This was definitely our worst performance of the season. Apart from maybe the first 10 minutes or so, Tosu dominated all areas of the pitch with a particularly tight defense and deadly counter-attacks that earned them 2 of their 3 goals. The 2 center backs, Inoha and Takagi, looked fragile and, at times, like they were on different planets. Tosu made the most of the gaping holes in our back line and the space between our defense and midfield. When asked in the post-match interview about our strategy to play either a high or deep line, Hashimoto said that this point hadn't really been talked about! This suggests to me a major failure on the part of Wada to communicate a game plan to the players. If your defensive midfielders and center backs are unaware of what each other is doing, you have major problems.
Wada has clearly been working on ball control and a passing game for the midfield. Our ability to move the ball around in the center has improved and the addition of Hashimoto and Nozawa seems to have given Tanaka more confidence on the ball, too. That said, a passing game is highly reliant on ball retention and dominating possession, neither of which we had in this match. Essentially, I saw nothing wrong with the team selection, but Wada needs to take responsibility for lack of a strategy at the back and fix it before next week.
Finally, Okubo needs to sort out his bad attitude. When things are not going our way, his negative vibe doesn't help at all. His whining to the officials and those "why are my teammates so crap" facial expressions make the game uncomfortable to watch. I can only imagine what the rest of the team are thinking.
| J.League Division 1 - Round 4 | |||||||
| Sagan Tosu | 3 | 0 | Vissel Kobe | ||||
| 19:04 Saturday March 31st, 2012 | |||||||
| Best Amenity Stadium (Attendance: 7,719) | |||||||
 NODA (28') | |||||||
| TOYODA (43') | |||||||
| IKEDA (90'+5) | |||||||
| GK. AKAHOSHI | GK. TOKUSHIGE | ||||||
| DF. NIWA | DF. KONDO | ||||||
| DF. KOBAYASHI | DF. INOHA | ||||||
| DF. YEO | DF. TAKAGI | ||||||
| DF. ISOZAKI (24') | DF. SOMA | ||||||
| MF. OKAMOTO (90'+2) | MF. HASHIMOTO (79') | ||||||
| MF. FUJITA | MF. TANAKA | ||||||
| MF. MIZUNUMA (75') | MF. PARK (62') | ||||||
| MF. KIM | MF. NOZAWA | ||||||
| FW. IKEDA | FW. YOSHIDA (55') | ||||||
| FW. TOYODA | FW. OKUBO | ||||||
| GK. OKUDA | GK. KAMITA | ||||||
| DF. KIM | DF. LEE (79') | ||||||
| DF. INUZUKA (90'+2) | MF. OGAWA | ||||||
| MF. KUROKI | MF. MORIOKA | ||||||
| MF. NODA (24') | FW. OYA | ||||||
| FW. OKADA (75') | FW. TOKURA (62') | ||||||
| FW. TOJIN | FW. MOGI (55') | ||||||
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