2019 MEIJI YASUDA J2 LEAGUE 38th Sec - Yokohama FC vs Tokyo Verdy

Match Report

Last week, Verdy achieved a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Nishigaoka over upper-table opponents Ventforet Kofu, giving them a 2-match winning streak before preparing for a run of three away games. This would be the second time this season that Verdy faced such a difficult run of matches on the road. The previous instance ended with the team dropping points as they came away with a record of one draw, twolosses. For Verdy to retain any hope of making the promotional playoff, they would need to claim revenge for their earlier failures and win all remaining matches, while also waiting to see the results earned elsewhere in the league.

The starting lineup for this day’s match was unchanged from the previous week. On the substitute’s bench, Yuhei Sato returned from injury along with Hiroki Kawano.

As the match began, both sides kept tight spacing and aimed to keep the ball, leading to a tense battle for possession in midfield. Neither team were able to dominate the play and while each was able to keep the ball long enough to enter the opposition half, moves ended with a turn over before a finish could be found. Verdy spread the play into the wide areas, aiming to use Junki Koike as a target man, and despite consistent pressure on goal, the players found themselves caught in the defense’s net. The match seemed up for grabs for either team when the deadlock was suddenly broken by a super goal. It was the 26th minute and after pushing deep into Verdy territory, Minagawa received a ball from the left at the far post and hit a shallow reverse pass toward midfield. The player who pounced on the ball was Nakamura and his stunning first-time volley rocketed into the top left corner to put Verdy behind by a goal. After the opener, Verdy seemed perhaps too eager to claim a quick equalizer and their passes, as well as their positioning, began to suffer. Unable to retrieve the second ball after losing possession, they soon found themselves pushed back for a long period. Although the players raised their tempo before the close of the half, the whistle sounded with an equalizer seeming far away.

After the break, Verdy began to utilize the aggressive play of Paraiba and Klebinho to push forward from high positions and threaten the opposition goal. With the mood rising, Verdy would lose focus again in the 54th moment. Naoto Sawai shifted position in response to a pass through the final third and attempted to intercept. In a stroke of bad luck, he alteried the course of the pass and sent it to the feet of an opposition player. With the rest of the Verdy defense slow to close down, a low pass was drilled into the area and turned in by Matsuura to put Verdy down by two goals.

The damage looked significant, but a single substitution would change the momentum. In the 62nd minute, Koike let a pass run on the left side that found its way to Yuta Narawa, who hit a cross in front of goal. While the ball seemed to head straight at the goalkeeper, Paraiba refused to give up on the chance and his pressure led to a mistake, allowing Lee Yong Jick, brought on only one minute earlier, to make contact and put the ball in the back of the net. Now Verdy really began to raise the intensity of their attack. In the 72nd minute, a set-piece header from Masashi Wakasa flew over the head of the goalkeeper, only to crash off the crossbar. Verdy did not rely solely on long balls. Rather, they threaded passes across the pitch and built from the wide areas to pressure the Yokohama FC goal. However, as one chance after another passed by needing only a final touch of quality, the team were unable to score and the final whistle blew. It was 90 minutes that left a bitter after-taste.

There are now only four matches left in the season and the team’s table position is clear. Even so, the players cannot afford to cease working until the very end. As they try to build the strength to play dominant football, every game – no, every minute– is precious. The entirety of that time must be spent in pursuit of improved quality and results.

Manager Hideki Nagai

Your thoughts on the match?
As a chance to play a team high in the table at this point in the season and to do so at Mitsuzawa, a stadium that holds many memories for me, I had been highly looking forward to this match. I also felt it would be important as a test of how much of our football we could accomplish. We began the match with that intent and in the first half, we didn’t exactly earn a passing grade but we still did enough to stay in the game. However, we neglected the most important element of the plan we’d worked on over the past week, our defense, and that is something that both I and the team need to reflect on. In the second half, we brought on Yuhei Sato with the intent of increasing our share of the possession and imposing more of our style. We were successful to some degree, but the players were not on the same page in terms of how to end moves and I was reminded of just how much more we have to do to improve our precision. For me, personally, I also have to tip my hat to Shunsuke Nakamura, who reminded us all of his brililiance today.

Can you tell us what, specifically, went wrong in defense on the goals you gave up?
For the first goal, all you can do is compliment Shunsuke on a brilliant midrange effort, but beyond that, we worked the entire week on shifting positions to keep them from stretching us wide, or exploiting the middle for that matter, and stopping them from hitting simple passes to their target man Leandro Domingues. Despite that, I am at a loss to explain how he could have been given that much space to score such a simple goal at that point in the match. If we’re going to become a team that wins more than we do now, I have to be stricter with the players about that aspect of our game.

Despite the loss, the progress that the team has made was also on display.
I think we owe that to the individual effort and work put in by the players. I do think we are working better as a team, but we’re still a way off from our ideals and with that in mind, I think we have a lot more to do. Of course, there are many adjustments we have to make and many areas that require greater quality. With all that said, considering that I’ve only been on the job for three months, I think the players have done a brilliant job. I am grateful to them for their committment, day in and day out.

What did you hope to get from Yuhei Sato after bringing hi on at half time?
In some ways, I wanted him to play his normal game, but as libero, the first thing he needed to do was get the ball moving in the right directions. Yuhei’s best quality is his spacing, or better put, the way his play improves spacing throughout the entire team. I’ve told that to him directly and I expected that from him today. I think he anwered for the most part.

Likewise, what did you expect from Lee Yong Jick after bringing him on?
Like Leandro, and like Koki Morita, he has his own way of playing the free-man position and there are things in that position that only he can do. In that sense, I am happy with his performance. Specifically, I have asked him to be the first line of defense by pressing from the front. I also want him to secure the ball up top and lay it off to players who are facing forward. The last thing is for him to get involved himself at the end of moves. I gave him a pretty wide-ranging mission, but I think he did well.

DF 17Lee Yong Jick

Tell us about your goal.
My original intention was to make a run into the area where Paraiba was, but I saw him making the run inside and so, I instinctively shifted to make a run behind so we could avoid crowding eachother. I also sensed that the ball would be played to the far post. On top of that, we knew from our scouting that Yokohama FC’s defenders had a tendency to get caught ball-watching and I’m good at getting away from markers with my runs, so it played out as I planned. Still, I think I owe the goal to Paraiba and the way he challenged for the ball.

You began the move by receiving the ball on the wing and letting the play develop before finishing it off.
I felt like there were many cases when we had too many numbers in the wide areas and not enough in the middle, so I felt it would be better if I spread the ball and let my teammates compete on the wings, so I could get onto a cross into the box. We knew that was a weak point of theirs. However, we couldn’t do that well in the end and we ended up with only me in the middle a lot of the time. In that sense, we were a bit wasteful.

What instructions did you receive from Coach Nagai as you entered the match?
He wanted me to line up at a different height from the front cental midfielders, which means that when the central midfielders were high up the pitch, I would drop back to receive the ball. We continued with our normal game plan, but he also wanted me to believe in my ability in front of goal and try to get on the end of moves. In that sense, I think I did as I was ordered. I was also instructed to be aggressive in defense and when I pressed them for the first time, after I came on, I felt that I could force them to huff the ball clear. I tried to be aggressive in doing that. That enabled us to win the ball more, but our play after winning the ball still has to improve. That includes making decisions on whether to attack quickly or build up with patience.

You couldn’t create many chances in the final 10minutes.
I think our play up to the moment of the cross was fine, but we committed too many numbers to build up and trying to break them down and that didn’t leave enough players to get on the end of crosses. We need more moves like the one that led to the goal today, in which I make a run to the near post and someone else runs far. We just didn’t do that enough. When I make a run near, if there’s noone at the far post, it will become a useless decoy run. I wanted to impose myself more but it was difficult for me to find the right moment. So, I think we were a little too passive in those last 10 minutes. I mentioned that to several of my teammates after the match. Making runs onto crosses will lead to opportunities to win the second ball and from there, we can recycle the attack and dominate possession for log periods. If all we do is attack from the wide areas, we tend to lose the ball in dangerous positions and get hit on the counter. We have to think about all these things as we continue refining our style. Today, we were undone by one fantastic effort on goal and another moment where we conceded from our own mistakes. That was wasteful.

While you still struggle with precision at the end of moves, the play up to the final ball seems to have improved.
I definitely think we have improved. Compared to our first matches under Coach Nagai, we’re on the same page on how to move the ball and painting the same pictures on the pitch. But despite coming that far, we still aren’t accomplishing the things we talked about at the beginning, like building up on one side and switching play to the other to build numerical advantages. We have to recall those things and work together ourselves to build good moves. With all that said, I really think we have improved a lot. Like today, Kaji(kawa) has been playing well lately and we know he’s good at switching play to the opposite side. So, we’re able to work together to bring out each player’s best qualities, but as we do so, we’re still at the stage where we have to figure out how to finish moves from there.

MF 19Junki Koike

Your thoughts on the match?
It feels like we were done in by a single punch. We didn’t play horribly, but they were able to score when it counted.

In the first half, you built up well but couldn’t find precision at the end of moves.
My marker was Kitazume and he seemed very mindful of me and trying to prevent me from making runs behind. As such, I tried to make runs into the middle so we could have rotation on the left side. I was happy with the way Narawa and I combined, with me making runs in the middle and him filling in the space with runs on the outside. We created some chances from that and I hope we can continue to do it in the future.

You grabbed one goal back, but I’m sure you would have rather gotten an equalizer.
I think that if we had gotten another goal, the match may have moved in a different direction. We couldn’t get the job done and that means we still have work to do.

You couldn’t create many chances in the final ten minutes.
They shut off the middle in the first half too. We couldn’t open them up.

Despite giving up two goals, your defensive plan seemed somewhat effective.
On the secnod goal, we tried to press from the front and as we fought to win the ball, we ended up conceding them an opportunity to hit on a short counter. I think we just have to put more work into that area.

DF 2Masashi Wakasa

You had a pretty fierce matchup with Minagawa.
We were fighting for position. Part of it was appeals made to the referee, but either way, it doesn’t go well for me. It would have been better if I could have muscled him off the ball and won possession, but I got whistled for fouls a lot. For me, individually, it was very frustrating. I think a truly good defender is someone who will win the ball in those situations, so I have to work harder.

You had a chance to equalize midway through the second half.
I was trying to head it with the rear of my head, but I ended up making contact with my back. I’ll work on making contact in those situations and next time, I’ll score.

The two of you at centerback stood out for your aggressiveness in bringing the ball forward.
We were able to evade them when they tried to press us and I think more and more, we are on the same page.

You made some good forward passes to teammates between the lines.
That’s something that, individually, I try to do every match and since Klebi(nho) does a good of getting into those spaces, I’m often able to play it forward quickly with a single pass. Ideally, Klebhi can turn from there, but the opposition marked him pretty tightly, so when that happens, we need a third runner to give him support after I play the ball. Even if I don’t play a direct pass right away, I can pass it to Naoto (Sawai) once and then get it forward to Klebhi. Or I can motion toward Naoto and then change the angle and hit it forward. These are all things we work on in training.

While you still struggle with precision at the end of moves, the play up to the final ball seems to have improved.
We’re on the same page more and more. I hope we can continue to progress and mature in the remaining matches.

MF 9Yuhei Sato

Your thoughts on the match?
Other than a few moments where we pressed too high and they took advantage, they didn’t really create any chances outside of their two goals. It’s true that they had the strength to finish those chances, but we had control of the ball for long periods, too. In terms of the actual numbers, I imagine possession was pretty even, but on the pitch, and even for those watching, it felt like we were dominating the ball. We’re in a pretty difficult situation in terms of making the playoff, so now we have to think about what is most important for us from here out. We still haven’t played very long under Coach Nagai and I think it’s important that we get the most out of the matches we have left. We had to punt the ball forward in the last five minutes today, but that’s not really our style. We want to play football by passing the ball until the end.

Were you focused on maintaining good spacing with your teammates?
I was focused on spacing and the tempo of our passing. However, I don’t know if I was effective. Their defensive line dropped pretty deep, so it’s hard to judge.

What did you have in mind when you took the pitch?
I wanted to play the ball into the wide areas more from my position, but I noticed that our centerbacks were given a lot of space, so when they were free, I felt that they could play a better ball than me. I told the manager that, as well. Today, it was better for the centerbacks to make the passses out wide. But if we’re not more agressive about using the full width of the pitch and stretching our opponents, I feel like we won’t bel able to break down teams like we played today. So, in that sense, I thought we were a bit wasteful. Rather than moving the ball while under pressure, the lesson from today is about how well we can finish off moves against opponents who retreat into their area.

You couldn’t create many chances in the final ten minutes.
Ideally, we want to keep moving the ball and break them down, but if we lose the ball too easily or don’t finish when we have the chance, we end up with results like today. Still, we forced them to play a lot of long balls and I think we expressed more of our style than them. It felt like they wanted to thread passes as well, but couldn’t do it.

There is still work to be done on greater precision or more ideas at the end of moves.
We didn’t do enough with the ball once we got it into the wide areas. We move the ball well as a team, so when we get it into the right spots, we have to have deeper combination play and share the same image for how to break the last line of defense. If we had more players making free runs today, I think we could have broken down their back five. We can do more, like have the free-man make diagonal runs to add an extra accent and complete the move. When Koki (Morita) is on the pitch, he makes a lot of those sorts of runs, but no matter what the circumstances, we have to give more depth to our attack. If players can’t receive the ball, they can provide that depth and perhaps we need to be cleverer.

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