Monday, August 28, 2006

Attendance up to now

Take a look at number 6............................................Verdy lost almost 2/3 of their fan base from last season. Being out of contention might do that to a team.



順  チーム  今 年  昨 年   増 減
-----------------
01  仙 台. 14,990. 15,934   -944 ▼
02  札 幌. 10,090. 11,133  -1,043 ▼
-----------------
03   柏    7,908. 12,492  -4,584 ▼
04  鳥 栖  6,701  7,855  -1,154 ▼
05  神 戸  5,975. 14,913  -8,938 ▼
06  東京V  5,644. 14,716  -9,072 ▼
07  湘 南  5,636  5,746   -110 ▼
08  山 形  5,462  5,949   -487 ▼
-----------------
09  横 浜  4,472  5,938  -1,466 ▼
10  愛 媛  3,925  2,844  +1,081 △
12  草 津  3,684  3,959   -275 ▼
11  徳 島  3,487  4,366   -879 ▼
13  水 戸  2,953  3,334   -381 ▼

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Blogs Ahoy!

Currently 14 Verdy players have Blogs up and running......here they are for your perusal

http://ameblo.jp/fujita-taisei Taisei Fujita
http://ameblo.jp/sugawara-tomo Tomo Sugawara
http://masayuki-yanagisawa.ameblo.jp/ Yanagisawa (the dean of bloggers)
http://ameblo.jp/tomisawaseitaro/ Seitaro Tomisawa
http://yoshinari-takagi.ameblo.jp/ Takagi (and his unhealthy dog fetish)
http://ameblo.jp/kina-tetsuhiro Tetsuhiro Kina
http://ameblo.jp/hiramoto-kazuki Kazuki Hiramoto and his creepy friends
http://ameblo.jp/ichiyanagi Ichiyanagi
http://ameblo.jp/kuba32/ Little Kuba
http://ameblo.jp/tsurumaki-kento Kento Tsurumaki
http://ameblo.jp/saitoh-masaki Masa Saitoh's salute to Masa Saitoh
http://ameblo.jp/killoran-eugene Irish Gene
http://ameblo.jp/kanazawa-shin Shin-chan
http://ameblo.jp/kaimoto Koijiro Kaimoto (no truth to the rumor that he joined Verdy explicitly for the free blog)

My favorite so far is Hiramoto and his creepy friends

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Ramos must go: Verdy versus Vissel

After pounding Kashiwa 4-1, things looked good for the boys in green coming in, and the first half saw Silva notch a goal and Vissel go a man down. Then the bottom dropped out and Verdy let up 2 goals with a man advantage, including one with a man advantage. A win would have put the team 2 points away from 4th place Vegalta and a mere 8 points from the playoff spot and a Vissel team about to lose their headman, Stuart Baxter. But they blew it.

I'm not a fan of change for changes sake. I hate when people yell for firings mid season. I resist my deepest impulses to lash out when the going is not good. But I am convinced that this team will struggle for years unless something changes. The lack of disclipline, erratic play, and inconsistency have led me to believe that there is one obvious move to start the change.

Ramos must go.

This type of man advantage letdown has happened before in the Ramos tenure, including once to Vissel.

Ramos must go.

The team has flipped and flopped all season long, from the naming of the woefully overmatched Harutaka Ono as the captain, to the shuffling of the backline, and the random insertion of midfield blather.

Ramos must go.

I don't know what happened to Silva, I'm guessing an injury, because if he was taken off for any other reason, Ramos should be fired immediately.....either way he should be fired for inserting a rusty Okashi and not another striker.

Ramos must go.

The team was originally built with a fatal flaw, going with a bunch of "Verdy" guys instead of guys with actual skill. Even though the team is in financial straits, they still have shown that they will go out and spend money on guys (i.e. Silva, Ze Luis, Marcus, Kaimoto, Ishikawa)

Ramos must go.

Most importantly, Ramos stated at the start of the year that he would absolutely get the team to J1 in one year. http://brilliantomiya.blogspot.com/2005/12/ramos-ill-bring-verdy-back-to-j1.html He won't.......yesterday was the death blow. It would take an epic run by Verdy combined wiuth an epic collapse by either Yokohama FC or Vissel, plus Vegalta stumbling in order to get to the playoff spot alone. Even if that happened, there is a chance that Verdy would face a team who is really desperate not to end up like......Verdy.

Ramos must go.

The reason I call for this now and not at the end of the season is because there is a coach out there with past success. A coach who knew when time was up and didn't hurt the squad. A guy who would thrive away from the primadonnas and drive a team who was hungry for promotion to something greater. A guy who could tell young up-and-comers how to get to higher levels (i.e. The National team).

I'm talking about Takeshi Okada. The former Yokohama F Marinos coach is out there and available to be snapped up for the right offer. And the window of opportunity is short. Next week, Vissel has an opening and the deep pockets of Rakuten Ichiba. Sanfrecce will need a coach at the end of the season, and can dangle in front of the proffessor arguably the deepest youth program in the country. Nagoya's marriage with Sef isn't set in stone and Chiba might not be happy with the way Son of Osim is performing. Finally, Okada could be called back home to Sapporo to fix whatever ails the equally erratic Consadole.

Ramos must go. And a man with a vision and a proven record of success must take his place.

I think Ramos has the potential and in game skills to be a good head man in the future. I think he'll learn from this experience. And I also think learning at a Mito Hollyhock or Tokushima Vortis, where every move is important instead of the NTV/Cyberagent sponsored fantasy league that he has been doing will give him the patience and skills to pick and stick with a team. 50 players on a squad is excessive and a show of panic.

Ramos must go. It's time.

Back from abroad

I'm back....there's yet another Brazilian, Mizuhara is in goal, and Verdy spanks Kashiwa 4-1

Unbelievable

Anyhow Verdy heads into Kobe to see Baxter in his last home game at the helm of Vissel. no Horvy tonight for the crimson.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Post 200.......one from abroad

Too much stuff happened while I was away so I'm posting on Vacation

Lets get to it!

1. Takuya Sato got his walking papers. Peripheral player who I believe didn't even get a sniff in a league game. Not much of a loss.

2. Basilio got his walking papers. http://www.j-league.or.jp/release/000/00001330.html
Saw this one coming awhile ago but I'm still sad to see him go. He looked like he was going to be a fantastic player but I think his body gave out.

3. Verdy replaced Basilio with a 22 year old named Gilmar Silva Santos from Brazilian club Santos. My man Saito goes back to the bench.

4. Verdy dropped two big stinking ones to lesser squads Shonan Bellmare (3-0) and Ehime (4-1). Ramos keeps his policy of lineup roulette with the insertion of the putrid Tetsuhiro Kina who happens to be my least favorite Verdy player not named Yanagisawa.

5. Verdy currently sits in 5th position slowly watching teams like Sendai and Kobe creep away with the 3rd spot. Yokohama FC is 11 points clear of Verdy with a game in hand.

6. Morimoto looks like he will start his Italian career in Serie C1 to start? Maybe? I know Catania has a junior squad, i'm not sure if they play in the C1. Maybe it was a warmup and I read the Nikkansports article wrong.

Allright post 200 is in the books! I'll be back in a week!