The next game for Omiya Ardija is an away fixture at Sagan Tosu on Saturday 12th May 2012 which will hopefully kickoff on time at 2pm. Perhaps at the beginning of the season we might have expected that our games against Tosu would be a chance for a rare 6 pointer, and that the Kyushu outfit would be finding their very first season in the J1 league difficult.
That has so far been very far from the truth and in fact the team from Tosu in Saga-ken in North West Kyushu find themselves sitting fairly prettily in 5th position with 4 wins and 2 draws out of their fist ten games. Such a start to their J1 presence is one they can be rightly proud of, and they have made people sit up and take notice of them. This has been good to see, as far too often teams who come up from J2 go straight back down again and often without so much as a whimper. FC Tokyo will of course be another exception, but then no one ever expected them to be in J2. Just as we have seen this season in the Premier League with Norwich and Swansea, promotion to, and survival in the highest level, does not have to mean a defensive or negative style of football in a desperate bid to stay in the higher flight, and Tosu have indeed impressed with the style of their performances. I'm sure if they continue their early good form, they will win plaudits far and wide this season.
So therefore this is not going to be an easy game for Jun Suzuki's men, although the players will be heartened by their close win over Gamba Osaka last Sunday, which was a third home win in a row. After their last road trip to Kobe, which went downhill very early on in the game, the Squirrels will be looking to put in a far stronger away performance and collect at least a point from Sagan Tosu. I would hope to see Hasegawa play up front with either Cho pushed up alongside him looking for knockdowns in the penalty box, or if fit, Rafael. I feel certain Rafael could score more goals if only he had some kind of partner to work with. Last season Suzuki often kept Naoki Ishihara on the bench when he could have provided such support for Rafael and now it seems Hasegawa is being given the same treatment. Hasegawa is of course very different to Ishihara, but still could offer support to Rafael through his physical presence and height. I'd rather have Ishihara available, but unfortunately he is away making Sanfrecce Hiroshima fans very happy and indeed scored twice in their last game, a victory away at defending champs, Kashiwa. Ardija fans must be asking why did we sell him.
My prediction therefore is a draw. However I am far from confident. I'm looking for our lads to put in a real shift to make the fans who travel and the rest of us back in Saitama City proud of their efforts. Let's go Omiya Let's Go!
Friday 11 May 2012
Thursday 10 May 2012
Kobe away and Gamba at home
The first half of Golden week came and went, The sun shined and Omiya got a home win over bottom team Sapporo. We Squirrels looked forward to the team's trip down to Kobe, who had just sacked their manager, Masahiro Wada and installed an interim coach in his place, Adachi.
However Ardija failed to capitalize and performed and lost dismally. The first goal came early, very early and was a complete disaster, a poor attempt at a defensive header and then a sloppy back pass from Kim let in Ogawa to score easily, and I guess things just deteriorated after that. Kobe wrapped up a relatively easy win in the second half with a nice strike from Lee on the 60th minute and an easy tap-in from Mogi on 68 minutes after Kitano could only parry a Kobe shot. This result meant Ardija slipped down the league table to 13th, and left fans worried by the performance and most likely thinking that the two recent home wins were hiding the truth of the team's level, or perhaps the inability of coach Suzuki to change his tactics depending on the team we are playing. On the latest J Talk podcast, Alan Gibson strongly predicted that Kobe would finish this season in the top three, so if that's the case, maybe by the end of the season this won't look such a bad result!
The Kobe game was on the Thursday of the Golden Week holiday, and the Squirrels didn't have too long to wait for another holiday fixture, and on Sunday Gamba Osaka arrived in town to play at the Nack5. Although it was Golden Week, don't listen to the name too closely, as just prior to the planned match day kick off of 4pm a massive storm broke over the stadium and the kick off was delayed for an hour. Usually Gamba turn up at the Nack 5 looking down at Ardija from a lofty J1 league table position, but on this Sunday surprisingly enough, It was us looking down on them. Gamba have been having a rough old time of it this season, and are already out of the Asians Champions League, and have changed their manager. For the second time this week we would face a Kansai side going through changes and difficulties, although Kobe's are clearly not as deep as Gamba's and the coach change seems to be more about personality clashes with the players and not meeting the high standards of the owners. Standards which would probably do Omiya's owners just fine. Despite having said that Gamba had been poor this season, the Osaka side fairly bossed the first half, both in terms of possession and chances. The Omiya team that Suzuki has been picking recently, definitely has some skill about it, but is based on having just one forward player, who quickly becomes isolated and only thrives in a counter-attack situation when the other team's defence is stretched. This might work away from home, though clearly not against Kobe, but it's just not good enough for me at home. Secondly, this plan needs a striker on form, who "scores when he wants" and unfortunately Ardija do not have such a player. Yet somehow Gamba could not convert their chances and with Rafael off, and Hasegawa on we did. Cho got the all important winner in the 73rd minute when a Carlinhos shot from distance rebounded off a defender to Cho and he finished well. Three more valuable points for the Squirrels, and three home wins in succession. Definitely something for the fans to be happy about and makes a pleasant change from last season when home wins were very scarce! Konno said for Gamba, that it was one of their better performances of the season so far, even though they still lost.
Who would have thought that after 10 games we would be 11th on 14 points. Well, probably a lot of people, but who would have thought that we would be on the same points as Nagoya Grampus, and above Cerezo, Yokohama, Kashima, Kashiwa, and Gamba. I would have bet decent money that most of those teams would be above us in the league. As it stands, it's a happy position for Ardija, if a close one. Nagoya have a game in hand, and Cerezo and Yokohama are only a point behind, the latter beginning to pick up form. It goes to prove that the J League this season is not an easy league to predict, which is hopefully keeping it interesting for the fans, especially those of us who follow the so called smaller teams and whom are enjoying seeing some of the big boys struggle. Funnily enough, on the latest edition of the J Talk podcast, host, Ben and guest, Alan Gibson both predict Omiya will easily stay in the J1. Mmm, I can't be so confident as they are, but certainly I hope their words prove correct by the end of the season.
However Ardija failed to capitalize and performed and lost dismally. The first goal came early, very early and was a complete disaster, a poor attempt at a defensive header and then a sloppy back pass from Kim let in Ogawa to score easily, and I guess things just deteriorated after that. Kobe wrapped up a relatively easy win in the second half with a nice strike from Lee on the 60th minute and an easy tap-in from Mogi on 68 minutes after Kitano could only parry a Kobe shot. This result meant Ardija slipped down the league table to 13th, and left fans worried by the performance and most likely thinking that the two recent home wins were hiding the truth of the team's level, or perhaps the inability of coach Suzuki to change his tactics depending on the team we are playing. On the latest J Talk podcast, Alan Gibson strongly predicted that Kobe would finish this season in the top three, so if that's the case, maybe by the end of the season this won't look such a bad result!
The Kobe game was on the Thursday of the Golden Week holiday, and the Squirrels didn't have too long to wait for another holiday fixture, and on Sunday Gamba Osaka arrived in town to play at the Nack5. Although it was Golden Week, don't listen to the name too closely, as just prior to the planned match day kick off of 4pm a massive storm broke over the stadium and the kick off was delayed for an hour. Usually Gamba turn up at the Nack 5 looking down at Ardija from a lofty J1 league table position, but on this Sunday surprisingly enough, It was us looking down on them. Gamba have been having a rough old time of it this season, and are already out of the Asians Champions League, and have changed their manager. For the second time this week we would face a Kansai side going through changes and difficulties, although Kobe's are clearly not as deep as Gamba's and the coach change seems to be more about personality clashes with the players and not meeting the high standards of the owners. Standards which would probably do Omiya's owners just fine. Despite having said that Gamba had been poor this season, the Osaka side fairly bossed the first half, both in terms of possession and chances. The Omiya team that Suzuki has been picking recently, definitely has some skill about it, but is based on having just one forward player, who quickly becomes isolated and only thrives in a counter-attack situation when the other team's defence is stretched. This might work away from home, though clearly not against Kobe, but it's just not good enough for me at home. Secondly, this plan needs a striker on form, who "scores when he wants" and unfortunately Ardija do not have such a player. Yet somehow Gamba could not convert their chances and with Rafael off, and Hasegawa on we did. Cho got the all important winner in the 73rd minute when a Carlinhos shot from distance rebounded off a defender to Cho and he finished well. Three more valuable points for the Squirrels, and three home wins in succession. Definitely something for the fans to be happy about and makes a pleasant change from last season when home wins were very scarce! Konno said for Gamba, that it was one of their better performances of the season so far, even though they still lost.
Who would have thought that after 10 games we would be 11th on 14 points. Well, probably a lot of people, but who would have thought that we would be on the same points as Nagoya Grampus, and above Cerezo, Yokohama, Kashima, Kashiwa, and Gamba. I would have bet decent money that most of those teams would be above us in the league. As it stands, it's a happy position for Ardija, if a close one. Nagoya have a game in hand, and Cerezo and Yokohama are only a point behind, the latter beginning to pick up form. It goes to prove that the J League this season is not an easy league to predict, which is hopefully keeping it interesting for the fans, especially those of us who follow the so called smaller teams and whom are enjoying seeing some of the big boys struggle. Funnily enough, on the latest edition of the J Talk podcast, host, Ben and guest, Alan Gibson both predict Omiya will easily stay in the J1. Mmm, I can't be so confident as they are, but certainly I hope their words prove correct by the end of the season.
Wednesday 2 May 2012
2 in a row!
Saturday afternoon came around warm and sunny and we headed to the Nack5 for once in glorious expectation. Ardija were coming off a great home win against the Urawa Reds and next up we would face the league's bottom team, the winless Consadole Sapporo. However the story is never that simple and Consadole have been labelled luckless on the J Talk podcast, so I am sure most Ardija fans would have found reason to temper their unlikely optimism. We managed to find two seats in the upper tier behind the goal at the home end, which is not always easy I have to tell you. I am not sure how early the Ardija faithful turn up to bag their seats, but we got their 45 minutes early and most of the stand was full. Overall it was a disappointing crowd of just over 8,000 fans that had turned up, but as kickoff approached both the home and away fans made some noise and the Nack5 was ready for some action.
The action came quite early as Ardija pressed down our left with Shimohira taking up some good positions, and the midfield passing the ball well and having most of the possession with Carlinhos looking lively in the middle of the pitch. Indeed it was Shimohira who delivered a lovely cross from the left for Carlinhos, using his body strength well to get in front of the Sapporo defender and powerfully head the ball into the net. Carlinhos celebrated with joy and ran full pelt across the pitch and over to the dugout to celebrate with Jun Suzuki. A sign that the players still back our coach despite many fans starting to want a change in the Ardija hot seat?A great start and Ardija continued to have a lot of the ball, Shimohira continued to make inroads down the left, Cho pressed up front and Higashi was alas looking on good form, but the second goal remained elusive and as the game neared the half time break Sapporo started to come into the game more and in fact managed to get an equalizer in first half injury time through Takagi. Our defenders seemed scared to make a tackle inside our penalty box, time seemed to stand still as it felt like our defenders just started watching the game like us fans! So we went in at half time at 1-1 and despite a fairly solid and decent performance from the Squirrels, my feeling was that the momentum had swung to Sapporo.
That feeling was born out in a second half display from Sapporo that got them almost everything apart from a goal, and the claims on J Talk podcast that Sapporo are an unlucky team, do appear to be right. The unluckiest player on this occasion was the Australian Jade North who had a superb volley and a header both cleared off the line by some desperate last ditch defending from Ardija. Jade North is a defender, but showed some real skill when in our penalty box, and later showed his defensive skills, by making some important tackles in the Sapporo box. Ardija were mostly restricted to playing on the break and fortunately for us they managed to get that crucial second goal through Takuya Aoki with a fine finish on 71 minutes. Aoki's goal turned out to be the winner, although Rafael had a great chance to make it 3-1 when through on the goalie, but he was unable to put the ball in the back of the net. Somehow Ardija held on, the ref blew his whistle and we had 3 points and a second home win in a row, whilst those plucky gallant men from Sapporo had nothing yet again.
Two home wins in a row, Omiya sit tenth in the league, a point ahead of Kashima and Kawasaki, and 2 points ahead of our next opponents Kobe, who we will play away at on Thursday 3rd May. Is this a chance for Omiya to get a third win in a row and climb a little more up the table? Let's hope so. Let's go Omiya Let's go!
The action came quite early as Ardija pressed down our left with Shimohira taking up some good positions, and the midfield passing the ball well and having most of the possession with Carlinhos looking lively in the middle of the pitch. Indeed it was Shimohira who delivered a lovely cross from the left for Carlinhos, using his body strength well to get in front of the Sapporo defender and powerfully head the ball into the net. Carlinhos celebrated with joy and ran full pelt across the pitch and over to the dugout to celebrate with Jun Suzuki. A sign that the players still back our coach despite many fans starting to want a change in the Ardija hot seat?A great start and Ardija continued to have a lot of the ball, Shimohira continued to make inroads down the left, Cho pressed up front and Higashi was alas looking on good form, but the second goal remained elusive and as the game neared the half time break Sapporo started to come into the game more and in fact managed to get an equalizer in first half injury time through Takagi. Our defenders seemed scared to make a tackle inside our penalty box, time seemed to stand still as it felt like our defenders just started watching the game like us fans! So we went in at half time at 1-1 and despite a fairly solid and decent performance from the Squirrels, my feeling was that the momentum had swung to Sapporo.That feeling was born out in a second half display from Sapporo that got them almost everything apart from a goal, and the claims on J Talk podcast that Sapporo are an unlucky team, do appear to be right. The unluckiest player on this occasion was the Australian Jade North who had a superb volley and a header both cleared off the line by some desperate last ditch defending from Ardija. Jade North is a defender, but showed some real skill when in our penalty box, and later showed his defensive skills, by making some important tackles in the Sapporo box. Ardija were mostly restricted to playing on the break and fortunately for us they managed to get that crucial second goal through Takuya Aoki with a fine finish on 71 minutes. Aoki's goal turned out to be the winner, although Rafael had a great chance to make it 3-1 when through on the goalie, but he was unable to put the ball in the back of the net. Somehow Ardija held on, the ref blew his whistle and we had 3 points and a second home win in a row, whilst those plucky gallant men from Sapporo had nothing yet again.
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