You don't understand ? That means they are above us so we should tremble for Asian Cup Jokes aside, I see some positive points today : we didn't seem as weak defensively than under Zaccheroni. The two goals are conceded because of two awful mistakes from a player that we shouldn't see again in JNT. Otherwise, Uruguay didn't look dangerous. Collectively, it was ok, I enjoyed our agressive pressure. However, we looked absolutely inoffensive. Very hard to create a single chance. Lack of creativity. Honda doesn't seem as influent on the right side (and he's unfortunately too slow for this role). But I don't panic. New players, new positions, new system... We couldn't expect the earth in this first match. I just regret that Muto and Morioka (they showed some good things) were subbed on too late. Hope we'll see them vs Venezuela. Lastly, H. Sakai isn't likely to surpass Uchida...
Not sure how many changes will Uruguay field during their match against us. Since cavani played his game today against Japan, I doubt he'll play in our homeland. New coach, new system on both Korea and Japan, while our immediate goal is the Asian cup, ultimately we're shoot to kickass in 2018 World Cup and at least make to the knockout stage.
I think we'll see our effective level against Venezuela, an easier side but not a crap one. And I hope to see Muto again, that long shoot of him impressed me, and I'm not talking about the skill/power to perform it bit the balls and personality to choose to try it. Something JNT always lacks.
Well, we have only positive things to draw from this game, as it was one of the most promising post-WC friendly I've witnessed, not performance-wise but managerial-wise. I may explain my point of view later. for the meantime we have to be optimistic about Aguirre Japan!
At least you guys play friendlies, the same can't be said about our shitty, corrupt and incompetent federation called IFF. I'm confident you will be stronger in the next test games
optimistic? i think you are asking too much after 1 friendly. switch it to open-minded Aguirre Japan... at least that's how I'm approaching it after a disappointing showing.
Sometimes he too has the right to take a small holiday hehe I wasn't at home but I managed to watch '70 mins. on a phone. Not exactly an exciting game, but I'm still pretty meh about T. Sakai's callup. Didn't make any sense before and I guess he just didn't belong there, especially not starting in what on paper was the harder game. I'm all for some gamble or encouraging young players with chances in friendlies (Muto was very very confident, hope to see him again) but that was a bit of a stretch. Minagawa shouldn't have been there too but I'm okay with that, assuming he's not going to be called up again next month as he would be stealing a place again to a better player. Looking forward to Venezuela.
If we look back at the two times Japan had managed to reach the knock out stages at the WC, we will notice that Japan was managed by managers which put their players in unfavourable situations and play them out of their positions and that helped players to grow stronger and to have the ability to overcome challenges at the top level. In both 2002 and 2010 WC cycles, both Troussier and Osim started their eras by imposing their own philosophy even if it was against players and JFA's will, but at the end of these cycles, it turned into succes! What I'm trying to say is that Aguirre seems to head into the same direction and that was clear from his press conference and some of his comments in the media. Aguirre admitted that he'll start a new page and a new chapter that has nothing to do with the players past, and that's what he did by calling some new and unexpected names, to convey a clear message to the players, that there will be no player in favourable position just because of his past, and that the benefit of the team comes before the benefit of the player. Aguirre also said he is going to impose his own philosophy, and build his own team, and it was apparent from this match that he is serious about that, as he insist on using his 4-3-3 formation and select his own players, instead of playing it safe as Zac did and depend on the team built by his predecessor or JFA guys (Hiromi Hara and Co's). He also noted in some of his comments that Japan NT lack in the physical aspect, and that justify his selection of players like Tanaka, Morioka and Matsubara. Finally he played players out of their positions; such as what he did with Tanaka and Honda, and that will surely help our players to grow stronger and ready to overcome different type of challenges, as was the case in both 2002 and 2010 WC. People in general doesn't become successful by staying in their comfort zone, and the same is correct about football players. If we look back at both 2006 and 2014 WC our players were little bit complacent and never put in unfavourable positon in these two WC cycles, so when the big event came they weren't up to the challenge at the highest level because of that. Kagawa and Honda faced problems in their club team because they were played out of position, but when it come to NT, they never had to experience the same thing as their positions were written in stone, with the exception of couple of matches when Honda played as a striker, and the result was that both of them, and especially Kagawa, had a bad WC which fails to match their abilities and everybody's expectaions. So that's why I'm optimistic about Aguirre Japan as: 1- He is willing to impose his own philosophy. 2- He is willing to build his own team. 3- He seemed to look for JNT shortcomings and wants to fix it. 4- He wants the players to grow stronger and have the ability to face any kind of challenges even if they were in unfavourable positions and situations. 5- He is willing to build a team for the future as all the new players he called were born in the 1990's and that justify the selection of Matsubara ahead of the likes of Komano as wingback.
That's an awful lot to take out of a 2-0 loss and 2 press conferences, and you've made an awful lot of assumptions. I mean sure no need to go tearing Aguirre down for a loss first match, but its not like we need to go building a bronze statue monument of him at the JFA house either.
One was a world cup at home, as for Osim, I guess you meant Okada, considering that Osim didn't do anything noteworthy? Okada's cycle was a "success" in the sense that the team was successful at the World Cup, but the only player really out of position there was Honda. That's a good thing, of course Don't see any difference from what Zac has done Never seen any evidence whatsoever of this ? We'd probably still play with Tulio otherwise I'm not sure if I agree here, that's like saying that the player grew stronger when they played 3-4-3 which never worked... I mean, if the Asian Cup doesn't go well I certainly won't say that "at least they grow stronger" if we lose and have tons of players out of position... It's definitely likely, so I think it's good that he makes different callups with new players from time to time. Overall, I feel like AKITOD. Aguirre can do what he wants, he can callup T.Sakai if he feels so. But playing for the national team should be something earned with hard work and the fans rightfully will expect results in the Asian Cup and WCQ.
You have to give credit to Troussier also, as it is not guaranteed that the host nation will advance to the knock out rounds just because they are the host. For example Troussier tried lot of things that even benefited the players in the long run, such as playing Ono and Alex as wingbacks. And I meant Osim as he was the one who started the process and Okada completed it and built on Osim's philosophy, Okada also vowed to continue on Osim's footsteps and philosophy when he was appointed as his successor. And in 2010 it wasn't only Honda out of position, the whole team was playing in an unaccustomed line-up with Abe as an extra DM. Well we had already discussed about it last year during the Confederations Cup, Zac took the team built by Hara and JFA in the post 2010 WC, which Tulio wasn't a part of, even the additions like Kiyotake and Sakais were promoted from the U-23, so he didn't bring any players by his own untill the 2013 EAFF. That means he played it safe and didn't experiment untill Japan secured qualification and it was less than one year before the WC. Osim and Troussier dared to experiment, and sometimes their experiments were little bit extreme, but you need this type of experiments and challenges to prosper in the highest level. Well we shouldn't be so shortsighted, we have to aim for the things that will give us long term success, regardless of its results in the short term! Well if we can go for both of them then it is great, but if we are to choose, the logic says: you have to go for what will bring you long term success. People who aim for short term happiness and ignore long term happiness is like a lazy schoolboy who wastes his time playing video games instead of studying, he might be happy in the short term but he will be too sad in the long term. Guys, we need a manager who dare to change, dare to make decisions against JFA, players and audience will, if it will end up benefitting the team and lead to prosperity. In 2006 and 2014 we were knocked out because our managers choosed to play it safe instead of looking for the thing that will benefit the team in the long run.
Ah yes I had forgotten. I had already provided ample evidence as to how there is no truth whatsoever in this back then indeed (ex. Hara's callups in the september friendlies vs Zac's against Argentina, Asian Cup callups, Tulio making the list but going out due to injury and not coming back, personal choices like Ryo, Saito, Maeda, Lee, etc). He didn't like to make big changes to his selections, that's for sure. But it was definitely pretty clearly his selection. What was 3-4-3 if not that? You can't be serious. The Asian Cup is the most important competition after the World Cup, and it gives access to the Confederations too. Aguirre isn't building the team for 2018 now, he even reiterated himself that the world cup is only the end of the cycle. The team in 2018 will definitely be a lot different from the one that will play at the asian cup, like it was for Zac. Football is not math. No matter what Aguirre does now, it won't affect the 2018 performance in any significant way. The first thing he has to do is building a winning mentality in official competitions, and that is the asian cup
Well that wasn't great football, but if anything Aguirre demonstrated that he wants the players to escape their comfort zone and experiment. Okazaki said that the idea of taking corner kicks was only raised the day before the Uruguay match, and Aguirre encouraged him even when told that he's never taken any. The experiments yesterday definitely had mixed results, but the players were trying sh*t...Hosogai made an effort to push forward with his passes in a more advanced position, Morishige had some effect as a destroyer, Tanaka worked hard up and down the pitch. Most of the crazy ideas won't work but it's nice to get players out of their preconceived notions of what they are as footballers. The players seem to enjoy working with the manager and trying out some new ideas, which is good enough for the first week.
I'm all welcome to them. I don't really care about results in friendly matches, unless you're playing Germany or whatever and it may be best to make sure to not get 5-0'd at least. But he will have to decide on what has worked and what hasn't during the asian cup to lead the team
@Dax Well, Maeda was an NT member since Okada's era, and Tadanari was a member of the U-23 and was naturalized to play for JNT. Did Zac bring any player that wasn't called before or wasn't in JFA's radar untill the 2013 EAFF? I hope you can name five! But If you look back at how Troussier brought players like Toda and Myojin and made them important players of JNT you'll see the difference. How many completely new names Zac had named untill the 2013 EAFF? and did he try to make them regulars or important part of the squad (integrate them)? And about the 3-4-3, do you remember how many times Zac tried it? Once or twice a year? Did you consider this as an "Experiment" and dare to change? When I'm talking about experiment I'm talking about experimenting for many times, and trying to integrate new players for many times not once or twice. If you consider calling up Miyaichi for one or two friendlies and just play him in the last few minutes an experiment, then good luck. Zac didn't dare to bring himself neither his players out of the comfort zone in his stint and tried to play it safe, and the result what we saw in Brazil.
Didn't see the match live, but thanks to modern technology... In general the changes were already promising, the setup until the first changes around min 55 was way better than the last couple matches I saw of Japan. I don't know how many days Aguirre had with the players, but for a first game this is a good start. Take away points: - Cohesion in the attacking part of the team was much improved, the pressing was well done and dynamic. Lots of nicely done interchanging positions. - Positioning and movements were done well to excellent by Okazaki, Honda, Tanaka, Hosogai and Yoshida. The other players to different degree failed to keep up with the movements and had timing issues. - Passing was gloriously whenever they were able to string together a couple of fast short passes. - Minagawa was way too static, as a result he neither offered a constant pressure on the goal nor another combination player for the MF. Here I'd prefer to see Osako or Kakitani. - Changing Okazaki from wing to CF when Muto was brought in killed the dynamism, wing play after that point was too slow and Okazaki couldn't contribute anymore the way he did before. I'm not seeing who else could offer Okazaki's quality on the left wing so imo he's a lock there. Kakitani is a wast on the wing and should have changed with Okazaki. - The defense part of the team was way too negative, especially in the first half. Morishige looked good in 1-1, but was otherwise wasted, never really getting the timing right when to drop deep or run free to offer himself for passes in the MF. Instead worrying about keeping connection to the attacking part of the team he often sat deep which pushed the defense line behind him even deeper. - The result was an generally awful build up play from the back, usually having only the wings to pass to as the MF was way too easy for Uruguay to block. This resulted in way too many high balls (so dumb for Japan, avoid at all costs), most of which were instantly lost and, like in the case of the second goal, regularly led to dangerous counter attacks as the high ball targets were entirely random and couldn't be pressed upfront. This often undid Hosogai excellent movements and positioning who regularly got skipped over through wing play and hoofing. - This was further exacerbated by the downright abysmal play by Tatsuya Sakai who never could position himself to stay out of danger (first goal was symptomatic) and awful decision making whenever on the ball, often resorting to random high balls. His movements also locked Nagatomo in the defense for additional security for more times than necessary. Whenever Morishige dropped in T. Sakai's place the defense moved much better. - Hiroaki Sakai on the other side did average, good efforts but bad decision making made it often in vain. Relentless runs behind Honda, but no feeling for the right time when to do so. As is Uchida is leagues better in this regard. - Tanaka did surprisingly well, offering an attack oriented box to box role (that will likely also fit Kagawa who should be able to add the creativity that Tanaka lacked) supporting the overloading wherever adequate. - Honda showed some glorious positioning, tracking back for covering for H. Sakai, offering both wing play as well as playmaking movements toward the center. The interchanging with Kagawa positioned in the center and Uchida behind him should work very well.
lol, he's played like 5 matches in 4 years under Okada and I can't even remember if he's played '90 once. It's like saying Mizumoto wouldn't be a personal pick by Aguirre because he's made the squad in the past a couple of times :/ wtf, who cares about U23? Kakitani didn't make the olympics and not even Toulon, does this mean Kakitani wasn't in JFA's radar? So if Nagai is called up for the NT instead he falls into "JFA's radar" and isn't a personal selection by the coach of a player that wasn't used before? If Minamino is called up even if he deserves it it doesn't count because he is "under JFA's radar"? This makes zero sense. This doesn't mean anything. Wtf is "JFA's radar"? Sounds hard! Miyaichi, Yoshida, Lee, Inoha, H. Sakai, G. Sakai, Takahashi, Hosogai, Kiyotake, Havenaar, Inui, Kashiwagi, Fujimoto, Makino, there are probably more. :/ This is, of course, without the EAFF players (which I'm not sure why is excluded considering it was way before the world cup?) It's as if calling up a new player is a value per-se. It's not. Muto was called up because he's doing amazing in the Jleague. Any coach would've probably called him up and it's not some kind of special merit, just like randomly calling up T.Sakai instead of a proved defender only to put him in shame isn't a value per se. So, sorry if I don't see any value in calling up a player like T.Sakai or Minagawa when they didn't earn it anyway. Note that I am not saying "call the old bunch" - I'm saying Koroki or Toyoda or Usami or whatever make more sense and would still be new. "JFA Radar" is something you invented. Everybody is "under JFA's radar". see previous post. Most of them played a part wether it was WCQ, Asian cup or Confederations. Apart from Miyaichi and Lee who simply wasn't possible to callup anymore (not playing =( ) , all of them were regulars until they dropped off of form or were surpassed by EAFF players. No idea, but of course WCQ isn't the place to experiment, and probably we wouldn't have beat France or Argentina or Belgium or whatever if he wasted too much time on alternative tactics. He had already decided the new one to implement was 4-2-3-1 just like Aguirre has decided it is 4-3-3. of course It's nobody's fault that Miyaichi barely played anymore for any team, certainly not the coach's.