Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Dokool responds

Today's song http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=v9U6r9P_Js4 First time I heard it was at Kokuritsu...........2-1 verdy


Our friend from Chofu, Dokool responds and boy is it a doozy!

My responses are in bold

Figured this would come around =PThe 2006/2007 was admittedly bad writing/phrasing, but my main point was that all of those signings came at the cost of not bringing up younger players, which surely you agree with.

Fair enough.

I'm not totally as up to date with youth systems as I should (then again I'm pretty sure being up to date with youth systems means that you care way too much about this sport),

http://www.jsgoal.jp/2008jyouthcup/record/index.html#content That took about 2 minutes.......god I should get a life! (BTW I was being nice before but when someone makes references to the nerd trifecta of comics, star wars, and I'm guessing pro wrestling, they should take it down a notch on questioning lifestyle choices. )

but point taken. In any case a youth system that isn't being strongly utilized has about as much meaning as a Magnum-sized condom in a salaryman's sock drawer. Sure, it's capable of doing amazing things, but if it's never going to be used then what's the point?

There's a huge difference between having a weak system and having a system that is being wasted. Sugeno is a great keeper who came out of the system and is a pro. Shingo Nejime is a reasonably good MF pro who came out of the system. The youth program is putting out decent J league players. They just aren't playing for Verdy and it shouldn't be like that.

The hypothetical thing is really a matter of perception - if you'll be so kind as to let me make a baseball comparison, I'd compare it to my hometown Phillies (who have been perennial underachievers until this year) and the Yankees (who have been underachievers since their last WS win).Nobody expected the Phillies to go anywhere because there was an unspoken understanding that they'd have a strong lineup with great players that would inexplicably play mediocre-or-worse baseball for most of the season, then get hot in August/September and just miss out on a playoff bid. But this is the first team in pro sports to get 10,000 losses, only one WS, yadda yadda yadda. So the fans kinda shrugged and said "maybe next year."Yet, by buying up high-priced superstars every offseason, the Yankees created the expectation that they were the inevitable champions. But they still flopped in the playoffs every year, creating an aura of failure. This aura stands out even further when compared to the Yankees' historical success.tl;dr, the bar of expectations is much lower for FCT than it is for Verdy. Not saying it's fair or deserved, but it is what it is.

So what your saying is, FC Tokyo is doing the right thing by settling for eternal mediocrity over going for greatness and failing? You are happy being the Yakult Swallows of soccer? Really?

Anyhow thank you Dokool for being gracious enough to respond and I'm looking forward to critiquing your next two articles.

THE DON QUIJOTE OF J LEAGUE PLAYERS

Well looked at the list of guys let go and I came up with 5 who I'd like to see play for Verdy

Kazunari Okayama-Vegalta DF He just hit 30 and he is a decent DF/MF. Not sure why he got released but as a depth guy he would be good.

Yutaka Tahara-Kyoto FW the 26 year old forward would be great next to Hiramoto in a 2 top and far more efficient than anyone else on the squad. 26 is a good age for this team and he has proven in the past that he can score at the J2 level.

Masato Ohashi Kawasaki MF I know, I know.......been there done that. He's not a starter long term but as a guy who can come in for 20 minutes or so he wouldn't be bad. And his set piece work is priceless.

Yuichi Nemoto Chiba DF/MF Gorgeous left foot that is rare in the J league. has regressed in the past 2 years but maybe a stint in J2 might get the confidence back.

Jun Marques Davidson Consadole MF.......big mid who is the classic tweener, not good enough for J1 but too good for J2.

5 comments:

dokool said...

Looking at the page you linked me to, Verdy's youth squad's period of dominance seems to have been from 94-96, which is around when their top squad was winning a bunch of silverware as well. But I'll take your word for it.

(Incidentally, the last reference is to a cyberpunk novel, not wrestling. I may be a nerd but I'm not a redneck hick with latent sexuality issues.)


As far as being the Yakult Swallows of soccer (an ironically apt description because FCT collaborates with the Swallows on flags and suchlike), that may have been true through last year, quite frankly I think the mediocrity ended with this season. We have a coach who knows what he's doing, an offense slowly but surely starting to take more chances, and some young stars (namely Nagatomo and Otake) who have already proven their value on the field and can only get better.

I think with the right tweaks to the squad we can make an honest-to-god run at the title next year, but at minimum I believe we're capable of Top 3 and a guaranteed ACL bid. You heard it here first.

Anonymous said...

Interesting five players you want!Jun Marques Davidson not good enough for J1?Will have to disagree with you on that mate!Just needs the right system and
the right supporting cast.

Anonymous said...

Personally speaking, I have never had a high expectation of Verdy, we are what we are and we are where we deserve to be. I wasn`t in Japan when they won things aprt from the Emperors Cup in 2005 so have not been exposed to the Championship wins etc. They have always been midtable at absolute best but usually flirting with relegation,relegated or J2 in my tenure. The first 3 years of the J League was when Verdy were the business apparently. Anyone who started watching from 96 onwards will have seen mediocrity at best.I just don`t see this "level of expectation" being higher at Verdy than at Fc Tokyo. Surely the level of expectation is higher at FC Tokyo when you start predicting a run at the title and a definate ACL place for a team who are basically shit......:)!!
Preston North End were the business at the start of the Football League but no one talks about them as having a raised level of expectation. (100 years time difference I know but...just to make the point).

dokool said...

>>Nick

The expectations at FC Tokyo are higher *now*, rightly earned by a good - if not inconsistent at times - performance this season.

Compare to last year when the general expectation was "well, at least we won't get relegated" and FCT had to trot out a new uniform announcement on the last home game of the season to give the fans *something* to cheer about (because hell, we still lost that game). A year makes all the difference in the world.

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