2019 MEIJI YASUDA J2 LEAGUE 34th Sec - Kashiwa Reysol vs Tokyo Verdy

Match Report

Last week, Verdy gave up two goals from set pieces in an away loss against Omiya Ardija. Although they had the majority of the possession and controlled the flow of the match, the team were unable to fully break down their opponents’ rigid defensive shape and spent the past week working to improve in that area. The match on this day was also the final leg of a three-game streak of away ties and the opponents were runaway league leaders Kashiwa Reysol. As it was difficult to imagine this encounter progressing into a defensive stalemate, the stage seemed perfectly set for Verdy to evaluate where they are as a team.

Last week, the team suffered a series of injuries to their forwards, forcing them to line up for this match with a re-tooled front line. Hiroki Kawano was handed the free role in the center, while Junki Koike and Mizuki Arai took their places at right and left wide striker.

Both teams showed desire to dominate possession as the match began, leading to a fierce battle for the ball. Reysol did not overlook even the most minor of mistakes and they were able to win control with minimum effort and pressure the Verdy goal. With tension high, Verdy eventually began to develop their passing rhythm. In the 8^th minute, Rihito Yamamoto won the ball high up the pitch and managed to play it to Koki Morita, despite being bundled over by the defense as they tracked back. Morita then played the ball down for Klebinho, who hit a midrange shot. In the 21^st minute, after stretching the defense wide, Koike received the ball on the sideline, deep in opposition territory. He then played a reverse ball back into the middle where Klebinho sent a sharp cross into the box. With the defense unable to clear, Kawano responded to control the ball with his chest and strike a stylish volley, but the effort was kept out by a fine save from the goalkeeper. The momentum was firmly in Verdy’s favor, or so it seemed. In the 30^th minute, Verdy conceded a set piece to the opposition knowing full well their vulnerability of late. It was a kick from the right that floated into the box and Naoto Kamifukumoto rose to collect, only to be out-leaped by the taller Olunga, who headed into the back of the net. Verdy’s streak of conceding from set pieces had now extended to three matches straight. In the 38^th minute, a long pass was played to the opposite end of the pitch from the opposition’s own half, leading to a low cross that was drilled into the Verdy area. Once again, it was Olunga who got their first and his first-time volley struck home, extending the Reysol lead.

Just as they had in their first match under Coach Nagai, Verdy entered half time down by two goals. The players then retook the pitch hoping to recreate their earlier come from behind victory. They would control possession for a long period after the break. In the 63^rd minute, Verdy were forced to make their second substitution as Kawano went down with an injury, leaving Morita the role of free man while the rest of the formation converted to a back three. The changes had an instant impact. In the 67^th minute, the team began an intricate passing move on the right wing and penetrated deep into opposition territory where Morita received the ball in the penalty area and motioned to turn, only to be brought down by what looked like an outstretched leg from a defender. The referee, however, held his whistle. Though the move had not ended with a finish, the players had done well to unlock the defense and move the ball to decisive positions in the box. Five minutes later, they would break down the right again and play a cross into the area that was just cleared by the defense. A goal seemed to be on the horizon. However, the momentum would shift once again. In the 80^th minute, the ball spilled loose after a set piece and Reysol were off on the counter. The Verdy defense managed to catch up, but they were still unable to stop Cristiano from scoring a third. One minute later, Wakasa won a header from a corner kick and hit the post, after which Koike tapped home the rebound, only to see his goal disallowed for offside.

With the players clearly tired in the final minutes, Verdy would repeatedly lose possession from their own mistakes and suffer on the counter. The more they tried to strengthen the attack, the more they seemed to play into the opposition’s hands. Substitute Lee Yong Jick got on the end of a cross in front of goal, but in the end, the team could only manage a single shot on goal for the entire second half. The match then came to a close.

Verdy have now ended their three-match road trip with a negative record of one draw and two losses. As mentioned at the top, this match served as a barometer of the team’s current state and the results were a rude awakening. Still, the players did manage to carve avenues toward goal and win the lion’s share of possession. Precision in their combination play continues to falter at the end of moves, resulting in glaring mistakes as they were one step away from a shot on goal. Having now assessed their progress against Reysol, the team must improve as much as they can, work hard in training to address the finer points, and cut down on mistakes as much as possible.

Manager Hideki Nagai

Your thoughts on the match?
Today’s match was a test of how much we could play our own style of football against the league leaders and the conclusion is that we still have not improved the way we end moves enough to break down a team of their quality. In addition, I think we haven’t achieved the right kind of play in the moments that lead up to those opportunities. On set plays, including the one they scored from, the quality of ball our opponents played in is a painful reminder of how much room we have to grow. We had a large contingent of fans travel to the away stadium today to support us. Those fans come believing that we will reward them with a win and I’m very frustrated that we couldn’t do that. However, we have no time to hang our heads. We simply have to prepare for the next match and work hard to improve our football.

In the second half, you applauded when Morita beat his defender in the box.
The players know our plan to break them down and we have to do things like more often. I also wanted them to improve their quality.

What was the objective of the change in system in the second half?
It was already 0-2 at that point and we needed to score three, four, or even five goals. There are many ways to look at the formation after the change, but in my mind, it was close to a 3-2-5. The plan was to have five players at the top and show greater attacking intent.

Given that you were behind, did you have any thoughts on how to manage the risk of a counter?
In general, getting hit on the counter means that we lost the ball in a bad way. I’ve always told the players that there are acceptable and unacceptable ways to lose possession. If we lose in an unacceptable way, then we will obviously be vulnerable to counter-attack. I believe the answer is to improve the way we keep the ball and the quality of our play. The fact that we often see two players combining to try and break down our opponents means that we’re not achieving the kind of football we want to. As a rule, I’ve told them to always involve three or more players in every move. With just one person making a pass and another receiving, it won’t be easy to break down a defense like Reysol’s and we had trained to deal with that. However, in terms of involving three or more players in each move, we still have work to do. I hope to raise our quality in that area in the future.

You were matched up against your mentor, Nelsinho, today.
There was a good sense of tension throughout the game and matching up against a manager that I played under in my own career is a very unique experience that leaves me with complex feelings. Still, once the match starts, those things no longer matter and I was focused on helping the team play our band of football and trying to win. He is someone with far more experience – more than that, a real legend as a manager – and there still many things that I can learn from him. When the match ended, he told me that he was praying for my success as a manager and that he looked forward to matching up with me again.

MF 16Koki Morita

Your thoughts on the match?
I wanted us to score in the first half. Once we were in the second half, we conceded goals and had no choice but to attack. We were lacking in quality and ended up suffering on the counter, which tired everyone out. It was that kind of game. In the first half, Reysol didn’t press us as much as we expected and Uchi(da) was able to carry the ball up to the halfway line. That enabled us to push them back, but from that point, we needed to be more patient and watch how they were lining up around the penalty area. In terms of our impatience and the way we handed them the ball, it was a wasteful game.

Hiroki Kawano played in the free man role, today.
Today, it was Hiroki and before last week, it was Leandro. They both have different qualities. Hiroki likes to play passes himself and then look for the return pass, so the rest of us focused on taking positions in support of him whenever he got the ball. As a team, we have our positions, but we also believe in not being confined by those and playing with fluidity. It’s important that whenever one of us leaves their position, someone else fills it.

Your energy stood out until the final whistle.
Honestly, we couldn’t afford not to win today if we want to make J1 and while that’s true of every match, Reysol were a quality opponent and I tried to do even more than I usually do.

Their tight defense made it difficult for you to attack.
To be honest, on the pitch, it felt like breaking them down would be a difficult task. We needed to use our heads more and do things like take mid-range shots or play balls that were likely to be difficult for the goalkeeper to catch. Of course, we needed to increase the number of shots we took, but it’s not about that alone. We need to demand greater quality from ourselves.

MF 20Rihito Yamamoto

Tell us what areas you think you need to improve on in the future.
Coach Nagai continues to give me things to work on after each match, so I think it’s important to address those things first. In particular, I’ve been told that I’m not seeing the entire pitch, so I’ve focused on switching the ball to the opposite side or trying to see far ahead as I play. I believe that I first have to work on my basic technique and then build on top of that.

You were aggressive at carrying the ball forward. Is that a tactic you prepared with Kashiwa in mind?
Today, there were a lot of gaps that opened up between their front two and their midfield, so I didn’t feel a lot of pressure and elected to play that way. It’s not something that we prepared, in particular, as a tactic. I simply focused on doing something different when our two forward central midfielders were being closed down. Coach Nagai always encourages us to watch what our opponents are doing, so I don’t think there was anything wrong with that sort of play.

What did you do to manage the risk of a counter attack?
In terms of risk management, I think that as a team, I need to communicate more with the forward central midfielders. Risk management is important, but for us, not losing the ball is even more important and I’m in the position that’s responsible for that. I don’t think I should be taking up the right positions because I’m afraid of their counter-attack. I need to take up the right positions in order for us to move the ball and it’s afterward that I should think about risks. With that said, we can’t afford to make incredibly risky passes. We have to choose the right play.

MF 8Tatsuya Uchida

Your thoughts on the match?
Right now, we’re in a period where we’re not earning results to go along with our play. All of us, including myself, are aware of the need to improve. We believe that doing so will enable us to get the results we need and there is a lot more we can do, so we just need to point the team in an upward trajectory.

Once you were behind on goals, the way you tried to attack more and more, enduring counter-attacks in the process, stood out.
We felt that on the pitch and we talked about it. When the score was 0-0, I don’t think we were playing badly, so we should have continued in that manner after going down 0-1. Part of it was that we conceded from a set piece again and I think we lost our balance by going too far forward.

You and your partner in the center of the pitch seemed to lose the ball from flicks and other risky passes a lot.
We talked about that at half time. It’s not that kind of play, itself, that is bad and it’s not bad to watch for opportunities to do it. Where we can improve is in our decision making after making the initial pass. As a team, we have to exercise better judgment and support one another more, after making the pass.

Did you make any changes to your approach after giving up two goals in the second half and feeling a bigger need to attack?
Our basic approach did not change. We are a fundamentally attacking team and our style doesn’t change greatly depending on the score. Rather than do something special, we try to express what we have worked on so far.

How did you plan to break them down after changing systems?
The first point was to get the ball to the front five as quickly as possible, but we didn’t do a good job of it, myself included. However, that was not a problem with the system. It was more a problem of making too many mistakes. Those mistakes prevented us from accomplishing what we set out to do. No matter how good our tactics or ideas, things will not go well if we make simple mistakes.

Despite it being a point of focus, you’ve continued to concede goals from set pieces. However, that may be an indication of your improved defense during open play.
It’s true that we keep conceding in the same manner, but there are a lot of elements where we’ve improved and a lot where we have to do more.

Considering that you can’t afford to let any games get away right now, how is the team atmosphere now that you’ve ended your road trip without a victory?
The entire team is extremely frustrated, and the atmosphere did grow a bit dark. However, our season did not end today and I think we have to keep going. We will reflect on what happened today, but simultaneously, we have to begin preparations for next week.

DF 17Lee Yong Jick

What did you concentrate on while playing in the free man role?
No matter who plays at the free man position, there are certain requirements. I was only in that position for a short time, but I could feel that my teammates were tired. The ball didn’t move unless I got between the lines and even if I did take up good positions, there were many times that the ball just didn’t arrive. That meant that I had to adjust the timing in which I try to get on the end of crosses. I entered the pitch thinking it was my job to get a goal and that required the help of everyone else. I think we needed to challenge ourselves more overall. Coach Nagai knows the risk when he asks us to play this kind of football and he works with us on it every day, but I’m not sure we expressed what we’ve been taught, today. There’s no doubt that everyone is trying their hardest, but we have too many simple mistakes. This might sound harsh, but if that keeps happening, I think it will be difficult for us to obtain results.

In terms of overall play, I imagine you need flexibility beyond what the manager asks for.
Since I came on as a substitute, I had nothing to fear, but the players who started had suffered two goals in the first half and I think it did some damage, mentally. I kept an eye on the state my teammates were in as I played, but I also felt that we were lacking in the right mentality overall. In terms of observing our opponents as we play, I don’t think today’s opposition was constantly tight in defense and I thought we passed the ball well in the first half. If we had continued that, I think we would not have had many problems. However, there were indeed problems, whether that was due to physical exhaustion or mental exhaustion.

When things were going badly, your simple mistakes really stood out.
It’s difficult to make mental adjustments while using your body. When I came on, I think there were a particularly large number of mistakes. That doesn’t meant that my teammates with regular playing time were being lazy, it’s just that it was hard for them to control their feelings as they play.

Before the match began, you were seen talking to the supporters behind the goal.
So many people continue to come and support us, even in away matches and despite our poor run of form. This wasn’t a game with free admission. They’re paying money to come and see us play, showing their passion along the way, and I think we have to respond in kind. I didn’t start today’s match, so I just tried to do whatever I could, no matter how small. As long as we’re professionals, we have a duty to achieve results. It was also my first time to play in a while.

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