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MATCH
Match Report
There are now only three matches left. With the final two games scheduled to take place at home, Verdy traveled to Chiba this week for their last away game of the season. Their opponents were fellow alumni of the original J-League 10, JEF United Chiba. Regardless of either team’s position in the table, it was a match that both would want to win.
The Verdy squad that took the pitch had a number of changes from the previous week. At center back, Tomohiro Taira was given the start alongside Masashi Wakasa, while in midfield, Ryota Kajikawa took on the libero position behind a front central pair of Yuhei Sato and Koki Morita. Finally, despite concerns that he may have sustained a concussion the previous week, Paraiba recovered in time to start at left wide striker.
The match began with Verdy in possession. Although JEF Chiba pressed from high in the early minutes, Verdy evaded the pressure by passing the ball at a good tempo and their opponents gradually settled into a defensive block in front of goal. Even so, the Verdy buildup was far from perfect. Moves consistently broke down two to three steps from the finish, due to misplaced passes, and the usual cycle ensued in which their opponents created chances on the counter attack. In the 5th minute, the players lost possession and granted Kléber a dangerous approach on goal, while in the 11th minute, play in the wide areas stretched the Verdy defense and allowed Alan space for a volley. Neither opportunity was converted, but in both cases, the team’s own mistakes had put them in danger. Other than those two chances, however, the players largely answered the call from their manager to read their opponents and exhibit a high quality of positioning and decision making. In the 35th minute, Paraiba broke free on the left side and his cross into the box was met first time by Junki Koike. Later, in additional time, the opposition would pounce on a loose ball after Kamifukumoto punched away a cross, but Wakasa covered well enough to head the ball off the line. Moments afterward, Taira would nearly score with the back of his head, off a free kick, but the ball went just wide of the right post.
At half time, the manager instructed the players to remain patient, maintain possession, and break their opponents down by using the full width of the pitch. Moments after the kickoff, Ryota Kajikawa would find space for a midrange shot that went just over the bar, but the move still signaled Verdy’s renewed aggression in attack. The biggest chance of the day for either team would come in the 57th minute. After Leandro received a forward pass, the Brazilian turned with his head up and spotted Koike making an overlapping run from the middle into the space behind his defender. Matching the timing of his run to the pass, Koike received the ball from Leandro and stretched a toe to bring it under his control and play it past the retreating defender. One v one with the keeper, he then caught the ball on the bounce with a first-time volley, but the effort went wide of the left post. Verdy’s emphasis on attack in the opening minutes of the half also had the added benefit of helping them win the second ball and pin their opponents inside their area more than they had in the first half. However, despite keeping possession inside the final third, time ticked away with the players failing to fully break down the defense. The opposition also failed to create much of a threat on the counter attack and it was up to the Verdy players to see if they could finish the job. They continued stretching their opponents with good passing play, but ultimately could not create shots on goal and the match ended a scoreless draw.
Compared to the previous week, Verdy showed definite improvement in dealing with the opposition counter, thus allowing them to further focus on attack. The challenge then became finding ways to draw out their opponents, who had retreated in response, and finish off moves. The manager continues to place emphasis on reading the opposition’s approach, even as Verdy carry out their own. Improving their quality and decision making in that aspect is the only road to winning with the type of attacking football the team so desires. There is no room for compromise and a high demand for quality. As such, the remaining two matches cannot go to waste. To develop their style and give themselves a brighter future, not a minute, nor a second, can be spared and even the smallest 1% increase in quality will be well worth the effort.
Post-match comments
Manager Hideki Nagai
Your thoughts on the match?
First off, any match between two of the original J-League ten is a special affair and I was very happy to see the team play football in this wonderful stadium, amid such a wonderful atmosphere. If I were to think optimistically about our approach, I’d say we were half successful today. If I were to focus on the work that remains, I’d say that today was a continued reminder of the need to push for greater quality. Due to the flow of the match, it was difficult for me to use all my substitutions and my impression is that it was a difficult matchup for us. Still, as I say every game, the players have done a brilliant job of staying positive and continuing to challenge themselves. I firmly believe that will lead to a better future for us. Lastly, I would like to thank the Verdy supporters for traveling to today’s away match and cheering us on until the end. Our last two games are at home and we will prepare hard over the next week so that we can bring some joy to everyone on our turf.
In terms of play in front of goal, you always speak about the need to take midrange shots and look for a final ball. However, today it didn’t seem like the players off the ball were giving the ball holder many options.
As you pointed out, looking for midrange shots or a final ball is a set responsibility for us. To create opportunities for the final ball, the players need to locate space and make good runs. I don’t feel like we’re doing that enough right now. Of course, I made some adjustments at half time, but from my perspective, we can do more. That feeling that we can do more persists throughout each match and I think both poor decisions and a lack of options being given are to blame.
Compared to the first half, the players seemed more focused on running at the defense in the second.
I think there are many ways to look at the first half and how you rate it will depend on that outlook. From my perspective, I don’t think we played particularly poorly. One reason is that if our opponents are not going to come out of their shell, that does not mean that we have to force things. Instead, we tried to stretch them wide. I think we could have done more to pull them out of position in the end and that we could have shown a bit more intelligence. In particular, Chiba’s holding midfielders, Kohei (Kudo) and Kumagai, would always close down our front central midfield. We can use that to pull them to the side and create space for a pass to the free man in the middle. If we become more effective at that sort of thing, I think we will become better able to break teams down. I told the players that at half time. In the second half, we tried a bit of the next stage of our plan, which is to create chaos in front of goal by having a lot of dynamic movement. I think we accomplished that somewhat, but we’re still not fully engaging with the opposition. Failure to read what the opposition are trying to do continues to be an issue. If I were to be direct about what I want, I would like to see us change lanes just a bit before playing the ball forward. I will work on improving our quality in that aspect.
MF 16Koki Morita
You seemed to have more ideas about how to break them down in the second half.
Still, we didn’t create many shots no goal and that’s where we have to improve. I feel like it’s not a matter of shooting on sight but more about creating openings with our movement.
You were calling for the ball quite a bit.
That’s just about communicating with my teammates and trying to combine with them. It doesn’t mean I want the ball to go through me every time. Sometimes, my teammates will choose differently and make the right decision. I’m not trying to say that I’m always right. It’s just that I wanted them to know that they had the option of laying the ball off to me.
You seemed to have trouble building from the back early in the first half.
From my vantage point in midfield, it didn’t look we were in that much danger of losing the ball. They were pressing us from the front, but the pressure was not that intense and I think we could have done more. Even when they closed us down, it felt like we could evade them by recycling possession. Instead, we had a tendency to try and force the ball forward and ended up losing it as a result. That doesn’t mean playing the ball at the back is a bad thing. It’s more about our decision making. Once we saw that they were pressing us more than we expected, I think we should have thought about trying to tire them out by making them chase the ball a bit.
Midway through the second half, you were able to keep possession and win the second ball more, allowing you to pin them back. Did you hope to score from that point?
I feel that both our crosses and our attempts at a final ball were not good enough to earn us a goal. We need to not only raise the quality of our crossing, but also work on the timing of our runs and how we position ourselves in space. I think that’s not only the responsibility of the player making the cross. If the player on the receiving end can also adjust their movements to the pass, I think we can increase the number of shots on goal we create.
In the closing minutes, both teams had to respond to turn overs and the match became pretty end to end. It must have been a pretty heavy burden for you in midfield.
It was tiring, but the score was still at 0-0 and we wanted to get a goal. We lost the ball because we were taking risks, rather than being conservative, and Coach Nagai’s philosophy is that when that happens, we all have to support each other and work together to win the ball back.
So, you think the number of mistakes was a sign that you were playing in a positive way?
For example, even though he lost the ball in the end, Mizuki (Arai) challenged himself to run at the defense, which is his strong point. Personally, I think that’s something we have to keep doing. It may not have led to a goal today, but if we keep it up, the goals will come eventually.
There seemed to be many opportunities for you to try shots from mid-range.
I’m beginning to realize just how much I am passing up those opportunities, myself. It’s a difficult thing for me to fix right away, but if I raise my awareness, I can start to focus on developing moves that will open up that kind of shot.
MF 19Junki Koike
You played against your old team, today.
I had a chance to score, so there is some regret for me, individually.
The opportunity you had in the second half was from a pretty difficult angle.
The run and the initial touch past the defender all went as planned, but I wasn’t able to meet the ball on the bounce well and I ended up scuffing it a bit.
You created a chance early in the first half with an impressive diagonal run.
Hindsight is 20/20, but looking back, I suppose I should have tried to take the shot myself.
As a wide striker, your role is to make runs behind and receive the ball in high positions, but it didn’t seem like you were getting much service, today.
I was conscious of trying to stretch the opposition wide and if I had received the ball when doing so, I had the feeling that we could create scoring chances. With that said, I don’t think we moved the ball particularly badly as a team. We had possession for most of the match and all that remains is to improve our quality in front of goal. I had chances of my own today and I should have scored.
When the team had the ball and were making direct runs at the box in the first half, it seemed like the other players were not moving much off the ball.
Whenever Mori(ta) was able to get on the ball wide, I did try and position myself to receive the pass, but as a team, we haven’t been making many lateral runs from the center into the wide areas. That’s something we have to improve on. In the second half, when I had my chance, it came after Yuhei got the ball from a diagonal run and I reset my position, allowing Mon (Leandro) to play me the pass. That was a case where I did make a run from inside to outside and I think it worked well.
It did seem like the team made progress in addressing stagnancy in attack, compared to last week.
I think we are starting to achieve more and if I had scored at the end of moves today, I could have claimed two goals.
Midway through the second half, you were able to keep possession and win the second ball more, allowing you to pin them back. Did you hope to score from that point?
Including the chance I had, it’s something we have to improve on as a team. We have to develop our moves in a way that opens up shots on goal.
The last two matches of the season will be at home. Next week, you face Tokushima, who are currently in the race for promotion.
There are only two matches left, but since we’re still in the process of building our style, we just have to do everything we can to improve the quality of our play. We had a couple of tough losses recently and we couldn’t deliver a victory today, but since we’ll be at home for the final two games, we will work hard to share the thrill of victory with our fans.
DF 2Masashi Wakasa
How did it feel to match up against your old club?
I think I was a bit too pumped up when the match started. I made a series of mistakes, but after that, I was able to reclaim my poise and as a defender, I’m happy that we kept a clean sheet.
Kléber must have been difficult to handle.
Taira and I just made sure to stay in communication and do a thorough job of challenge and cover.
There were times when the forward players and the players at the back seemed to be on a different page.
The forward players were making excellent runs, so those of us at the back have to keep our heads up and make sure we find them. That’s an area where we have to improve our precision.
Midway through the second half, you were able to keep possession and win the second ball more, allowing you to pin them back. Did you hope to score from that point?
Yes, I think so. The fact that we had the ball deep in their territory was similar to last week’s match against Fukuoka and our objective was to learn from that game, try to use the full width of the pitch, and make runs behind. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to score. Even so, I personally feel that we played better than we did last week. Since we failed to score, it’s hard to say it was completely positive, but I hope that we can continue raising our level of precision.
You defended well from set pieces.
I think every player ran hard and performed their defensive duties. Our opponents had a number of tall players on the pitch, so even if we looked likely to lose the battle, we still made sure to put a body on them. I think we did our job well.
You had some trouble building from the back in the first half.
I think that was the fault of our own precision, or at least, we could have done a better job of recognizing what they were trying to do and moving the ball past them. Individually, I think I was too focused on trying to play forward passes. I should have observed our opponents from the beginning and tried to use the width of the pitch more.
For you, personally, it was your first return to Fukuda Arena in a while, since leaving your old club.
I was reminded of what a wonderful stadium it is. On the final set pieces of today’s match, we felt the pressure from the fans, but I’m glad we were able to stop them from turning the match into a moment of Fukuda Arena theater.
MF 13Mizuki Arai
What instructions did you receive after coming on?
Just to give it everything I have. The manager wanted me to be aggressive and run at the defense.
How do you rate your performance?
I don’t think I played well at all and I’m not satisfied with myself. I had a chance to shoot early on, but I didn’t get it on target. After that, there were several moments where it seemed like the ball was about to come my way but ended up being intercepted by the opposition. Even so, whenever I did have the ball, my crosses were imprecise or my runs ended up being deflected. I was only on the pitch for ten minutes, but if I can’t make a difference during that time, I’m not going to get more opportunities to be involved in match play.
At the end of the match, you broke free after a switch of sides from Kajikawa.
At first, I was thinking of putting in a cross, but as I was carrying it into the box, the defender stuck out a leg. I then thought about aiming to get past him and make a run with the ball, but I ended up too close to him and he made contact with the ball. I had the right idea there, but if I allow the defender to make contact, it sets up the counter, so I have to be sure to succeed when I try that sort of thing.
At the time you entered the match, the team had gone from controlling possession to being caught up in a more even game.
Since it was 0-0, I had the impression that both teams were holding back on taking risks as they attacked. We did manage to get on the ball and carry it into the final third, but we couldn’t get in front of goal or win the 1 v 1 battles to set ourselves up for a shot. When I came on, I was focused on running at the defense and playing close to goal, but my shots were off target or deflected and there were several times when I ended up handing them chances on the counter.