Yeah Shonan has such a great academy, and it's incredible that Shonan has decided to keep Ukishima after such a period of awful results, that would be unthinkable in Brazil. Satoshi is really great, he will be the successor of Wataru Endo (he was also revealed by Shonan). The young left-back that I like the most is another one from Sagan Tosu: Shinya Nakano, because he can use both feet, and I love side-backs that can use both feet, like Nagatomo. Probably soon after the pandemic ends, we're gonna see lots of young players going to Europe from J League.
Shinya Nakano need to grow taller imo, currently he might be a little too short. Satoshi is indeed good, from the clips seen of him, his workrate and positioning are pretty decent.
you're right, Gekisaka might not be the best source but Sagan's website has 173 while the Jleague 167, even if it says "last updated on 17th november". I guess reality is probably somewhere in the middle...
Sagan had him listed at 167cm a year ago so he probably just grew. http://www.sagan-tosu.net/news/p/4137/
He grew decently in one year lol. However, i doubt the 173cm, maybe he is somewhere in between like 170cm. Anyway, OTOH Sagan Tosu have a lot of decent talents in their ranks like Fuchi Honda and Kaisei Ishii, etc.
Shonan have financial backing, but they should hire another manager. The youth project is clear, but they don't seem so better than last year. I hope they look on the market for another manager, otherwise they might get relegated next year.
I think you're a bit overestimating Shonan in a sense... they can do better just like any small club "could" pull off a miracle, but they're not a big club. Speaking of next year, there will be 4 automatic relegations at the end of the season.
Once upon a time: #OnceUponATime: While digging through my old books I found this calendar-book in which I had written my 2002 @J_League predictions.I cannot imagine how time flies so fast?The first J.League season I followed and watched was the 2000 season.What about you guys?@J_League_En pic.twitter.com/7yOlxSIiFP— Samurai Warrior (@SamuraiWarrio17) December 15, 2020
Hopefully he will be able to play in the top 5 leagues in the future, not sure how his potential compares with likes of Tomiyasu, Minamino, etc. Doubt he can reach Kubo's level tho
Ayumu Seko has won the 2020 J League best young player award: https://www.soccer-king.jp/news/japan/jl/20201221/1156728.html For those who have been watching the J League, do you think He is a really good CB? And who were the best CBs this season in your opinion?
His performance has been generally fine overall this season but a part was due to Cerezo's tactics as well imo. Defence was pretty organized, him and Jonjic has a pretty decent partnership.
https://www.nikkansports.com/soccer/news/202012210001102.html People who watch the J League seems all to agree that the best CBs this season were Jonjic, Maruyama and Morishige. But looking at overall statistics ("Own aerial battle", "Defensive" and "Take the ball"), the best CBs seems to be Eduardo, Makino, Simão Mate and Miura: https://www.football-lab.jp/summary/player_parameter/j1/?data=10&year=2020 So who is right? Those who watch the matches or the statistics?
Not sure about J league as I don't watch every match lol but at least for JNT, Makino and Miura didn't impress me much whenever they play but then Moriyasu' tactics are different from their respective clubs anyway, hence difficult to compare. Jonjic from what I have seen seems pretty sturdy, he has a good partnership with Seko.
Defensive metrics are notoriously tricky to define in football, as "counting stats" only capture actions where the defender intervenes on ball.
Morishige shouldn't be in the conversation about being the best in anything at this point of his career.
Seiji Kimura/Rio Omori in the same team as him seems like a decent prospect, hopefully Hasegawa will develop them as potential successors to Morishige's position properly, unlike Rei Hirakawa whom he brought back on loan from FC Kagoshima only to put him on the bench and not play him.
Defenisive qualities are more than what these statistics show. Speaking data-wise, statistics only show you the quantitative side of things (correlations), but you need to go qualitative and dig deeper for more vital side of things (causes). Winning ground duels or aerial battles is not everything in defence, as positioning, off-the-ball movement, expecting what your opponents will do, pace, decision-making and many other few details play part in assessing defensive qualities. For example, a CB can do much benefit to his team by neutralising an opposing player without toching the ball or challenging him, and a CB might as well neutralise an opposing player even before the ball reaches him, and in some occasions excellent defensive work helps to block the path of a potential pass from the opponents and makes them try other and less threatning passing options. Speaking about the players you mentioned, the likes of Maruyama and Jonjic are clearly better than Makino for example.
Sagan Tosu won both the Prince Takamado U-15 cup and the Japan Club Youth Soccer U-18 Cup . They maybe losing tons of money and letting all their players go, but at least they have a good youth set-up to fall back upon.
They're also making solid moves on the transfer market. Even if they fall to J2 - it's not impossible in 2021 -, they could rely on some youngsters and gain money to collect the debt they accumulated in years before.
The likes of Kaisei Ishii and Daiki Matsuoka already have quite a few minutes in the senior team already. If they develop Shinya Nakano and maybe Ayumu Ohata well, they could reach at least Nagatomo's level imo, quite like their style of play, seems to be decently dynamic when on pitch from observations. On the other hand, others like Zen Tanaka, Yohei Ittahashi, Kodai Nagata and Reoto Kodama seems to have at least a little potential too imo. Quite like Sagan Tosu's ability to nurture youth. Coupled with their moves on transfer market, seems like they have a decent strategy in terms of managing their club e.g finances, etc.
Matsuoka was mostly a starter in the 2000 season, Ishi also played many games as a starter. Both are senior team regular, and don't fall into "played few minutes in the senior team" category.