Sack up, it only gets worse! Verdy vs Consadole

The end of a horrible stretch of games Verdy comes tomorrow as the little team in green heads to the Northern Kingdom for a clash with Consadole Sapporo. Sapporo is putting on it's best Yokohama FC impersonation, allowing only 3 goals on the season with an iron-cast defense and an offense that scores few but timely goals. Meanwhile, Verdy resembles Consadole of a year ago.....focusing on the exploits of one man.....HULK.

POTENTIAL CONSADOLE LINEUP

Takagi

Nishizawa Soda Bruno Quadros Nishijima

Fujita Haga Caue Nishitani

Nakayama Davi

Hopeful Verdy Lineup

Yoshihara

Fukuda Tsuchiya Tomisawa Hattori

Sato Nanami Ze Luis Hiroyama

Hulk Diego

Bench: Inoue, Fujita, Hiramoto, Kanazawa, Muro

This lineup won't happen but I think it would be the most effective.

As of today, Verdy has dropped into 7th. Currently Vegalta, Consadole, Avispa, Montedio, Shonan, and Kyoto are all ahead of Rui's dream team. In a twist of irony, Toshiya Miura finds himself inches from the top tier of J2 while his former team spirals into the relegation abyss.

Consadole has used the Yokohama FC formula, a young GK combined with 4 strong defenders to play lights out defense. The offense revolves around the combination of MF Masaya Nishitani and Japan U-20 Seiya Fujita who provide the engine to the offense.

An Idiot's guide to beating Consadole

The only team who had any real success against Consadole are ironically the same squads that beat Verdy. Sanga, Avispa, and Vegalta used their midfield and big forwards to control possesion and bang around Quadros and the rest of the back 4.

Sanga was effective in limiting shots and creating their own in order to notch a 2-0 victory. Granted, both teams have gone in vastly different directions. Miura has been able to make adjustments in order to effectively shut down opposition.

The first key is to shut down the midfielders on the wing......I should copy and paste this to every post I make! Fujita and Nishitani direct the offense, everything goes through these two.

Key number 2 is making the most of the few breaks that Consadole will give you. Consadole has been very disciplined in their defensive play. They don't push too many up top and don't make sloppy mistakes for the most part. Miura dreams of the 1-0 win. You have to strike early and force them to play from behind. If Consadole has to push forward, it's possible to counterattack.

Finally, Verdy has to find a way to create shots. In the past 5 games, Verdy has averaged 6.4 shots a game. 2 of their 3 goals were on penalty kicks, and the defense has been stung with 8 goals.

Depending on the lineup (which scares me), the tactics (or lack therof), and luck (Hah), I'm dubious on the prospects of Verdy claiming 1 point, much less 3. The good news is, Ramos got the vote of confidence so the team should just be raring to go......Huzzah!