First up, apologies for my lack of updates; work has taken too much of my time and I think will continue to do so. I will do my best to blog here and an share my views.
Secondly; what a fortnight it has been for the Reds. Started with a defeat in the Saitama derby which placed us in the bottom three (with only 5 games remaining), Petrovic announced after the game that he will not be managing the Reds next year but will fight to save the Reds from relegation. On Thursday it was announced that Petrovic along with first team coach Adrie Boger has been fired. Youth team manager Takafuni Hori will replace Petrovic as the team manager and youth team coach Amano Kenichi will be the first team coach until the end of the season (at least). This past Saturday Saturday, for the first time this year, we came from behind to defeat Yokohama F. Marinos (a team we haven't defeated in a while) 2-1. Finally Shimizu defeated Kofu on Sunday, which meant we are out of the "drop-zone" for at least this week.
Am I happy to see Petrovic go? If it translate to wins, then yes. I felt as though we had lost our confidence over the past couple of weeks and all the signs were pointing to relegation. Our game against the Marinos didn't start off well and we even failed to convert a penalty. I was getting worried and it took two players who has been performing for us recently to give us the victory. Haraguchi was quickest to react after the missed penalty and Umesaki got the winning goal.
The thing that grabbed my attention the most though was the all-Japanese starting XI, something the Reds haven't done in a while. No Brazilians in the starting XI? There was Mazola on the bench but he didn't come on. The other international player in the squad who remained on the bench was Spiranovic.
This was the second J-1 match in a row that Spiranovic remained on the bench. He didn't see any action last week in the Saitama Derby (he just returned from Soccerroo duty) and again this week Hamada remained in the starting XI. Could this be a sign for what manager Hori has planned for next year? Spiranovic has been one of our consistent players this year and has formed a solid combination with Nagata in the heart of our defence. But if Spiranovic does leave the Reds, Hamada has played well this past fortnight in Spiranovic's place (I hope Spiranovic doesn't leave though).
This is how we lined up against the F. Marinos.
GK: Kato
Secondly; what a fortnight it has been for the Reds. Started with a defeat in the Saitama derby which placed us in the bottom three (with only 5 games remaining), Petrovic announced after the game that he will not be managing the Reds next year but will fight to save the Reds from relegation. On Thursday it was announced that Petrovic along with first team coach Adrie Boger has been fired. Youth team manager Takafuni Hori will replace Petrovic as the team manager and youth team coach Amano Kenichi will be the first team coach until the end of the season (at least). This past Saturday Saturday, for the first time this year, we came from behind to defeat Yokohama F. Marinos (a team we haven't defeated in a while) 2-1. Finally Shimizu defeated Kofu on Sunday, which meant we are out of the "drop-zone" for at least this week.
Am I happy to see Petrovic go? If it translate to wins, then yes. I felt as though we had lost our confidence over the past couple of weeks and all the signs were pointing to relegation. Our game against the Marinos didn't start off well and we even failed to convert a penalty. I was getting worried and it took two players who has been performing for us recently to give us the victory. Haraguchi was quickest to react after the missed penalty and Umesaki got the winning goal.
The thing that grabbed my attention the most though was the all-Japanese starting XI, something the Reds haven't done in a while. No Brazilians in the starting XI? There was Mazola on the bench but he didn't come on. The other international player in the squad who remained on the bench was Spiranovic.
This was the second J-1 match in a row that Spiranovic remained on the bench. He didn't see any action last week in the Saitama Derby (he just returned from Soccerroo duty) and again this week Hamada remained in the starting XI. Could this be a sign for what manager Hori has planned for next year? Spiranovic has been one of our consistent players this year and has formed a solid combination with Nagata in the heart of our defence. But if Spiranovic does leave the Reds, Hamada has played well this past fortnight in Spiranovic's place (I hope Spiranovic doesn't leave though).
This is how we lined up against the F. Marinos.
GK: Kato
DF: Hirakawa; Hamada Nagata; Ugajin
MF: Keita, Umesaki, Naoki, Kashiwagi, Haraguchi
FW: Sergio
Subs
Subs
67min Ugajin > Takasaki
80min Umesaki > Takahashi
89min Sergio > Tsuboi
This weekend we play Kashima in the finals of the Nabisco Cup; where hopefully we will win ourselves a title. WE ARE REDS!
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