2011: It's all over now.

With our defeat to FC Tokyo in the Emperors' Cup, our 2011 campaign is now officially over. Any bit of hope for a trophy in 2011 is gone whilst the emptiness and heartbreak continues. The nightmare that was is hopefully behind us and the Reds can start afresh in 2012. But how many times have I said this over the last couple of years. The end of the season always brings fresh hope and I think I've been more excited during the off-season the last couple of years then I have during the season proper.

But what is there to get excited about in 2012? What would make next year any different to past few years. 2011 was suppose to be the year that the Reds are back from re-building, but now it seems as though we are back at the start. There was some positives to come out of 2011, but the positives have been far too few.

One of the positives would have to be the emergence of Kato. Coming into 2011, I would have been only comfortable with seeing Yamagishi in between the posts. If Yamagishi was unavailable, it was doom and gloom for the Reds. But when given the opportunity, Kato didn't back down and impressed enough to be the teams first choice keeper. He had his moments when we had reason to doubt, but overall Kato did a solid job.

Another positive I can take from 2011 would be the progress of some of the younger players. Players like Genki Haraguchi, Tomoya Ugajin and Shunki Takahashi were constant features in our starting XI throughout the year; Mazuki Hamada was a member of the Japanese U22 team along with Genki; Naoki Yamada and Tsukasa Umesaki overcame their injuries to have an impact on the team and Shuto Kojima showed glimpses of his potential.

But what will 2012 bring? What can Petrovic 2.0 deliver? Can we deliver on our potential? So many questions, so many posibilities. It will be interesting to see how this off season pans out. I have blogged before that Petrovic has a list of players that he would like to bring to the Reds, but in reality I don't know if it is possible to get them. Reports have Tomoaki Makino joining 2.Bundesliga side Ingolstadt (link) already.

So now that a coach has been locked in and that the Petrovic 2.0 is under way; the next thing would be player re-inforcements. In a perfect world I'd love for the Reds to bring in a solid stiker first up, but what's the likelyhood of that? We've already missed out on Kazuma Wantanabe who signed with FC-Tokyo.

So lets see where this off-season will bring us...

Petrovic version 2.0 has began

It has been confirmed today that Mihailo Petrovic, the ex-Hiroshima manager, is the new Urawa Reds team manager (Link). As I blogged earlier today, Petrovic has requested for several players, one of them being Hiroshima striker Tadanari Lee (Link).

I'm happy to hear that we have signed our new manager before any players, showing (somewhat) that the manager will have the "control" of the players he wants. Seeing that Petrovic has already targeted a strikers is a good early sign.

Lets hope our next signing can produce goals.

What has been happening

Now that the off-season is under way, what's been happening with the Reds? 

The biggest hole that needs to be filled is the manager's position. The two guys that have been linked with the job are no longer the options; Takeshi Okada is going to China and Akira Nishino has said no to the Reds. So who else has been linked? Ex Shimizu manager Kenta Hasegawa and ex Hiroshima manager Mihailo Petrovic are the two newest names being linked to the Reds.

It has been reported that Petrovic has asked Urawa to go after Tadanari Lee (link), Yuki Abe and Tamoaki Makino. It could be interesting to have Petrovic coming to Urawa, we could call it Petrovic 2.0. In all honesty though, Petrovic has done a solid job with Hiroshima and has brought the best out of Kashiwagi in the past. So Petrovic is an interesting option and if we can bring in the players he wants? 

It has also been reported that Urawa Reds has made a formal offer for Yokohama FM's striker Kazuma Wantanabe (link). It's good to see we are "targeting" the right kind of players, where the teams needs are. 

It will be interesting to see who gets signed up first this off-season; the manager or a player? 

What happened and where to now?

It would be easy to describe 2011 as a frustrating year for the Urawa Red Diamonds, a year of disappointments and a year where we took more steps backwards rather then forward. The only good news is that we didn't get relegated, but who would have expected that at the beginning of the year. So moving forward, I guess now it's back to the drawing board?

I remember when Volke Finke was brought in a few years ago (2009), the aim back then was to implement "fascinating" football, to break down and rebuild the way the Reds play. During Finke first year, the expectation was to rebuild and develop. Naoki Yamada and Genki Haraguchi was unearthed during Finke reign and despite some several questionable decisions, Finke's 2 year run ended with high expectation for 2011, hoping that the Reds have finally turned a corner, well for this Reds' fan at least.

Zeljko Petrovic was brought in to replace Finke and despite his lack of managerial experience, big expectations were placed on the ex-Reds player. Not only did Petrovic fail to deliver but he placed the Reds in a position to be relegated. Winning the championship wasn't the expectation, but an improved finish from 2010 should have been a reasonable expectation.

On paper the Reds have a reasonably strong squad. With the likes of Naoki Yamada, Genki Haraguchi, Yosuke Kashiwagi, Matthew Spiranovic along with the additions of Marcio Richardes and Mitsuru Nagata, most would imagine this to be the foundation of a strong squad.

The only problem is that Petrovic failed to put it all together and overall, the team just didn't gel. Even though the defence was solid, the attack lacked potency. The lack of a target man upfront didn't help, especially with Edmilson leaving during the campaign, we really did lack the ability to score goals. This was reflected by the run of draws early in the season. If it wasn't for Genki's 9 goals and being our "X-Factor", things could have been really bad. Despite being the Reds top goal scorer, Genki isn't really a target-man and shouldn't really be our long term solution up front.

We thought that the endless draws were bad, but things got worst when we started losing and dropped down the ladder. The worst thing was that there was no sign of improvements and things just went from bad to worst. Petrovic had already said that he wouldn't be back next year, so there was no more point for him to stick around. The fight to avoid relegation was given to the youth team manager Takafumi Hori.

Whilst Hori steadied the ship to avoid relegation, 2012 again appears to be another rebuilding year for Urawa. Yes, first and foremost we need a new manager but I believe the rebuilding/changes has to start at the top; so it's goodbye to club chairman Mitsuo Hashimoto. Hashimoto's reign as chairman for the Reds have been full of disappointments and questionable decisions. Ever since winning the ACL, things have gone south and that blame has to fall on Hashimoto.

If Hashimoto doesn't go, it will be interesting who he appoints as the Reds' next manager. More importantly though, the biggest quesion is whether or not Hashimoto allows the new manager to have the full reign to run the team.

Akira Nishino (soon to be former Gamba Osaka manager) and Takeshi Okada (ex Japan NT coach) has been linked to the Reds', but it should be interesting to see actually ends up as the new manager. Hopefully the appointment happens sooner rather then later, which would give the manager more time to build his team.

In terms of player movements, our biggest need is a striker (target-man) upfron. There has been reports that the Reds has offered Mike Havenaar a large contract, but the chances of Havenaar signing for the Reds I would say is very slim. Havenaar has an eye to move to Europe, with some clubs already lining up for his signature. (Though I do hope I'm proven wrong and Havenaar signs with the Reds and given our #9?). Kim Jin-Hyun (Cerezo Oaska) has also been linked with the Reds, but I don't think we require another keeper. Kato has done a solid job at the back (despite his howler against Kashiwa) and Yamagishi would be a solid back-up.

It's going to be another interesting off-season for the Reds, actually for the past couple of years, the off-season has been something to look forward to for Reds fans. Lets hope 2012 will bring more joy for those in Red.  

When it was all over

So that is it; 2011 has been done and dusted. Kashiwa Reysol are the J1 champions and the Reds just missed out on the drop and will still be in the J1 for 2012. Some say that we were just as bad as Yamagata and Kofu; maybe so, but at the end of the day the table shows that we are the 15th best team in the J1 in 2011, above both 3 other teams, which means no relegation.

Hopefully though our final 2011 game isn't a reflection of our 2012 season, because if it is, we are in for another frustrating year. The final scoreline was 3-1, but with our performance we showed, it could have been a lot worst. Our performance in the first half was just rubbish and I was glad that our J1 fate didn't come down to this match.

After Kashiwagi's goal in the 53min, we did begin to show some composure and in my biased opinion was in a position to equalise. That was until a blunder by Kato in the 76min. Kato has been solid this year and I hope that this doesn't dent his confidence, but his mistake would have been unforgivable if we were relegated because of it.

On another note, I still don't get why Hori still continues with Tsuboi at the back, especially when we have both Hamada and Spiranovic on the bench. I know that I might be sounding like a broken record, but seriously, who else would start Tsuboi ahead of Spiranovic and Hamada? Tsuboi 5 years ago yes, but Tsuboi now? What was the strength of our 2011 squad, our defence, changes dramatically with Tsuboi inserted there. Ok some of you might think I'm a bit harsh on Tsuboi, considering his service with the Reds. But it was a few years ago when Tsuboi "held out" for a bigger contract, was when his performance also dipped, and since then I haven't looked so favourably on  him.

You'd also notice below with our line-up, no forwards? Figure that one out, this is how we lined up against the 2011 J1 Champions

GK: Kato
DF: Hirakawa, Tsuboi, Nagata, Noda
MF: Keita, Umesaki, Richardes, Kashiwagi, Haraguchi, Naoki
FW: ---

Subs
HT Naoki > Hara
67min Umesaki > Mazola
81min Keita > Hamada

Our J1 campaign might be over, but the 2011 season isn't entirely over. We still have the Emperors' Cup, where we face Ehime FC on December 17th. Are we abt hope of winning the 2011 Emperors' Cup? Anything is possible right? WE ARE REDS