Firstly let me reintroduce myself: My name is Paul, I am a Leicester City fan, based in Leeds UK. I am interested in sharing news, personal reports, and anything Leicester City with you. Yuki Abe has joined Leicester City, managed by Sven-Goran Eriksson, and owned by a Thai consortium, this season for an undisclosed sum. Many LCFC fans had not heard of him before, and saw this as a marketing ploy into the Asian football market. They did not know what to expect and thought it would take a very long time for him to get used to a very physical footballing league, and get to grips with the language barrier. This poses a great obstacle as a player who plays DM or CM generally. I followed Japan and was very impressed by the team's overall performance in the World Cup, and knew when we were linked with Yuki Abe that this wasn't a marketing signing and was pleased. Yuki has performed well, has got to grips with the type of football in the CCC and has got Man of the Match awards twice now. Most fans have seen a great improvement as he settles in and communication gets better. I think there is a lot of worry, I think in Japan, that Abe has made a mistake by joining Leicester City in the CCC, and not a team in the top leagues of Europe, including the English Premiership. But the quality of the CCC is actually very good, and exceeds some country's premier leagues! I am not biased in this view, and try to be objective about all things football. Under SGE, I expect Abe to improve further and become a Leicester legend, we have money to spend and though we are lower in the league we are going through transition and will soon climb the table and be very competitive indeed. We will attract very good players through Sven's contacts and will become a team to be feared. I hope you follow Leicester's results and news. I will update you with any reports I can from an unbiased fan point of view on this thread, and answer any questions I can. You can find more info, links, and articles on my blog here: http://sphericalfox.wordpress.com I look forward to learning more about Abe from you, and if you can share any songs, chants, nicknames, or anything else that might make him feel more at home at LCFC that would be great! Thank you for reading, Paul
Re: Yuki Abe thread We have a game on Wednesday, but will not know if Abe will play. This is due to the fact that we play our local rivals Derby County the Saturday following this. Sven may want to rest him for the game on Saturday, but I will report any news, and of course how he gets on. This link has been doing the rounds amongst fans. Good to see he has a sense of humour. The joke on the contestant is quite funny. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGFgHWu0PNs"]YouTube - 2010-07-24 Makoto Hasebe and Yuki Abe in ANS[/ame]
Re: Yuki Abe thread Here's clip of Yuki bidding goodbye to Reds supporters. Maybe another kind Reds supporter can translate it for You (though it's not much and complicated ). It would be nice from his side to make him smile in England.[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AuTIxhMc1M"]YouTube - ?????????????????[/ame]
Re: Yuki Abe thread 0:36-6:07 is just Abe Yuki ole!! 6:23-13:23 I'm not an Urawa fan so I don't know if this is his official chant or if it was just for this occasion but... Sa sekai o you ra se (Go shake the world) Ore ra no Abe Yuki (Our Yuki Abe) lalalala Urawa lalala Urawa Reds The song at 14:10 is for Urawa Reds and not just for Abe. His name written in Japanese is 阿部勇樹 if you want to youtube it.
Re: Yuki Abe thread The chant you will hear most of the time from Urawa fans is the "Abe Yuki, ole!" one and, to be quite honest, I can't remember ever hearing any other chant for him. If there were any JEF supporters around, I'm sure we could offer a few more, as they'd no doubt have some better ones.
Re: Yuki Abe thread JEF one is 戦え勇樹勝利のために 遥か世界へ羽ばたけ勇樹 阿部勇樹、阿部勇樹 オーオーオオ 阿部勇樹 to the tune of [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn0YUEYE5po"]YouTube - ?????24????????[/ame] but I can't find a clip of the supporters actually singing it so it would be impossible for the Leciester fans to sing it. The other one is the simple A-be Yu-ki [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKjLLmzvsoo&feature=related"]YouTube - PK (Yuki Abe, JEFUNITED, 2006)[/ame] but I like "Abe Yuki ole!!" more.
Re: Yuki Abe thread Thank you all for your responses! I have shared these with my fellow foxes on my blog and other forums! I do hope we can sing something in Japanese that would be special. I can hope! If you remember any more, or have any more info that would be great. Does Yuki Abe have family? Kids? Are they back in Japan or moved with him in England? Anybody know?
spherialfox could you summary how Leicester City was under Sven Goran Ericksson ? Could you promote to PL this year if SGE maintains the progress? If Abe could play in PL surely this'll be a hot thread
Hi Mushu21, There is every chance that we could reach the playoffs for promotion (rather than to win the league automatically). Sven is still building the team and getting them to play the way he would like them to. We currently have a lot of loan players in the team, and this can be dangerous if their real clubs call them back or we do not keep them on loan until the end of the season. But in January, Leicester will have some new players. Leicester can only get better. We have the money and manager to do this. I will be back tomorrow to give you a round up of Abe's performance from a fan's point of view, if he is chosen by Sven.
Update: Abe played in Wednesday's game at the Walkers Stadium against Sheffield United. He played well and had a few decent shots on goal, and a few that were not. Was substituted for a striker in the second half, as were losing 2-1. However, we scored a penalty in the last few minutes of extra time. Phew! Not a great game in honesty. We were swamped in the midfield and didn't make enough of the first 20 minutes where we dominated and made some very good chances after scoring early. I think Abe is generally going to play in the first team unless injured. We have a very big local derby (against Derby County) coming up on Saturday. Rumours are we are bringing another striker in on loan. Vassell is a forgotten player, who when match fit will bring pace, great control, and hopefully some goals too. I'll keep you updated as I have more news.
Thank you Saku2. I don't know if anyone managed to see the game through the link? If not, Abe played well. The first twenty minutes he wasn't fully there, but his performance improved greatly as the game progressed. He also was booked for a bit of a naughty tackle. Can anyone tell me what Abe's record is discipline-wise. Did he get a lot of yellow/red cards? Abe is getting better and better with each game, as is Leicester's performances as a team. We are slowly moving up the league, and if we keep up this form could reach the playoffs. Fingers crossed. It is very satisfying to beat one of your local rivals, and Abe certainly played a role in that.
Abe is not a sissy, but overall a very clean player. Gets a few yellows, but he is never violent for the sake of it.
Apologies for the delay in any updating. Abe has done very well in Leicester's last game, but sadly we lost. He had a good game though, held his own, and a couple of decent shots, and once again it has been noted how much more confident he is on the ball, and improving more and more each game. Opposition fans from Bristol thought he was our man of the match though we lost. However, we have a HUGE game for most Leicester fans. We have a game against Nottingham Forrest this weekend. They are playing very well and have a very good team. But we have Abe, and we beat Derby our other local rivals quite well. I do hope Abe continues his performances and I will update you further when I have more info. Thank you for keep reading.
Because most Urawa fans are still following and supporting Yuki Abe (via Twitter, watching games, etc.), the Reds have released a few "Yuki Abe - Your Dream is Our Dream" items for sale at their store. http://onlineshop.urawa-reds.co.jp/shop/g/g4548509480955/ Memorial muffler http://onlineshop.urawa-reds.co.jp/shop/g/g4548509480962/ Memorial strap set (one shirt for every year he was at the club) It's nothing huge, but I still think it's pretty cool.
http://onlineshop.urawa-reds.co.jp/shop/g/g4548509480955/ Memorial muffler[/QUOTE] ...can you buy me one if you go to the last game? I'll pay you back...
I watched a bit of the second half and he was mostly flawless in his defensive duties. Kept dispossessing players whenever he got near them. I wish I could! Won't be back in time to catch the game. But there MIGHT be some still available at the REDS VOLTAGE store when I get back, so I'll let you know. Might need to get myself one, too.
I was told he was nicknamed "Abeckham" in Japan due to the quality of his crossing, long balls and FKs. I am not surprised to hear he's showing his defensive prowess at Leicester, this guy played reasonably well as a center back for both Urawa, and JN.