2023/28 Kodai Sano | 2024/26 Kento Shiogai | 2023- Koki Ogawa (loan) @ NEC (NED)

Yeah that's true, Kaishu Sano was better last season but he is still superb this year. Last year he was one of the best CDMs of the league (Place 3). This year he is not that far away but overall of course not that good and Mainz overall is not that good but when you look on the details, at the Moment Mainz is a very inform team since the new coach is there. Before they were last with almost no hope but now they are 14h with wins against Leipzig and Augsburg who defeated Bayern the first time. Very entertaining at the moment.

But even before they weren't not bad, always lose close with solid performance often but very unlucky but overall they weren't that bad considered the last place.
Kaishu Sano is pure quality and a joy to watch and Kodai Sano looks also very very good. Your right maybe we should stick with experienced players but for me you should always stick the most inform ones. I would go with the Sano brothers at the moment.

Don't forget Kamada, he was a beats before his injury and is back into the team after coach for the game today. And Morita is still playing enough for my thoughts, so we have 4 high class players, that should be enough. Endo and Tanaka are not dead imo, WC is still time.

Before Fukui is would go with Atsuki Ito from Gent. But it's a fair point Fukui is a good talent from Bayern and is playing a big constant role in his club with solid performances, despite his age.

Jupiler League for me is not that far from top 5 league level. Of course not that near but in terms of the first 10 clubs they are mid Bundesliga Level for example +- I would say. When you see how strong Brugge or St.Gilloise are the past years. Very strong. Beating Clubs like Liverpool, Frankfurt, Villa etc.

Of course they are not top of the top but you can see they best clubs com Belgium could compete with the best clubs in Europe. The league is very physical and a very good start to know how european football is running.

But in other hand, I couldn't say how good the J-League is, so I can't compare it fairly. My last J-League games where, when Naohiro Takahara moved back from Frankfurt to Urawa Reds in 2008. So it's quite a time ^^.

 

Ayumu Seko seems to be injured now, hope is not too serious. CM/DM and Left-Back options are perhaps the worrying position now. The other positions e.g Striker/AMs/Goalkeepers generally have enough options to pick from.

 

Would say CDM/CM is the most luxurious position we have. With Sano, Sano, Kamada, Morita, Fujita, Endo, Tanaka, Hatate we have so many high level options almost every nation could dream about. Sure not every player is in optimal form actually but the deepth is very good.

Left back is a little worrying but with Keita Kosugi and Hiroki Ito is also good enough. Sure Kosugi need game time but it could be worse.

I see no position which is in real danger like in the past. We have almost for every position 2-3 alternatives with a good quality.

Years ago that wasnt the case.

 

NEC virtually in 2nd place, with 2 points less lost.

 

Like talked about before, depth is great yes. But the real body of the japanese MD is not playing , some not playing at all. The ones with experience etc. It could be a danger throwing on players with 0 experience.

 

100% agree and that could be the truth but for me the recent form is in front of experience but that's only my opinion.

The Sano brothers are so young, so wild, so heartfull. We have so many young great players who are on fire and I think that is what we need to break through at the WC. Young and fearless players combined with experienced ones. For example Kaishu Sano with Kamada is both, form and experience. Or a Kodai Sano with Morita. And all 4 a good enough + play enough to be a starter. Don't see the problem there. Many options and we have at least 5 players with almost equal quality, different profiles who are in great shape with enough game time.

Problematic it would be when we would have only Endo and Tanaka, yeah. But we have a luxury problem, we never had before.

 

NEC actually has the keys for spot 2 and CL football in their own hands with direct confrontations against Feyenoord and Ajax.

 

They are very strong at the moment + Sano is in top form.

Edit: By the way I mean Seko break his rip not his hip. He was playing 20 minutes with it last game, and coach + team said he is a insane to play so long with it.

 

And NEC dropped the ball:

 

And on top of that a visit to a strong contender for spot 3, which still is a CL spot, but with the qualyfiers not an easy route:

 

Snow spoilsport at Het Kasteel: match between Sparta and NEC will be resumed on Tuesday

 

73' 1-1! GOAL by Koki Ogawa! Equal again! A Japanese goal by NEC: Kodai Sano gives a free kick in front of the goal. At the second post, Koki Ogawa hits the ball hard. Only Ayase Ueda has scored more header goals (6) than Ogawa (4) this Eredivisie season, just like Ajax's Youri Baas.

 

Excellent, hopefully he can now get a good run of form

 

Forgot to post matchday 21 Team of the Week:

 

Half time Ajax - NEC
Error by Sano leads to goal for Ajax.
39' 1-0 Ajax! Goal by Mika Godts! Ajax took the lead in the 39th minute in this entertaining match. The Belgian took the ball from Kodai Sano, who needed too much time on the edge of the box to come up with a solution. A painful moment for the Japanese midfielder, for whom Ajax was willing to pay 20 million euros three weeks ago. However, NEC did not want to let him go. Godts doesn't score at first because of a good tackle by Ahmetcan Kaplan, but the ball falls at his feet again and in the rebound Ajax's Belgian left winger hits the mark. The 20-year-old forward from Leuven now has 13 goals and 10 assists in 32 games in all competitions this season for Ajax.

 

2nd half:
5' Owen Wijndal is replaced by Takehiro Tomiyasu Two substitutions at NEC and three at Ajax. What does this mean for the last half hour of this match? Takehiro Tomiyasu made his debut for Ajax on February 1, with a ten-minute substitute in the away match at Excelsior Rotterdam (2-2). After that, he remained on the bench with the Amsterdam team in the matches against AZ (1-1) and Fortuna Sittard (4-1 win).

57' 1-1 NEC! Goal by Darko Nejašmic!

 

Sano with the assist to make it 2-2 and Nijmegen managed to won against Eindhoven with 3-2 in the cup semi final. Nice work .

 

The hunt is on for spot 2 and 3!

A win puts them in sight of Feyenoord for spot 2 (direct CL) and in the lead for spot 3 (qualyfier rouns of CL)!

 

half time