Konno is too small to be a CB. He would be more better suited as a defensive midfielder or maybe a full back (but japan have too many atm).
give me tape now! and for god sake Saku stop trolling. Look what you did now... We know that Konno has its flaws and most of us wish Zaccheroni to find a better solution in defense and also believe it to be possible. This with Yamaguchi in midfield was neat stuff, if in the next games he plays he keeps producing like that, than we just got an improvement over Endo thing. People are sometimes just too blind and saying Konno + Yoshida is the best Japan has to offer almost default like is also that kind of rigid thinking. Perhaps it is, but perhaps there is a better option. The thing is, defense aint great in fact is a huge problem and it's up to Zac to try and find a solution. Maybe we remain stuck with Konno Yoshida in the end, but at least options were tried. Saying that I also realize that is not likely and have said it before that I personally believe Konno Yoshida will be JNT's main duo as WC hits Same shit happened with attack. Kakitani and Osako are an improvement to Maeda Havenaar stuff we had not so long ago. As far as I am concerned atm it is like: Attack - > sorted (osako kakitani instead of maeda havenaar) "wings" - were ok before AMC - sorted (Kengo Nakamura out) MC - starting to sort itself (Yamaguchi ahead of Endo would be nice) FB - were ok before CB - the only area which is basically the same as it was (morishige or not) GK - was i guess sorted before, but I like how he is giving chance to others to perform
As a Roma fan I'm glad Strootman realized he was in a for a fight and gave up. No need to injure yourself in a friendly match. Though he did get treatment in the first half which might have had to do with it.
No, because this is fair criticism (which with I agree, even better) ! While nobody gives a damn about a yellow earned 40 yards away from the goal.
It wasn't because he's weak or caught off guard. It was because established before the game that the defenders should play high on the pitch. Not many nations would go with that against a team like Dutch NT. The biggest difference which changed the game (aside from osako's goal which gave them more confidence before the second half but it wasn't something that bothered Dutch NT as they knew about this vulnerability earlier) was the fact that with throwing in Kagawa and Yatto on the pitch it released Honda who's been man marked in the first half. And it looks like only few teams in the world could go against Japanese NT without a game plan before the game as the offensive potential in the team is surely world-class.
Playing high implies 100% focus and he was caught off guard. I'm a sucker for Konno but he was caught and he made the right decision. Other than that, the deutch forward was inexistant but this is not relevant since Konno is too small.
people still complaining with the defense (when nothing happened and the goal are Uchida's mistake\Robben magic with a mistake by Hasebe) still complaining against Endo still complaining against Konno I give up haha. Anyway I think Belgium will be harder. They just got beaten at home. They'll be thirsty for blood.
He would have made a good decision had the ball not been passed to another planet meaning the dutch guy couldnt reach it even if he was Usain Bolt
I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not Holland were playing with maybe their 4th choice FW and we still let in two goals, one another defensive horror. The Japanese commentators were just talking about not making such a mistake when it happened, which made it even more of a "doh" moment for me. Well Holland match was kind of like a home match for Japan, except for the crappy pitch of course. So next match should be harder. But at the same time, Belgium are not such world-beaters when they play non-euro teams. When they have to travel to South America, it will be even harder for them I suppose.
Wow. Doubt anyone would take your comments seriously, but still: Holland with a reserve FW "and we still got in two goals" - one by ROBBEN and one because of a mistake. BY UCHIDA (now we want to crucify the defense for individual errors? Please name who should play instead of Uchida then) oh wow Okay. Can't wait to hear the world cup draw to see your comments, I guess...
I bet you can't. As good as Belgium are, they are the only beatable top team other than the Swiss. And I doubt we are lucky enough to get them. So who else would you want to meet? Brazil? Germany? Spain? Argentina? Colombia who spanked Belgium in Belgium, or Uruguay who spanked us at home (without Cavani). I actually prefer Spain, because it would be fun to go against #1 at the biggest stage, and see what would happen. But outside of that, Belgium or Switzerland please.
Give Zac Argentina. They planned a revenge against Japan since the last Copa America when Japan was 'casually' in Argentina group before the tsunami tragedy. Probably they don't give a f**k actually about a revenge against Japan so face them in Brazil maybe in Sao Paulo to make them feel again the defeat taste.
lol I may be exaggerating a bit but RVP is probably the best FW in Europe and it makes a big difference to our DF if he is out. I don't know why you are mentioning Robben as he would play regardless and is usually a winger, and van der Vaart is more of an attacking midfielder. But if you want to go there I could say they were also missing Sneijder, who scored on us each of the last two matches. Anyway I'm not trying to bash the team, I was simply replying to Dax's comment that "nothing happened", and pointed out that we still let in two goals despite them missing their (and probably Europe's) best striker. To add to that, we also pushed up and barely let them touch the ball in the 2nd half. So this doesn't really prove that our defense somehow fixed their problems, although I think the team as a whole improved.
I didn't suggest we should replace Uchida. I was just refuting your claim that "nothing happened". I guess you didn't watch the match? You could hear Japan fans chanting throughout it.