Biggest surprise and dissapointment 2011/12.

I've posted before my top 5 for the best players so far this season:

1. Kawashima
2. Inui
3. Nagatomo
4. Kagawa
5. Hosogai

As for the disappointments, I mostly agreee with seolseol. I'd just put Makino in first place (I had really high hopes for him), and replace Okazaki with Miyaichi - only 2 league cup appearances as a sub and nothing more

 

Pros:
1) Ibusuki Hiroshi
2) Hosogai Hajime
3) Inui Takashi
4) Nagatomo Yuto
5) ...no one comes to mind... Lee Tadanori? Sorry, haven't paid attention to Kawashima.

Cons:
1) Honda Keisuke
2) Kagawa Shinji
3) Uchida Atsuto
4) Miyaichi Ryo
5) Usami Takashi

Honorable mentions (for cons): Ienaga Akihiro, Morimoto Takayuki, Matsui Daisuke, & Makino Tomoaki.

Overall, rough first half. But I'm happy that there's so many players challenging themselves overseas now. They didn't leave Japan because they thought it'd be easy. Also, I should note that I'm really happy to see a group of players that see (somewhat) regular playing time, though they may not be playing exceptionally well (ex: Hasebe, Yoshida, Okazaki, Inoha, Yasuda, etc.).

 

How is Kagawa your second most disappointing player????
He's getting regular time, scoring goals, playing quite well. And as the season has progressed he seems to have come back to good form.
Also why's Honda no.1? He just got injured but was great before that. He's still considered a starting player for CSKA.

Surely you'd replace those two with Makino and Daisuke Matsui or Ienaga.
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The five players who I think have made the most 'progress' in their european careers. (no particular order, except Hosogai is def no.1 here)
1. Hajime Hosogai (Nervous about what'll happen after his loan deal ends.)
2. Yoshiaki Takagi (He's recently been starting for them, didn't expect that)
3. Takashi Inui (Good start)
4. Hiroshi Ibusuki (definitely is ready for a 1st or 2nd div side)
5. Yuki Otsu (seems to be moving up the pecking order at BMG)

The five who've been most disappointing for various reasons:
1. Tomoaki Makino (never got a real chance, screw Volker Finke)
2. Atsuto Uchida (I don't think he did a bad job to warrant losing his place)
3. Akihiro Ienaga (Leverkusen, not sure what they expect from his lazy ass)
4. Takashi Usami (He's done brilliantly for the reserves and done well in friendlies, unfortunately club won't give him any chance)
5. Ryo Miyaichi (hope he gets a loan to Swansea)

 

I don't really understand why people are disappointed with either Miyaichi or Usami's play so far.

Maybe both of them should have had more playing time than they have had so far, but to expect them to be regulars or anything close to that is highly unrealistic.

How the hell is Usami supposed to get playing time when he has 2 of the best wingers in the world ahead of him? It's understandable if you're disappointed that he chose Bayern, and I would probably concur with that sentiment, but to be disappointed with his play there is ridiculous. There was no way that Usami was going to get much playing time at Bayern.

Miyaichi is a bit more understandable, but there's just too much competition for his position. Again, being upset that he didn't go on loan somewhere else instead is reasonable.

 

The Good:

1. HOSOGAI
2. Nagatomo
3. Inui
4. Kagawa
5. Yasuda/Ibusuki


The Bad:

1. MORIMOTO
2. Uchida
3. Matsui
4. Miyaichi
5. Yano

 

Hey AKITOD,

Just to be clear, those are simply my honest opinions, and I didn't make the list up to provoke anyone on purpose. Having said that, I formed my list from the basis of expectation. So if I had high expectations for a player, and they did not meet them, they rank pretty high in dissapoinment. Conversely, if I had little to no expection for a player, and they were able to exceed it, I considered them to be surprising. I did not rank players based on their on-field performance or their abilities alone.

- Honda: Injury. I consider him to be one of the best Japanese players, and he was playing like it until he got injured (long term). Big dissapoinment (as a fan).
- Kagawa: Unfortunately, when a player has a great season, I expect (or hope) just as much or more from him next season. He didn't live up to that and was out of form. However, both he and his team are performing well as of late, and I think there's a lot to look forward to in the latter half of the season.

I have no intent in arguing over whether my expectations are reasonable or not. I just posted a message in the most honest manner I could against the title of the thread. You don't need to agree with my opinions, but if you were curious about why I made my selections, there you go.

And just to piggy-back on another reply,

SamuraiBlue2002: Personally, I'm not dissapointed with either of Miyaichi or Usami's play. I'm just really dissapointed they aren't getting more playing time. They're both exciting players, and as a fan, I want to see them play.

On a side note, it's interesting to see that Morimoto seems to have slipped to a point where he hasn't made many of our "dissapointing" lists, likely because few of us had much expectations for him this season to begin with.

Anyways, lot's of players in Europe now, so lot's to look forward to in the second half of the season. Also, last year was a bit nuts (and ground breaking) in terms of the number of headlines Japanese players were grabbing (Nagatomo, Miyaichi, Kagawa, Uchida) for various reasons on the world stage. I think that compounds the greater sense of disappointment (due to higher expectations) for Japanese players this season thus far.

 

Bests;
1.Hosogai - Nice to see a Japan NT reserve member play 90 minitues every week at Bundesliga side.
2.Kagawa - Struggled a bit in the beginning but recorded 4 goals and 5 assists in the league.
3.Nagatomo - Always starts for one of the biggest clubs in Europe.
4.Honda - Scoring 7 goals in 16 apps is impressive for a midfielder. It's a shame he missed the rest of the season.
5.Ibusuki - Maybe most improved player in 2011.

 

Biggest suprises in 2011 for me:


- Takashi Inui (He really started well in Bochum so he definitely was the biggest surprise for me)
- Yuto Nagatomo (His form picked up now, and the way he performed in the last Inter games...hats off)
- Hajime Hosogai (I have not even heard about the guy, I surely know him now)
- Shinji Kagawa (he isn't really a surprise per say...but I am glad he got his form back up and got going)
- Hiroshi Ibusuki (Last but not least, didn't know he exists also, I am wondering how will he fair as he matures)


Biggest Disappointments:

- Shinji Okazaki (He is an amazing goal poacher an intelligent player, however, he just doesn't show it for his club, by scoring goals, and I really think he can score plenty...Dont know what exactly is a problem here)
- Atsuto Uchida (Disappointed that he is being dropped as well...)
- Akihiro Ineaga (Saw him play, saw he has an ability to make it in Spain, he was also doing quite well last year...but than...)
- Ryo Miyaichi (Don't get me wrong the guy didn't disapoint me, he was also wonderful through the first part of the year, but than he came to Arsenal and it has disappointed me to no end that he isn't getting a bit more chances and playing time)
- Keisuke Honda (again it is not exactly his skill that is disappointing, his injury however is...)
- Tomoaki Makino (This has really been a saga about a guy who doesn't get his chance)

Now excuse me as I have to write one more

- Takashi Usami (It will be the end of the universe when the day comes I will grasp the meaning of his loan, both from the side of Bayern and mostly from Gamba Osaka's point of view. It is my most most most most biggest disappointment of them all, to not see him play here in Europe. A thing which made me hate Bayern even more and I will probably facepalm as they will throw that measly coin of 3 mils for him and if and when the day comes he will start playing regularly in their jersey I will only cheer him on, not the entire club. Of that I am sure-