The names you have made, have all been made by supporters, journalists and experts... including Robert Cullen, but also Suganuma, Oguro (perfect even for Sanga's crappy game), Roberto, etc. The club brought in "atomic knee" Kwak, Shingo Suzuki (my grandmother runs faster), Kataoka (discarded by Lowly Ardija) and Thiego, voted by Gremio supporters as less valuable player last season. The only decent acquisition was Dutra, yet another like Diego, without a precise role/position. Possibly because many saw how Sanga plays (no chance to grow as a player) and they've seen how the various Saito, paulinho, Sato and Sidiclei have been treated... At Kyoto Sanga's management there are a lot of salary-men who have no idea about soccer, and all is delegated to Kato, a guy who saw his best days during the JSL and has no history as club manager. The results are in front of everybody: crappy tactics, crappy soccer, crappy results, all -least we forget- played in a home crappy stadium. The ultimate truth is that at Sanga, besides perhaps a dozen players, all is J2 level already. PS = Today another fight among our supporters, by the way...
man... i really hope you guys can do it.. even if going down to j2 sometimes helps to build up from the scratch... and yes... start by putting the purple back into the name ^^ dont run away! you'll always be purple
I don't see how better could get IF Akita becomes the manager, but... well... at least he is NOT Kato. Name? You can call us Kyoto Reds, as far as we start again to play soccer...
One wonders why a coach who made it to the world's top 10 with the NT would go and coach the lowliest club in J1, also considering how... 1 - He never called any player from Sanga 2 - The club seemingly is not investing money, so there are no cash for (1) Okada's salary; (2) buying new players. I could believe this gossip if it was in december, and Okada would have funds and time to plan, but at the moment it would seem as a suicide move on his side. Finally, the two time Sanga changed coach in recent years (2006, 2007) it was an inside job: from Hashiratani to Minobe; and from Minobe to Kato. It is cheap and considering how Sanga has among its coaches Akita, it seems as a natural move... (not sure about the end results thou...) the only way for Sanga to come out of the rut would be a new manager and at least two good players (volante and forward). I don't see that happening, and I believe at 90% we're screwed...
this is just my opinion but, personally I cant see any current nor former (within the last 2 years) Japanese Kyoto-players who would be good enough for a place in the NT. Sure, Yanagisawa is ALOT better than Yano, but imo there are still several other strikers ahead of him I would choose instead. And Mizutani is a decent goalkeeper by J-standard, but not as good as Kawashima or Narazaki, or for that matter Sogahata or Nishikawa. You also have/had some promising names in midfield, but none that would have added anything to the current NT-midfield. I mean, you said it urself, Kyoto is a lowly J1-club, so naturally you won't find many NT-prospects there.
Exactly: so why a fresh World's Top-16 NT manager should go and coach Sanga...? -- That was my point. PS=The only NTable player at Sanga at the moment is in my opinion Mizumoto. He is one of the best 4-5 CBs in Japan, if paired with another good one. Next to Lee Jung-soo, last season he was VERY good. Still, he would probably not be a starter. Miyayoshi and T.Nakamura are good prospects, but just like many others. PPS=Nishikawa doesn't seem that great to me. Higashiguchi at Albirex is way better, at least this season.
I thought ur point was that since he didnt pick any Kyoto-players, he didnt like Kyoto or their players. But just because he took Japan to the last 16, isnt necessarily a factor that should prevent Kyoto of having any chances of landing him. There has been lots of other successful coaches on international level that have gone off and coached smaller clubs all around the world. But as you also said, he will probably require a big paycheck, and Kyoto might not have the funds to cover that.
I think the first thing that needs to be determined is what will happen to Kato. If he stays around, no big name would be so stupid to come to Kyoto and live in the old man's shadow. So far, no news from the club, but eh has a LONG contract.
Do you ant proof of the incompetence of the people at Sanga? Check out this starring lineup, and I leave out JS Park because he is clearly too good for J.League (but not Matsui, since he is no better of Endo or Kengo who stayed). 4-4-2 Paulinho (Miyayoshi)-Yanagisawa (Tahara) Matsui-Yuto Sato-Kakuda-Endo Kodama-Lee-Mizumoto-Mori Mizutani Manager: Engels This could be Sanga's line up if, as most J.League clubs do, Sanga could have kept their best Japanese players. Note that there are only two foreign players and while Paulinho was totally dedicated to Kyoto, if Lee had preferred petrodollars, Kwak would do instead. Bring in a decent Brazilian volante for Kakuda and an above average goalie, and you have a team that could really fight for an ACL spot. If you add a Marquinhos, it is a team that could go for the title. Miyayoshi-Marquinhos Matsui-Yuto Sato-Roberto-Endo Kodama-Lee-Mizumoto-Mori Sugeno But...
The cruel thing is that there are 18 games left... Diego embarrassing, only at Kyoto he could be captain. But no problem for him, with a $1m/year contract he'll still be OK. I don't think there is much left to say...
Well, first of all, it was not the same keeper. Against Reds, it was Hirai, who is not a J1-level goalie since a few years. He was horrible vs Reds, and against Frontale too he let a soft one in. Mizutani is a so-so goalie, I don't think he has particular faults against Sanfrecce. A perfect shot, a deflection a few meters from him and a PK. he actually made two great saves too. Until last week, Soccer Digest ranked him as number 5 or 6 goalkeeper in J1. He is not TOO bad. The third goalie, Kodama, is supposedly very good, but not sure if we'll ever see him...
I kinda figured it out it wasn't the same (the haircut) but I wasn't sure. Thanks for the precision. Anyway, I think he could have deflected the FK of Makino, on the second the ball passes just between his two legs and he gave up the third. Too bad.Good luck for the future. I really believe that a better GK could gave a second chance to this team.
Saku, the problems at Sanga are: 1 - NO decent midfielder... Thiego, Ando, Nakayama, Kataoka, Kakuda... all average or below. NOTHING like Sidiclei and Yuto Sato. 2 - NO goal scorer. Yanagisawa seems to have lost the will to play, Miyayoshi is 17yo and in a conservative club he gets to play just a little. Diego and Dutra are not forwards, the top scorer in the team at the moment is Kakuda (a former CB!!!) with four goals... Goalie could be better, but IMO he is the latest of our problems. Sanga should get rid of Diego, Yanagisawa and Thiego, and swap them with a good holding midfielder (somebody like Yuto Sato), a playmaker who can also score (like Marcio Richades or Ryan) and a big forward (like Johnsen or Cho Jae Jin) to play with Miyayoshi. I think this is the last week for the club to act, after this, it will be too late.
Akita is having the players practicing like crazy, in particular a lot of games between the "top" and the "satellite" team. Nobody must feel sure to be a starter, he said. It is stinking hot in Kyoto. Will Diego lose some kilos...?
That's an excellent thing. Keeps players desperate to perform at their best to keep their spot in the first team secure. Ridiculous that it wasn't happening before Akita. Good sign that the managerial change is at least one positive step.
Finally someone shows to those players that they're paid to play not to train for whole week and then loose in weekend. That's probably all he can do in the middle of season.
I swear that with Kato practice was a joke. My HS boys practiced harder. How can you allow a player like Diego, who gets paid $1m this season and is clearly crucial for the team to get so out of shape? Let's see if some result comes up in the next game. I believe the game with Albirex is the last chance. Still, unbelievable how Kyocera is passive. I am not asking for them to buy Robinho, but even a child can see that this team needs a forward who can score, and a midfielder who can both run and play the ball... Are they OK with going down? Looks like...
I'll pass a couple of commentaries from Japanese friends who were at Nishikyogoku for the game against Albirex: "Even the referee was rooting for us today, but it wasn't enough" "0-4, 0-3, 0-2... maybe in a couple of games we will snatch a 0-0 tie!!" Many are saying they won't go to the stadium anymore this season.
After the game, the supporters threw (empty) plastic bottles and cups at the players, and the by now ritual fight among supporters followed. This was a team that exactly two years ago played some of the best soccer in Japan... Look what they've done... One million dollars to Diego to play for Sanga this season... I really am on the verge to write here what I know about him and his lifestyle... which is not nice... Will anybody be so stupid to pay him the same next year, after he drags a second team to J2 in three years...?