Japan vs Italy

[ReadingCanary 0]

Lack of Football getting you down?Iplayer this beautyOne of the greatest International games in a long long long long long timeGoals. Drama. Penalties. Fouls. The LotBrilliant.Japan have a LOT of good talent and wouldn''t mind seeing a few of them in Yellow and Green.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

Reminded me of out 1995 league cup win over Bradford! 5-3 aet!

[CDMullins 498]

Some unbelievable technique from the Japan boys!

[norfolkchance1 0]

Will have to watch a replay of this game it sounds pretty good, I was out last night.

Tonight is Tahiti and Spain, which may be the most one sided game ever.

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

[quote user="ReadingCanary"]Lack of Football getting you down?Iplayer this beautyOne of the greatest International games in a long long long long long timeGoals. Drama. Penalties. Fouls. The LotBrilliant.Japan have a LOT of good talent and wouldn''t mind seeing a few of them in Yellow and Green.[/quote]I know there was a thread on him earlier in the week, but most of the thread was dedicated to puns around the fact he shares a name with a Japanese car manufacturer.However, Keisuke Honda would be a great and realistic signing for us. Can play in the hole, and has great qualify on the ball. Would improve our attacking midfield no end. I''ve seen quite a bit of him over the last 18 months, and every time he has been by far and away the best player on the pitch - that includes Kagawa.He currently plays for CSKA Moscow, so not too sure if he''s on massive wages. However that asside, would we be an appealing move for someone like him?Bethnal Green & Yellow follows Japan (I think), so he may be able to comment better than I can.I didn''t see last nights game though. It''s all over my facebook that it was a cracker though, so must have been good.

[Lavanche 0]

Honda''s wages are considered to be 70-80k € per week plus bonuses. Dont know how much that is in pounds. And he probably would like to play in a team that gets some euro football.

Ofc he is worth of try, but at the end it is really hard to see him coming here.

If I remember right Bethnal didnt rate him too much ;)

[Lavanche 0]

Sorry not plus bonuses, but with bonuses

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

[quote user="Lavanche"]Honda''s wages are considered to be 70-80k € per week plus bonuses. Dont know how much that is in pounds. And he probably would like to play in a team that gets some euro football.

Ofc he is worth of try, but at the end it is really hard to see him coming here.

If I remember right Bethnal didnt rate him too much ;)[/quote]Yeah, about £60k. Clearly too much for us.

[Rolf Harris 33]

May be he is willing to take a pay cut?

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

[quote user="Lavanche"]Honda''s wages are considered to be 70-80k € per week plus bonuses. Dont know how much that is in pounds. And he probably would like to play in a team that gets some euro football. Ofc he is worth of try, but at the end it is really hard to see him coming here. If I remember right Bethnal didnt rate him too much ;)[/quote]

It''s not that I don''t rate him, it''s just that he has been coasting for the last year to 18 months due to being unhappy at CSKA and the ease at which Japan can qualify for the World Cup (and his injuries).

 

Honda has a lot of talent, but needs to channel it better - he played well last night but was overshadowed by Kagawa and Okazaki in my opinion. He isn''t great at perform consistantly well but does normally produce for the big occasion, last night was a classic example of this.

 

But no, he isn''t a realistic option for Norwich, especially after the game last night. Okazaki however is available and although he doesn''t have Honda, Kagawa or Kiyotake''s natural ability he is a hard worker and intelligent player.

[Lavanche 0]

Nah I was just pulling your leg ^^

By the way he created most goal scoring opportunities in the game and was MoM in japanese media and even many european medias. So I wouldnt say he was overshadowed by anyone even thought Kagawa had a great game. But as you said we are nowhere near to get him at the moment, if he for some reason doesnt want to be "biggest" star in a mid class premier league team, which I highly doubt knowing his ambitition.

What comes to Okazaki he truly runned his legs off like always, but would he be much of an improvement for E.Bennett who is quite similar player what comes to playing right wide player as I cant see us using him as a striker without getting real goal threat behind him in transfer window.

Another thing about Japanese lineup what could be useful for us was their formation. When they defended more physical Maeda dropped behind two AM Kagawa and Honda who had quicker legs to press Pirlo, Montolivo and De Rossi and when they got the ball there they got great opportunities as they had two great players with ball up to make passing combinations for strikers and fullbacks overlap them.

Wolfie probably wont work hard as Maeda and Snoddy doesnt have speed of Okazaki, but if we have Holt and Bennett on the field Hoolahan and Pilkington could do the pressing and Holt make those second wave runs where he is great instead of having to play as "playmaker" in our counter attacks.

Something to think about thought I''m quite sure Hughton want to play 4-4-1-1 when we are defending as it is most solid way to play.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

I''d say most Japanese media went with Kagawa for MoM - although some are still under Honda''s spell and gave it to him (like they did in the Asian Cup Final in 2011 despite him doing almost nothing).

 

Overshadow might have been too strong a word, but Kagawa was the main man for Japan.

 

Okazaki is a strange one, last night exceeded his normal level of performance but I would say he has more technical ability than Bennett and is certainly a lot more direct! He isn''t really a player Norwich need at the moment, but his flexibility of being able to play on both wings and as a striker would be useful - he plays a more attacking role for Japan and that is reflected in a great return rate of goals (more than 1 in 2) but only managed one goal last season in Germany.

 

Japan play that system as Kagawa, Honda and Okazaki are their biggest goal threats. Maeda is a hard worker, but not a lot of quality (was very surprised he almost moved to West Ham last season) his main role for Japan is for other players to bounce balls off, or just to entertain the defenders for a while. If Japan had someone of RvW''s quality they would push him forward and allow Honda to sit deeper and act as a more traditional playmaker.

[Lavanche 0]

Well at least NHK and TBS Network seemed to rate Honda higher and I wouldnt say it was because of his old glory. Stats just speak to themselves and Honda made most chances, scored a goal had handful of interception in the middlefield and showed good skill by beating defenders by dribbling. So in football wise Kagawa might have been flashier, but Honda was better. Ofc he has bigger role, but he has that for reason. He still is "the player" for Japan because of his versatility. So I keep disagreeing in this matter. Only reason Kagawa got higher for example in fans rating is that he is more well known in europe and plays for a big team. 122 vs 113 for example in Goal.com for MoM.

And what comes to formation they have played same way without Maeda. Okazaki and Havenaar have dropped behind two middlefielders when Kiyotake or Inui have played right wing, so it is clearly planned that Honda and Kagawa take the pressing responsibility when they are both on the field.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

I know that a lot of Japanese media gave the man of the match to Kagawa, because I did, and I work for the Japanese media and I was working at the game last night and speaking to many other members of the Japanese media, who also gave Kagawa the man of the match. NHK are the worst sports broadcasters - their commentators are famously bad and have a horrible habit of screaming when the ball comes near either goal. I imagine TBS did their normal thing of having a pretty girl, picked for her looks rather than football knowledge choose the man of the match.

 

Again we are having a ''heated discussion'' about Japanese football on a board where no one else cares so I''ll leave it at that. Enjoy the rest of the Confeds Cup!

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

I care....

[Rolf Harris 33]

I thought Japan was superb, its just a shame their defense isn''t as good as their attack.

[Syteanric 1]

Japanese (and south Korean) football has been on the up for a few years now... 2 more nations who are fast leaving England in their wake.Good players and they could be a suprise package at the world cup.

[ZLF 335]

and look how much the match meant to the players wanting to win for their nation; even our u21s cant be bothered anymore.

cant see a european team winning out there - japan and korea will be very strong and if they can tighten up at the back can make the semis. Should make for some entertaining world cup matches :-)

[Rolf Harris 33]

I think that is the problem with all Asian countries there just not that strong at the back.