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MATCH
Match Report
Last week, Verdy came from behind to earn their first victory of the Nagai era with a 3-2 win. This week brought the “Tokyo Classic”, against FC Machida Zelvia, with the team looking for two in a row. It was also an opportunity to demonstrate the spread of “Nagaism” among the team after their first real week of training under the new manager.
One week after starting with a 4-3-3 (or 4-4-2 in Nagai’s words) and switching to a 3-6-1 at the halfway point, Verdy began on this day with a 3-6-1. Rihito Yamamoto played in the center of the back three, behind Shion Inoue and Kota Watanabe at holding midfield. The attacking midfield positions were occupied by Kanya Fujimoto and Yuhei Sato, while Leandro slotted in as lone striker.
Just after the opening whistle, Machida began pressing hard from the front to try and disrupt Verdy’s build up. In response, the Verdy players, including Naoto Kamifukumoto, took up shallow positions and tried to evade the defense with long balls forward. However, a series of mistakes left them pinned back for several minutes. The momentum shifted in the 8th minute. After intercepting a goal kick from the opposition, Verdy passed the ball quickly through Leandro and Watanabe on the left of the halfway line and then played the ball into a massive patch of space on the opposite side. Fujimoto latched onto the pass and cut inside for a shot with his left foot that was kept out by the post. However, the move was still a clear demonstration of the strategy Nagai had outlined in training, where he had called for the players to approach the ball holder to receive passes, develop the play and continually build numerical advantages. In the 14th minute, a similar instance of building numerical advantages would give birth to an opportunity. Yong Jick Lee hit a mid-range pass to the right wing, where Junki Koike flicked into space for Fujimoto. The attacking midfielder cut inside and made use of Koike as he crossed over to the right. The move then ended with a switch of side to Sato, who had time for a one-two with Fujimoto and then let loose a mid-range shot. With Verdy’s thorough pass work more and more successful at bypassing the opposition press, the manager moved to change the formation and smooth out the play from the back as well. Yamamoto moved up to the anchor position, while the wing backs dropped into a four-man back line. The change would have immediate results. In the 41st minute, Verdy used the full width of the pitch and stretched the defense, allowing Sato to expose the high position of the opposition’s left side and get in behind the defense. As the defenders struggled to retreat back in time, Leandro ran through the lines and Sato looked to find him with a pinpoint cross. Just before the pass reached the Verdy forward, an opposition defender stretched his leg to deflect the ball and send it hurtling in the opposite direction, where it found the net and gave Verdy the lead. Moments later, in the 42nd minute, Verdy found themselves on the receiving end of a dangerous opportunity, but Koike came to the rescue by clearing off the line.
In order to continue pushing the opposition, as they had since changing the system, the manager spoke at half time that the match would come down to the finer details. He then asked the players to pin Machida in their own half, move the ball, and force them to chase, wearing them out in the process.“The score is 1-0 and if we move the ball, we will win”, he concluded, calling on the players to dominate the remaining minutes.
Perhaps inspired by those words, Verdy took things up a gear after the break. In the 47th minute, Kamifukumoto claimed the ball after an attack on the left side and quickly played it to the opposite end, where Fujimoto found himself in space. The latter continued with the ball at his feet and then laid it off to the overlapping Watanabe. After Watanabe made it to the verge of the penalty area, he feinted to shoot and hit a shallow cross. Inoue was waiting for the pass and hit a first-time shot that was on target to find the right corner but was kept out by a fine save from the keeper. Four minutes later, another move began from out wide and Sato received the ball in the penalty area after a switch of the play, only to slip before he could place his shot. In the 60th minute, Fujimoto won the ball high on the right and after cutting inside, played a pass into space on the left. Sato made the run to receive and took a first time shot unmarked, curling the ball just right of the post. In the final minutes, Verdy began to lose the ball more and found themselves under attack, but the players refused to retreat too deep and kept pressure on the ball, preventing clear shots on goal. In the 78th minute, Verdy earned a corner kick and elected to take it short. Fujimoto made a run onto a through pass and played a cross into the box, where Lee was just unable to make contact. After coming on as a substitute, Morita aimed constantly to breach the back line with through passes, setting up opportunities from late runs, a corner stone of manager Nagai’s new approach. In response, Machida were unable to strengthen numbers and push back. Verdy were thus able to escape with a one-goal lead and put themselves on a two-game winning streak.
After the match, the players, to a man, insisted that they had not yet accomplished the manager’s goals. Though they didn’t exactly pass up on clear chances, they still had not made the ideal choices in their play and the manager was spotted several times holding his head in his hands after gesturing in the direction the ball should have been passed. Win by overwhelming the opponent. To do just that, the players have a menu of specific instructions about the style they need to play. How much of that ideal vision can they understand and how much can they achieve? While they may not have been completely dominant, Verdy did show glimpses in all areas of the pitch. As the team now begin their series of consecutive mid-summer matches, they will be playing clubs to whom they lost two in the season’s first leg. It’s a good opportunity to not only deepen their tactical understanding, but also attain revenge through their results and move up the table.
Post-match comments
Manager Hideki Nagai
Your thoughts on the match?
Machida have an extremely distinctive style and even though we still have not had much time to work, I did my best to prepare the team. Out of 100, I’d give us a score of 60, today.
You moved Rihito Yamamoto up a row in the middle of the first half.
Our build up at the back was a little stagnant. I also felt that Kamifukumoto could play the role of a field player and there was no need for Rihito to participate in moving the ball at the back, so I pushed him up the pitch. With regard to Kota (Watanabe) and Shion (Inoue), as well, we had two players as libero holding midfielders and they tended to eat each other’s space, so the ball just was not moving well. I made changes to all those positions.
You repeated a lot of the same gestures toward the players in the first half.
Machida shift positions very quickly and they’re also fast to close down the ball holder, so I was signaling to wait until the defense adjusted their position and then move the ball in the opposite direction. I was trying to tell them to play a return pass and then switch the play to the other side, but it just didn’t happen that smoothly. All I accomplished was wearing my voice out (laugh).
Tell us about the system change in the first half.
I wanted them to move the ball more smoothly. We also weren’t retaining possession smoothly, either, so we switched positions and changed where the front holding midfielders were. I had told them that we might change plans in the middle of the match and I think the players did that smoothly.
Did you also tell them to aim behind the wide strikers more, after the system change?
Yes. I think we can do that more, but we haven’t had enough practice yet.
How did you rate Yuhei Sato’s play as the wide striker, today?
I think the hardest position to play in our style is the wide striker. Both Yuhei and Kajikawa, who took his place later, had a tendency to drift too far inside. My honest impression is that it might be a bit difficult for them to understand. However, I think we can address that with time. Regardless, I am grateful to everyone for working so hard to achieve the kind of football we want to play.
The team has won two matches straight since you became manager. How do you think it’s gone, so far?
I think the players have given 100 percent. The staff, too, have given their all to point us in a winning direction. However, I myself still think there is a lot to be done before we play the kind of football I consider ideal and I hope we can continue to pursue that. More than anything else, I hope we can make the fans happy.
MF 9Yuhei Sato
Tell us about the cross that led to the own goal.
I actually should have tried to float the cross to the far post, but I saw Mon (Leandro) at the near post and I knew he had made that run several times. The cross was aimed at him, but the defender slid to block it and sent it straight into the net.
You got results in your first appearance for the new manager.
I’m sure the manager is happy no matter who scores and getting goals with our wide players is one of our objectives, so I want to work hard on that as long as I play in that position.
Was the way you got behind their defense in wide positions part of the team’s strategy?
Kanya (Fujimoto) and I were assigned the role of making runs behind and into pockets of space.
According to the manager, the position you played in today is the most intense on the pitch.
It’s a role that requires a lot of stamina and you have to challenge your opponent constantly. In fact, we changed systems mid-way but I still had to use my head with regard to my positioning and how I lined up against their players. The manager had told me to be mindful of those things and it’s something I focused on.
In terms of keeping possession and controlling the play, how do you feel about today’s match?
I actually wanted us to keep the ball more on those occasions when we pushed deep into their half and I think that as a team, we should be disappointed that we couldn’t do that until after the system change. We had trained with a back three and I had hoped we could get results at that stage. Our opponents are sure to start scouting us more with every match and they will to try to neutralize what we do well. That’s a reflection of how clear the manager’s style is. In response, we will have to be a step above our opponents in technique and tactics. I, personally, need to improve my tactical vision.
You came close to scoring with a direct shot in the second half. Did you always intend to strike the ball first time?
It was instinctive, based on the pass I received from my teammates. I want to work on that type of shot a bit more in training, so that I can achieve results during match play.
MF 6Shion Inoue
Your thoughts on the match ?
I don’t think we accomplished even half of what we set out to. However, I’m genuinely happy to have gotten a good result. I hope that in the future, we can play the football we strive for over the full 90 minutes.
You changed systems midway through the first half, but did the transition go smoothly?
In terms of options, I think it’s a strength to have two systems that we can use interchangeably. I think everyone has obtained the understanding to carry out either system and it’s important that we adjust to what our opponents are doing during the match.
You and Watanabe seemed to be occupying the same spaces early in the first half.
While we were playing with a back three, the two of us, as holding midfielders, couldn’t receive the ball well. When that happens, it’s difficult to play at our pace. I hope that we can increase our time on the ball in central midfield when playing with two midfielders, or from anchor when playing 4-3-3.
From the midpoint of the first half, the center backs started playing effective midrange passes behind the wide areas of the defense.
We knew from our pre-match preparation that they struggle with balls played behind from wide areas. I think we exploited that effectively as a team. It was also effective in terms of getting them to play a deeper line.
You began the second half well and even had a good attempt on goal.
If I had finished there, I think it would have made things much easier for us. I think the entire team had a number of chances to score today and we need to improve on building on our leads. If we can do that, it will allow us to play our game even more, so we have to reflect on that.
You also seemed to have trouble creating opportunities to finish, after breaking them down.
Of course, it’s important to monitor what our opponents are doing, but we have to create goals when we have the majority of the ball and one way to do that is to get behind them quickly. Another is to make a few extra passes and wait for them to come out of their shell. We need to maintain a common understanding as a team while also reading the flow of the game.
In the second half, Leandro was taken off for Morita, a player with a completely different style who was given a bit of a free role. Was there anything you worked on to take advantage of that?
He’s not a target man. Instead, he’s a more skilled type who drops into midfield to receive the ball. It’s important that we take up close positions and support him. We believe that whoever plays in that position, we have to take advantage of their individual abilities.
How do you feel you did in closing the match out?
We didn’t build on our lead, so if they got even a single goal, the match would have been equalized and we were a bit nervous. We need to create more opportunities on the ball and make sure we continue dominating possession during periods like that in the second half.
Did you feel it was more difficult to close out this match than the one against Ehime?
We were under threat for long periods and the best way to address that is to keep the ball. That’s something for us to work on.
MF 7Kota Watanabe
You got revenge on Machida for the loss earlier this season, but how do you feel about the match itself?
I wanted us to win against the teams we lost to in the first leg, so ultimately, I’m glad we won. However, there are things we have to do better in terms of our play.
In terms of content, are you unsatisfied with both your execution of the team’s strategy and your tactics for dealing with Machida?
We knew they would press us, but there were too many occasions where we couldn’t move the ball to the opposite side of the pitch. I think we could have done that more smoothly. We need to spread the ball and stretch them wide. Otherwise, they were very quick at getting into the right defensive positions. We needed to return passes and recycle the possession a bit more, today.
Do you feel you the change of systems went smoothly in the first half?
They tried to man mark us in midfield, but by moving Rihito (Yamamoto) up to anchor and playing with three players in central midfield, we were able to get free and I think that made the game a bit smoother.
From the midpoint of the first half, the center backs started playing effective midrange passes behind the wide areas of the defense.
As a team, we were trying to beat them with a single killer ball and when we did that, it helped us build our attack. As expected, if we do what the manager asks of us, we can play good football and I want us to do that more.
Do you think the biggest fault today was inability to build on your lead?
I think we had chances and we have to do better at converting them. If we do that, we can make the match easier on ourselves. As a team, we have to improve our precision at the end of moves.
Did you feel it was more difficult to close out this match than the one against Ehime?
Partly due to their style, we ended up allowing them to dictate the play for some periods. However, we have to become able to get around that kind of press. If we can do that, I think we’ll have reached a true level of quality as a team and we can play our game no matter what. Today, we ended up playing long balls and matching their tactics, but I hope we gain the ability to beat teams like that with short passing.
This was only your second match as captain, but we could already see you taking on a leadership role with your play.
One of the ways my mindset has changed since becoming captain is that when the team is struggling, I can’t let it show in my attitude. As captain, I think I have to run harder than the other players and pick up the slack by being aggressive on the ball or competing harder. That’s the type of leader I want to be.
Although they were unfortunately eliminated today, your understudies on the youth team made the quarter finals of the club youth tournament. Were you inspired by their performance?
As someone who came up through the youth team, myself, I do want them to get good results. With that said, there are players who reach their full potential immediately and with so many of them having a good knowledge of coach Nagai’s footballing philosophy, I have to work hard not to lose my place in the squad. I think the number of good players that keep emerging from the lower ranks is making everyone nervous in a good way.
MF 16Koki Morita
You came on for Leandro, today, and were given a free role. Is that something you expected might happen?
Coach Nagai had told me, every day, that I might play at the front tip of midfield or be given a free role up top. I expected that I might get the chance to do the latter, eventually. I consider my ability to make runs behind a strong point and I had played in that sort of role on the youth team, so I did what I had done before.
Still, you weren’t able to create a shot on goal when you had the chance.
I have to work on my decision making. If I’m going to shoot, I have to shoot. If I’m going to pass, I have to pass. I think I was too indecisive.
Due to the flow of the game, it also seemed like you didn’t get many opportunities to receive the ball on the front line.
I think it’s okay for me to drop back and receive the ball, but if I drop too far back, I won’t be able to claim the second ball after a clearance or play passes in the final third. It’s something that I remained mindful of as I played.
What do you think is the reason for the team’s good for and two match winning streak since changing managers?
As players, we have a clear idea of how we want to play and we know what adjustments to make when things aren’t going well. I think the fact that we have been able to communicate and do that is the biggest reason.
MF 24Yuta Narawa
You made your first appearance in quite a while.
I wanted to come back sooner. I was on the bench last week, too, and I’ve really wanted to play. I kept that feeling as I prepared for today and I’m happy that both my objectives, getting on the pitch and the team getting a win, were accomplished.
As someone brought on to help close the match, you rescued the team with a key block at the end.
That comes from the effort I put in during training. It’s something I’m always mindful of. It’s been my life-line as a player and the most basic thing that I have to do. Personally, the only thing on my mind right now is that sort of play and also, how much I can accomplish all the new things that are being asked from us as players right now.
Still, Kamifukumoto got a touch and the ball had changed direction, so it couldn’t have been easy to read.
I think I’m better than anyone else on the team at sniffing out danger. That’s something that’s lacking in our play right now and I hope to provide it. On the other hand, there are so many players right now who have things that I’m lacking, so I hope we can work together to achieve mutual improvement.
What instructions did you receive when you came on?
Nothing specific. The manager wanted us to reclaim control of the play. More than bring the match to a close, my role was to help rebuild the team’s momentum. In that sense, I didn’t think too much about closing the game down.
With the change in manager, there are certainly different things being asked from those in a side back and wing back role.
Yes. The manager wants us to do more in attack and has even changed the position name to what he has in mind. However, today we had a one-goal lead and were under pressure, so I needed to concentrate on defense duties more than showing what I could do in those areas.
After watching from the bench over the last two weeks, what image do you have of the present team?
In terms of wanting to retain possession of the ball, it’s similar to the style we had up to last year. That goes for the emphasis on positioning as well. Those two points are definitely similar, but I don’t really think of it as the same style. Personally, no matter what style you seek to play with, or what position you’re assigned, there are certain things that will always be asked of a football player. That means winning individual battles and not letting your opponents run harder than you. I think the players who can do those basic things will be the ones who are given match time, I want to become the type of player who can do that and win the manager’s trust.