Have seen that other clubs have a dedicated thread, and don't want to clog up the J1 thread with too much Avispa talk. Will hopefully get a bit more positive as the season goes on, but at the moment the club are confirming the pre-season predictions where all the pundits said we would be rock-bottom at the end of the season. Current targets: Fewest goals scored in a season : 19 (Yokohama FC 2007) Most goals conceded : 111 (Yokohama Flugels 1995) Fewest points : 13 (Bellmare Hiratsuka 1999) Fewest wins : 4
Yeah, I've seen enough so far this season to say that all of those records should be safe. If things had fallen a little differently we could have got something out of all the games so far this season, you could probably make an argument that we could have won any of them having only really been outclassed in the 2nd half against Albirex.
The boy has come good! I really hope they don't throw the game away from here. Having scored 2 really good goals and hit the bar once it is exactly what they need to kick-start the season. It isn't a big surprise that both goals came with him playing a deeper role than he has in previous games. Running from midfield for the first and collecting a ball dragged back to the edge of the box for the second.
I was happy to see you guys come up. But ffs, Marinos - giving away points at home to (so called) "weaker" teams. Sick of it.
Truly feel sorry for Avispa. You played well, I didn't believe we could get back into this. Ono put in his first good game for the year. I hope you guys can break your duck next week.
There was a depressing sense of predictability about that. I think we have conceded goals in the 75th-80th minute of every game this season, costing us points in all of them apart from the first game of the season. I'd like to think the team could build on the first half performance in games to come, but I imagine it will be easier to slump after the 2nd half. As soon as Marinos scored after 2 minutes I was worried. If we had been able to hold the ball for 10 minutes at the start of the half it could have killed the game, but that just turned the tables immediately.
Even after we scored our first, you were still cutting us up and had a couple of chances - there were a few worrying moments for me... I suppose once we equalised the momentum shifted our way. I was surprised by the ferociousness, speed and tenaciousness of your forwards and mids, pressing us really high, we really struggled to get the ball out of our own half.
^^ jogo definitely could have had 3. Poor Avispa fans looked shattered, stunned after the game. Am glad Kimura our coach said good things about you guys afterwards.
We have started at a good pace in every game this season, but towards the end of games just seem to fall apart a bit. Not sure if it is a fitness issue, or nerves. If you took the scores from half-time this season (or even from around the hour mark in most of them) we would have drawn with Niigata, Shimizu and Sendai, and beaten Antlers and Marinos. Over 90 minutes we've lost all 5.
It seems to be the consensus with most people I speak to that they're as good as down. I know they're joking for the most part, but it's really not looking good.
You can judge the quality of a player just watching the way he finishes his actions. These two were perfect, I really think Jogo is a class player but does he acknowledge his potential himself ? He's tall, elegant and technically gifted. Maybe it's just me but I think he can get a call for the national team in the future.
I don't think that they aren't up to being in the J1, going by yesterday's performance. It took 2 well-above-the-ordinary finishes for us to get over them, and they still created a couple of chances to even it up. Their intensity didn't really even diminish, and I wouldn't put it down to nerves or fitness. Just terribly unlucky that Ono made his first real impact of the season for us in this game.
One of the things keeping me going is that while we've played Antlers and Marinos, and teams who seem to have some form like Sendai and Niigata and only narrowly been beaten we still have clubs like Vissel Kobe to get 6 points from.