the absence of Shibasaki, even though his passing and shooting accuracy leaves a lot to desire, but his hard work and commitment outdo his shortcomings, unlike the lazy Shibasaki.
     
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  3. mushu21_2

    mushu21_2 Member

    Manchester United
    Vietnam
    Sep 1, 2018
    After Kubo and Nakajima coming in, Japan switched to 4 defenders formation and the attacking in 2nd half looked more lively. Surprisingly the match ended with no more goals, El salvador showed characters and refused to be trashed easily.

    The number 4 leftback looked very vulnerable.
    Osako switched back to shooting frustration mode.

    Still don't know what is the optimal formation for this team.
     
  4. Samurai Warrior

    Samurai Warrior Member+

    Dec 2, 2008
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    Moriyasu all but killed the match after his second half substitutions.

    Keeping the predictable and lazy Doan and taking off Ito and Minamino was the first mistake, bringing in the wasteful Yamanaka was the second, and he put the icing on the cake by bringing in Mr. Disgrace (aka Gaku Shibasaki) for Kobayashi.
     
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  5. seolseol

    seolseol Member+

    Apr 26, 2003
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Haha. Such a negative tone here. But I understand it.
     
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  6. Dax

    Dax Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 29, 2012
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    tbh I find annoying to see Kubo. There are better players (at the moment) and literally the last thing he needs is his ego to be inflated for no reason.
     
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  7. Interiores

    Interiores Member

    East Tokyo United
    Japan
    Jun 3, 2016
    Japan
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
     
  8. Interiores

    Interiores Member

    East Tokyo United
    Japan
    Jun 3, 2016
    Japan
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    I don't get it the cynicism towards Kubo.

    Firstly, at AM role, only Nakajima arguably currently a better player than Kubo.

    At 18 y.o he already possesses understanding of the game better than the likes of Doan, Haraguchi, Minamino, or even dare i say Inui.
    And he's clever enough to play a team game than let's say Doan.

    He knows exactly at how to attack the space by himself or open the gap for his team mate carrying the ball. The way he screened the ball also impressed me. And that will only get better if he played constantly at the highest level. It's okay to get cynic if he constantly preffered to better player or more in-form player than him, the thing is though, it wasn't any.
     
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  9. Interiores

    Interiores Member

    East Tokyo United
    Japan
    Jun 3, 2016
    Japan
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    It would be interesting to see Tanaka Ao replacing the likes of Morita or Hashimoto. I like his efficiency and verticality. Reminds me a lot of a certain player called De Jong. His combo with Saito Mitsuki will be much interesting than Shibasaki-pretty much everyone else filling the role for A-team past Hasebe.
     
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  10. mushu21_2

    mushu21_2 Member

    Manchester United
    Vietnam
    Sep 1, 2018
    Not getting the hate for Kubo since I found his inclusion this time bring more exciting things although not all are football related. But yeah the camera basically sticked at his face every 30s after he was subbed in, I don't know if it is good for the team chemistry or not. The worrying part for me is about what the seniors around him are thinking. About Kubo himself, if Japan expects him to be the next big thing, be ready for a big ego since all top level footballers are like that.

    Also I found it's hilarious Nakajima always went around this kid with big smile on his face be it in training, warming up or coming on the field. He may be really happy with a promising high level teammate, or all just for public stunt.
     
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  11. Dax

    Dax Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 29, 2012
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    It's no cynicism. It's just for his sake, and for the team too. One year ago everyone was raving about Doan.
     
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  12. SamuraiBlue2002

    SamuraiBlue2002 Member+

    Dec 20, 2008
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    Nothing wrong with giving Kubo a debut. Hopefully he’s a Tomiyasu rather than a Naoki Yamada/ Miyaichi.

    Kirin Cup barely counts as friendlies anyways.
     
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  13. Samurai Warrior

    Samurai Warrior Member+

    Dec 2, 2008
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    #263 Samurai Warrior, Jun 9, 2019
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2019
    I agree.

    Introducing Kubo was the last nail in the coffin of Japan team’s harmony today.

    He was subbed out for Minamino (who was supposedly playing under the top after the formation changed to 4–2-3-1), but then he was playing on the right, while Doan turned almost invisible as he was clearly not playing under the top and was drifting towards the right side, which made unnecessary traffic on the right.
    To worsen the situation, Japan players seemed to focus on launching attacks on their right side -as if they were ordered to do so to serve Kubo-, and with Muroya surging forward, Doan, and Kubo all scrambling on the right side of the field, it was a big mess and chaos.

    On the other had, Nakajima, who is viewed as the most effective player of the team was left abandoned on the left side, and the fact that the insufficient Yamanaka was playing as the left side-back made things even worse for Nakajima. Towards the end of the match Nakajima was clearly frustrated and began to draft more towards the center to get some balls, and he almost went 1 on 1 vs the Salvadorian goalkeeper after a lovely three-one exchange with Kubo and Osako, only to be brought down near the edge of the box by a Salvadorian defender.

    The team lost its harmony clearly after the formation was changed to 4-2-3-1 and after the introduction of Yamanaka, Kubo, Osako, and then things totally got out of control after Shibasaki’s introduction.

    I really wishes that the formation stayed as 3-6-1, with Muroya in for Doan, with Muroya being the right wing-back and Junya Ito moving forward to be the right-winger, and see how it will function.

    On another note, I really enjoyed the first half, even though more understanding needs to be developed between the players to know more about their roles and how they can function properly in the new formation, but Moriyasu killed it in the second half with his useless substitutions.

    Nagai was clearly the MVP of the match, and he is clearly emerging as a suitable alternative to Osako for the 2022 WC cycle, he was even more clinical and contributing better to the build-up than Osako, who was clumsy and reckless.

    One last thing here is that the referee seems to not willing to hand yellow-cards/red-cards and calling for fouls when needed, the last foul on Nakajima deserved a red-card, and how did he not warn the player who almost dislocated Nagai’s shoulder?

    A much improved performance today, but the team were let down by some negative managerial decisions from Moriyasu, but it might be excusable as it was a friendly in which trials and errors are permitted.
     
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  14. seolseol

    seolseol Member+

    Apr 26, 2003
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    I feel stupid now critisizing the Nagai selection. But who knew? Two nice goals. And could have scored more.
     
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  15. yanagibashi

    yanagibashi Member

    Eintracht Braunschweig
    Japan
    Jan 3, 2018
    nagai is a short term fix. he is 30 years old and if he is the alternative to osako for the next wcq then something is deeply wrong with japanese football. yuma/musashi suzuki need to step up.

    and forget about ao tanaka. he’s gonna injure himself kawasaki style as soon as he gets his maiden call up.
     
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  16. Keren

    Keren Member+

    Feb 15, 2013
    France
    Club:
    Olympique de Marseille
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    Please not Musashi.
     
  17. Samurai Warrior

    Samurai Warrior Member+

    Dec 2, 2008
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    I can see no problem, he will be 33 in 2022.

    Well, it is wise not to get carried away by one performance, but the problem with Nagai since turining professional is that he did not used as a lone striker because of his height, which limited his contribution at club level and made NT coaches overlook him (with the exceptions of few matches in which he played on the wing). Considering that he impressed in the rare opportunity he was used as a lone striker with a system which suits him, one might think he will at last revive his Olympic team form again.
     
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  18. Gordon1995

    Gordon1995 Member+

    Oct 3, 2013
    There is still 3 years before the WC. Other than Yuma Suzuki and of course Osako, who seems to be one of the few who can perform the lone striker role due to his ability to hold the ball up and his aerial threat, the other options are limited.

    Guys like Miyashiro, Tagawa, etc. are still too early to tell as of now. Then again, I am still not very sold on Nagai but options in this position are really limited.
     
  19. teioh

    teioh Member+

    Apr 17, 2012
    What happened to all those phone poles of the Zac era? There's no more tall players as Maeda/Havenaar in the JLeague or J2 too?
     
  20. yudum

    yudum Member

    Jan 10, 2015
    Club:
    Consadole Sapporo
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  21. seolseol

    seolseol Member+

    Apr 26, 2003
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
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  22. Kenny South

    Kenny South Member

    Tottenham Hotspur
    South Korea
    May 25, 2019


    Looking forward to the Hype surrounding Kobu. Can he live up to it : "Japanese Messi???" He actully looks more like "Japanese Coutinho."
     
  23. Gordon1995

    Gordon1995 Member+

    Oct 3, 2013
    Hiroki Abe's style is the one reminds me a little about Coutinho actually lol.
     
  24. teioh

    teioh Member+

    Apr 17, 2012
    Not the best picture of him. He seems ugly and some sort of evil.
    (Talking about the photo)
     
  25. Keren

    Keren Member+

    Feb 15, 2013
    France
    Club:
    Olympique de Marseille
    Nat'l Team:
    Japan
    Hope he will be Kubo, for me it will be fine.

    There's only one Messi anyway.
     

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