Tuesday, November 18, 2008

7 to the chopper

Sports Hochi put out a report today that says Verdy will fire 7 players at the end of this month. none of the players were named but let me speculate

Leandro- Almost a given considering he has been an overpriced distraction who failed to either score or set up in reasonable amounts. I don't even think he is in Japan right now.

Yuzo Funakoshi- This one is harder to call than at first blush because the guy scores at the most opportune time for Verdy. And there are no players out there at his size. That being said, he isn't good.

Kazuki Hiramoto- It's time to cut bait on the immensely talented but immensely immature and unprofessional striker. 2 goals in 20 games is unexcusable for a talent like that and considering he came back out of shape and had to beg for his job, this season was the worst thing that he could have done. The good news for him is that with at least 2 new teams coming into J2, he's almost guaranteed a starting gig somewhere......maybe even Yamagata after all the rentals come due.

Tsuyoshi Yoshitake- Injuries and the fact that younger guys like Kawano and Shibasaki have already usurped his spot make Yoshitake expendable. A shame because he had flashes of real talent.

Harutaka Ono/Nozomi Hiroyama- One or the other is probably gone. Maybe both. Both have had injury problems, neither can consistently go 90 and playing time is drying up with the new blood coming in. I hope Ono goes but I think it's Hiroyama for some reason.

Shigenori Hagimura- Part two of Albirex alums being shown the door. Good news is JEF has an Albirex fetish so there will be someplace to land for the guy not quite good enough for J1.

Koijiro Kaimoto- Part 3.......no games played. Injured. Lucky 7.

Takumi Wada is also a rental but Fukuda has yet to take over the spot completely so we might see him stay.

I didn't pick keepers because the article said that they wanted all 4 keepers back

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/soccer/jleague/news/20081118-OHT1T00060.htm

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Id keep Hiramoto if we go down. Funakoshi HAS to go regardless. He has his comemorative corridor let`s leave it at that. I can only think thats why he was kept on originally...how can you get rid of the guy who scored the goals to send you up??
If he can remain injury free, Id keep Hiroyama especially at J2 level he has a good pass and is good as a provider. Leandro as you say 100 per cent gone please. Ono too old, Hagimura is Hagimura and old. If we stay up Id boot Hattori if we go down he can stay. Same for Fukunishi.
The one positive thing I can say for next season is that we do have some a couple of young guys coming through, Shibasaki rough at the moment but he has the aggression, and likes to get stuck in. Kawano is so direct, give him the ball and he just runs at the opposition lets hope its not coached out of him!! I`d like to see these two as starters next year with the old guys moved on. If we end up with another crap import in Kawano`s position Ill rise from the armchair and tut! I will!!

Anonymous said...

When Hiramoto is in shape is a good FW, maybe I wouldn't sell him.

I don't see a lot the others players but some of them seem too old like Hagimura, Kaimoto and others have a better and younger players in their positions.

And I WOULDN'T sell Funakoshi, we haven't this type of FWs in the squad and moreover in J-League towers like him usually score a lot of goals :)

See you!!