Official 2018 J1 Thread

Who would have thought that Reds will win after they released Hori? It wasn't convincing but 3 points are 3 points. I can only thank the club's officials for their belated decision. It should be done after 3-4 games. But they never can do things right.

 

Very interesting table so far. Hiroshima are still unbeaten but how long will it go on?

Vegalta have also been a positive surprise but don't expect them to perform as good as they are for much longer although I could be wrong.

FC Tokyo have finally started winning too and they are actually the highest-scoring team in the league. From 5th to 15th there is only 3 points difference and all the pre-season title candidates have dropped lots of points and played poorly ( Kashima were for example completely outplayed at home vs Consadole and were lucky to get away with a point) so seems this season might become extra open.

It's too early to say of course, but I really like how Consadole are playing. It is already building up to be their best ever season in J1 and a top 10 finish seems within reach. Heck, they could even challenge for ACL if this continues=)

 

Only Kashima advanced out of the group stage in the ACL. Cerezo could have too, if they put in more effort. Not sure why they just give up on ACL altogether.

 

Because J. League now is worth a lot of moneeeey.

 

So it's official now: Japanese clubs don't care about ACL in the noext 10 years. There might be a story like Urawa last year but overall trend is decided already.

 

You think there is a chance Kashima might do a Urawa this year?
One can hope, then again, Kashima have always been stopped at the Final 16 each year. They seem to have a pretty deep squad this year tho.

 

Not sure if I fully agree with that.

Reysol for example looked to have something good going on. They were cruising towards a comfortable 2-0 win away vs Jeonbuk In R1 before they collapsed and lost 3-2 in the end, and conceded an idiotic last minute equalizer at home vs Tianjin in R2. With 4 or 6 points from those matches, which they would have managed with a bit more luck/focus/determination (choose one) they would most likely have advanced from this group with ease. The 0-1 loss vs Kitchee is embarassing of course, but I don't really see how that could happen if Reysol still had everything to play for.

So in my eyes they definitely took the tournament seriously early on, but ending up with just 1 point from those 2 first matches made the rest of the matches not worthwhile.

Cerezo took a gamble with weakened squads in both matches against Buriram. They underestimated them which a lot of teams have done in the past. But 2 wins vs Jeju and a solid 0-0 performance vs Guangzhou in R2 doesn't exactly speak of a team who doesn't care. They also hoped that Jeju would have helped them in R6, but it was a calculcated risk based on this month being pretty much the busiest ever in J.League. It didn't pay off, which of course is a pity. But to their defence, they are currently on a roll in the league and in 3rd place at the moment so it might have been the right thing to do after all?

Kawasaki is the only team that can't really be explained. They dominated possession but in the end lost deservedly in their 2 opening matches despite fielding pretty strong squads. And then sent a relatively weak squad to Australia and lost 0-1 in Melbourne, and after that the tournament were already over for them.

Only 1 team through to the next round out of 4 is of course hugely disappointing, especially when China and Korea both have 3 each. But it's not the end of the world and who knows, next year maybe we will see 4 Japanese teams in the next round. All this money coming into the league via the DAZN-deal might actually pay off in ACL as well eventually.

 

Well, for sure their fans were pissed and showed it after week 5 during their home game in the league. I don't know whether players themselves were as angry as some of the fans...

Yoon played their B squad from the start till the end. If it means that he took it seriously then... well, whatever excuse will work. He pissed Chinese journalists at least with what he brought to Kanton.

It might be that indeed money that clubs can pick up in J League are waaayyyy bigger than what they can expect from winning ACL...

J League clubs got overall 24 points this year. The worst ever. The record so far was 2016 with 30 points.

▼ACLグループステージ日本勢4チームの合計成績
2009年　勝ち点50（15勝5分け4敗）
2010年　勝ち点45（14勝3分け7敗）
2011年　勝ち点44（13勝5分け6敗）
2012年　勝ち点34（9勝7分け8敗）
2013年　勝ち点33（8勝9分け7敗）
2014年　勝ち点36（10勝6分け8敗）
2015年　勝ち点31（9勝4分け11敗）
2016年　勝ち点30（8勝6分け10敗）
2017年　勝ち点38（11勝5分け8敗）
2018年　勝ち点24（5勝9分け10敗）

 

Can't forget the derby this weekend. It obviously took priority over ACL with our current injury issues. Anyways, am surprised Yoon JH didn't take ACL as seriously as I expected he would.. being a Korean manager and all, where ACL is important (especially one who wants to be the next KNT manager).

Another important factor, we started the league slow (some piss poor results) considering the aspirations the club had at the start of the season.

 

because wining the J-League means more money than play ACL, while CSL clubs almost rewarded equally by CSL company so they takes ACL seriously as doing well in it could brought great reputation

 

True, but I believe we had the exact same discussion here last year as well. And then they went on to have the best season since 2011 in terms of points taken in the group stage. And Urawa went all the way.

So don't think we can call it a trend at all.

And no, Yoon didnt treat it as a b-tournament from the start. In R1 they fielded their best possible squad. Even Kiyotake started!

In R2 he fielded 9 regulars with only Kakitani and Sugimoto starting on the bench (important players by all means but it's only 2 players). And Yamashita replaced Kimoto, but not much difference there.

 

Hello⬛

 

Takuya Takagi is doing a great job.

 

Vegalta's Takuma Nishimura deserves a shoutout. 21 years old, and scored 6 goals in 9 starts ( or 13 matches in total). He's had a breakthrough season so far, and if this continues it won't be long before we see him at a bigger club I think.

 

Or Europe...

 

Pretty sure Iniesta is going to be paid more than the annual revenue of Vissel Kobe.......

I thought there was some rule about that in J.League......

 

Torres-Tosu seems a boutade, while Iniesta may be true. Wage seems too high, but Rakuten is definitely trying.

 

I think he will go Man City, with Guardiola there and them willing to pay high wages.

 

So I’m new to Japanese football and the J1 league. While I’ve enjoyed watching random teams play I’m looking for a team to get behind, so I was hoping for some help. What I like in a team is a smaller, intimate team with a strong fan base. What teams fit that?

 

Being a fan of a certain team is not a rational decision, it is an emotional decision which is supposed to be taken after you experience touching moments with a particular team.

Hence, I do not think asking someone to suggest a team for you to support is a good idea to begin with.

Anyhow, as for your mentioned criteria, I suggest Vegalta Sendai,

Good Luck and enjoy Japanese football.

 

Nobody talks about J-League here anymore?

Vissel Kobe thrashed Consadole Sapporo 4-0 this weekend with two braces from Kazuma Watanabe and Wellington.

It is the first time Vissel won two consecutive league games this season (they won 0-2 away against Jubilo Iwata last round), and they did it while Podolski is injured.

I wonder if anyone share the impression that Vissel is playing better/getting better results without Podolski.

 

Yeah, seems to be very little interest in the J.League these days. Is it because it is difficult to watch J.League outside of Japan? Use www.cool-365.com. They broadcast almost all the matches.

I find it very surprising that most people on this board seems more interested in Japanese players playing abroad than in J.League as a whole. When a thread about Yuya Kubo have more hits/posts than the one single thread for J.League, something is not right... If Kubo played for a top club like Dortmund or Liverpool it would be ok, but he plays for a mediocre club that would most likely have struggled to beat even several of the mid-table J1 teams. And that goes for more than half of the threads in the "Japanese Abroad" section.

But to get back on topic:

Last season Kobe were 8th or 9th when Podolski came, but ended up in 13th place. If we count this season as well the results without him is way better than when he plays, so you are not the only one who thinks so. When Podolski plays, everything has to go through to him which makes them very predictable and easy to stop as all it takes is some close man-marking. And except for a couple of great strikes from distance and the occasional genius through-pass what Podolski have delivered on the pitch have not been very impressive.

Kobe was one of the most exciting teams to watch before Podolski came, with lots of creative players in attack. Their main concern back then was a poor defence, which is still the case now. But Podolski's arrival have changed their attacking play, and seen important and good players like Watanabe finding himself on the bench on several occasions ( is that Podolski's orders or the coach's decision? Watanabe was the captain before Podolski arrived, so there might be some bad blood between them).

If Iniesta signs less focus should be on Podolski and he might be able to roam around more freely and get the space he needs, so we might see a totally different player if that happens.