Interesting that he was playing on the left for the first time in a match, after he was used more on his Celtic position on the right in the first friendlies against lower sides. Naka states he was surprised to be playing left midfield, but seems to be happy of how combination with De La Pena (more defensive left midfield) worked really well. At the end he was also playing the classic playmaker position behind the FWs. Still one month to go until the real action starts in the Liga... very much looking forward to it! http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/soccer/eusoccer/0910/spain/text/200908030005-spnavi.html
I've been wondering for a while now if it's worth switching naka over to the left for japan and putting honda on the right. If naka starts playing on the left for espanyol then it'd make more sense.
I'm not sure it really matters which side he plays on ... his best comes when he drifts freely. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's been Hasebes job on the NT to cover for Naka so he can drift more openly. Honda looks a beast lately so I'd like to see him involved some. There is always the option that Honda is our super-sub in midfield too. Come 2010 I wonder if Naka will be 100% for 90m every game.
It was a game where most starters only played for one half of the game, and so did Nakamura. It seems Pochettino is still playing around a bit. Overall Nakamura did well, except for a few bad touches receiving a pass and losing possession. They all looked tired as well due to preseason and I'm sure workrate will return in time. His 2 assists (1 to Tamudo wrongly ruled offside) were good too, the 1st one rather unbelievable (or maybe not by his standard, I guess). I wrote about how he's gelling into the side, and you could see that again, much more so against Liverpool, especially with del la Pena, Luis Garcia and Tamudo. Some miscommunication here and there across the whole team, but there was no doubt about the good chemistry and understanding/willingness between the core players and Nakamura, especially with Garcia and de la Pena, who I'm pretty sure will be in the starting line up. One massive difference between this and Celtic is the overall tactical understanding of the players. Nakamura is surrounded by players who understand how to stretch the defense and midfield, slow down or speed up the game, and change positions for greater effectiveness. As soon as he gets the ball, there is a lot of movement around him (which is often seen in Spain). Also there is a much greater desire to outwit the defense through such combination play/movement rather than resorting to forcing an opening by shoving opponents aside with momentum, like in England/Scotland. Another interesting note is Nakamura's positioning. He started on the left and de la Pena would drop deep while Nakamura drifts inward. He was so high up, drifting from the left of 3-top and a hole behind 2-top (but officially it was 1-top... get it?). After a while he would switch and plays on the right wing, which was a familiar sight, but this time the fullback wouldn't move up so much and the width was provided by 2 forwards while Nakamura, again, drifts around. I barely recall him dribbling to the touchline except when he ended up there after a corner kick. It was at times a mind boggling, morphing formation often due to the wild movement of forwards. The game was mostly played centrally once they were close to the box. I'm sure a lot of this is a trial at this point in time, but I get the feeling that Pochettino's side isn't scared of shuffling players around during a match for greater creativity. Though typical preseason inadequacies still remain, many of them were roaming a lot and nicely slotting in. All of this sits well with Nakamura, as you know. What's more scary, for me, was that even after a few weeks, they all seemed to know Nakamura's weakness and take that into consideration. I don't know how - they might just be very observant or maybe that's how they've been instructed by the manager, but the way the game was played seemed to indicate a certain degree of awareness as to where and how Nakamura's quality is best accentuated. How very weird. It wasn't perfect and sometimes resulted in losing possession, but I didn't expect even a hint of such awareness only after a couple of friendlies. It might just be a fluke, but I don't know; a lot of it seemed too good to be a fluke. I think many of them already know what he can/can't do and making the best of his function, which resulted in a goal and should've been 2 goals if it weren't for the wrong offside call. Wherever this is going and whatever future awaits him, I think he will enjoy this setup far more than in Scotland, where he was heavily marked and taken out of a game from time to time, because he was really the only 1 who could playmake and the other teams knew it. Whether he'll be competing or playing with de la Pena, I don't know - those 2 theories exist just as equally at this point though all points to playing both - but if they both play, the primary playmaker can keep changing so it's no longer a simple matter of double marking 1 playmaker; 1 of them will always be more free. The oppositions are better this time, but so are the wit of Nakamura's teammates. What surprised me a bit is just how "at home" Nakamura looks in the side. It might seem like that just because Nakamura sometimes looked completely out of place in the hussle & bussle of SPL. He sometimes looked like another species of a footballer, leaving you wondering what on earth he's doing there, but not so far in Espanyol. He seems to have found a bunch of his own offsprings. But anyway. Too early to pass judgement just yet. Still a very long way to go, and some unresolved issues as a whole. I just thought some of you might want to get more detailed info in case you missed it and are wondering what's really going on. The end of 1st Episode. To be continued, when I get enough funding. Donations accepted. Send in your credit card with personal details, PIN number, statements and social security code. Only high credit limit or empty cheque accepted. Card returned only when out of credit. Refunds not possible. Bankruptcy protection not provided. No hidden costs, so submit with confidence.
Japanese Abroad 2009/10 [R] https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1121906 Please merge threads and discuss there. We don't need individual threads.
Given the traffic here, I agree, I think it's rather pointless having a separate thread. This thread will likely grow at 4-5 posts per month or something ridiculous like that, which makes it redundant (as if we didn't have enough of that already). Incidentally, tamis, what a breathtakingly exquisite contribution as your second post there; it has nothing to do with the thread subject, and nothing to do with football. Welcome to the club, you'll fit right in
First, thanks for your detailed account of Nakamura's play... makes me wish to travel to Barcelona . Then... regarding the traffic, given that season has not even started, this thread is not doing that poorly. I don't know what the moderator/admins are favoring but now that this thread has been created, we might as well use it (IMO it makes the Japanese Abroad-thread easier to read, I think even that a separate Honda-thread might make sense when his season goes really well for him).
I will see, how things will go, but I doubt traffic will go up, its only usually the first few months and things slow down afterwards....
At times this place isn't really a "discussion forum", rather more like a confederated news/opinion sticky-board. So it's better to have a few threads (i.e. "sections") with a wide span of discussion in each. We've already had a digression in this thread with Okada Japan discussion and Goru had to redirect them. Before you know it, everybody would've forgotten that this thread existed for a specific player and would just get burried or duplicated elsewhere. Then there's Nakamura at Celtic: he was there for 3 years playing week in week out, some would even say he was overplayed. Yet we didn't gain enough momentum here. The Abroad thread was more than enough.
"Poor" threads usually die out by themselves, so no need to worry... Usually thread dedicated to a single player (or team) stay alive if there are one or two dedicated users throwing in ideas and news. We'll see!
Thanks a lot for your description! I'm very excited with Naka in Spain. I wish more of our midfielders could play there as I think it gels very well with their style and progression -- but alas the foreigner rule makes that difficult. I feel very confident Naka will look like a more complete player in Spain where he's not being kicked around the park every match and his team-mates can actually pass the ball and -- as you say -- understand the finer points of midfield tactics too.
very excited to see nakamura in spain. always thought that his skillsets would do him well in la liga. looking forward to his season.
Awful news from Espanyol... the team's captain, Dani Jarque, died today. He was 26 and apparently had a heart attack. It would have been his first season as captain.
R.I.P Really sad. I know the Bologna game will not take place now but can someone post all the preseason games for Espanyol?
We seem to hear about this once every year...? May its time for FIFA to request the Medical board to look into this issue?
It came suddenly, didn't it. Everything has been cancelled till further notice, rightly so. I'm sure they'll regroup, their season begins in a couple of weeks.
http://goal.com/en/news/11/transfer...nfirm-enquiry-from-middlesbrough-for-shunsuke So here's the deal. I watched Espanyol v. Athletico Bilbao on the tv, and no Nakamura. I was concerned, as he pretty much plays so many of the NT games but can't find first team action on Espanyol, even against Bilbao. So I did some research and found that Middlesborough is looking at him. The article contends that he may not want to leave even though I believe that he's killing his career by staying at Espanyol. He's better than that. Now, Middlesborough isn't an amazing club but he should be playing first team football for the coming World Cup, but it seems that Okada doesn't really care about that kind of stuff. Nakamura is amazing, but he needs to play club football. Look at Robinho, goes back to Brazil and Santos to try to play for the Brazilian NT. Is Nakamura treated so highly back home that he has too much time to play so many NT games, and not play regularly in Europe? Why doesn't he just come home to Japan and play at Yokohama and he'll be played on a regular basis. The season starts soon enough. I know that he didn't play the Kirin Challenge Cup in Oita today for the NT, so where the heck is he? He's better than this.
are you talking about the middlesborough trade? you're right. at least he'll play but let's face it...espanyol to middlesborough? not the greatest trade ever.
Agreed. But ideally he should be a part of a better English squad. I'm not knocking Middlesborough, but I think about Sol Campbell's debacle at Notts County. But I suppose at this point a I guess if no other team is calling, it's better than nothing.
Japanese Abroad 2009/10 [R] - part II https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1252668 There is a discussion thread about foreign based Japanese players. Please stop having individual threads.
seriously? dude, this thread IS about Nakamura. if you don't have anything to add to this thread ABOUT Nakamura, which myself and others have posted on this thread ABOUT Nakamura, feel free to post on another thread.