I took notice that,as always,the mantra Om-Endoshouldretire Yoshida-Konno-Hasebe-this-that-are-no good is in perennial chanting... No one,as always,saying a word about the fact that if Honda don't click JNT never convinces, that Kagawa is playing sub-par since he went to Man Utd...
If you really think that, you're in for a rude awakening, and I am also talking about the next 2-3 years. There is no reason at all about why we should be able to "at least outplay teams like that" especially in their stadium. Even a simple comparison about the players will make you notice that they play in much better clubs overall. The real point is that we have a world cup and they had no special motivation, so we had to beat them by showing strong character and good pace. It didn't happen and yes that sucks. Last time Germany lost, and it was the world cup. And they're still superior teams unfortunately. We can, we have to, hope to beat them on a good day, but it doesn't mean we're there. Of course. Kagawa was worse than "sub-par" yesterday but people tend to stick anger to what they dislike (Endo, Yoshida, Konno, coach, etc). Kakitani was also bad. About Honda, that's not really true, we beat France without him. But someone else has to play real good then
That experiment was already done when we played in WCQ in north korea and it didn't work. They are really different and he is not a creative midfielder. It's either him or Hasebe
Not really, it's just that there is a tactical reason as to why it wasn't done again and I explained it... there wouldn't be long balls for the forwards if we do that.
You cut yourself options if you don't have any type of creative midfielder. I'm talking about this situations: 0.26 or this 0.17
Yamaguchi and Morishige should start in the next match against Belarus. And Zaccheroni should try more options for CBs imo.
Because we're so weak at the back we can't afford to have a central midfielder who provides no defensive cover (Endo). We have plenty of offensive creativity in our front line; we can afford to sacrifice some in midfield for the sake of defense.
We aren't particularly weak at the back, where does this narrative come from ? Yesterday, lucky goal and a counter that shouldn't have happened. If Yoshida gets his head straight the defense is good enough. Even Uchida was good.
Nagoya Grampus manager Dragan "Pixi" Stojkovic: Attack on Titan Commander Dot Pixis: I like it for stuff like this:
Looking at that pitch, it's not so surprising. Japan can't keep up the slick passing on a bumpy pitch with long grass. It's their tradition. They need to learn how to act on different pitches.
Do you guys think Zaccheroni should try other CBs with Morishige? Konno is too short and Yoshida always get caught sleep-walking. Anyway, I don't know how an Italian coach can be so clueless about defence.
Dax the thing is I am not talking about Serbia and their fancy names = Serbian National Football team on paper I am talking about the current poor Serbian team which is playing rather crappy lately. And that was evident in match against Japan where both teams played really crappy and managed to produce what was one of the worst international games I have watched lately. Yes Serbia on paper, getting result away would be good outplaying them really something. This Serbian team... Not really One final notion which I mentioned and you didnt notice I guess. I said IF JNT has any kind of ambitions reaching high in WC Brazil. (which they have judging by comments from the team) I didnt say I expect them to reach high. I however did say that if they really have such ambitions, they better be able to outplay this Serbian team any day, or they can say goodbye to those ambitions. And that my friend Dax is a huge difference. So what is my opinion? My opinion of the current JNT team is: That the central defense is extremely fragile and that repairing that will be extremely hard since it doesnt look we ll find a rock solid pair for CBs till WC 2014. That could be a bit negated with midfield working extremely hard defensively as well and helping out, but for that players like Endo should be dropped of and JNT could forget about fancy playmakers in MC position. 2 hard workers and runners instead. meaning additionally AMC, AML of Kagawa Honda dropping deep to get the ball, requiring basically the entire team to work their ass of defensively and when creating attack. Anyway I have no expectations other than some nice football from this JNT well I do expect them and hope for them to reach top 16. But there I think realistically speaking things end when world elite stands in their way. At least Japan as we are seeing lately which is no cause for confidence. There however are 2 major factors which imo work in favour of JNT and its progress till WC hits. 1. This JNT team is playing so much games together it is getting ridiculous. They should be able to play blindfolded when they hit WC. And we are talking about relatively young side here as well. The number of national games they play, these friendlies and tournaments is absolutely crazy and is almost half of a season worth for some club. 2. We all know where the major issues are and we all know Japan has quite big pool of quite quality players. So naturally there is loads of room for improvement, but the clock is ticking at a serious pace right now. years have gone since i start saying Zac should identify the problems and start searching for options, and he has started though let's see if not too late. Not to mention the position of MC and DC is not exactly being tested. DCs understandably I guess. Endo's position... that I have no idea why not
I dont think for one minute that they will fire him unless he really starts fracking things up. like losing 5:0 and stuff.