Blind Analysis

A recent phenomenon in today's media has been an influx of psychiatrists / counsellors giving psychological analysis and diagnosis on people that they have never met. From Britney Spears to the Octomom to George Bush, people in the mental health profession have taken up the new and highly unethical sport of blind analysis. My god, imagine if people started talking about soccer games in detail without actually watching them... what kind of stupid joke would that be?

Anyhow, let's talk about the Oita game. I didn't see it, but I have a lot of analysis and ideas that are SURE to be thought-provoking and intriguing and most likely correct. Okeydoke?

One thought came to mind when I saw the game end and the score was 0-0. How the hell do you not score two men up? Seriously, you can almost score by accident when you are two men up. Two men up is the ref's way of saying, "I really don't like the other team and it would pain me if they won, so please try not to shank your shots too much."

I could not understand the substitution pattern in this game either. You have two guys who can cross the ball on the bench in Tomoya Uchida and Taishi Tsukamoto, two of the biggest guys on the field in Mato Neretljak and Yoshihito Fujita and you opt to replace a central midfielder with another midfielder who likes to hold and dribble and go one on three? Really? Are you kidding me?

And when you were two men up, you opted to give a guy coming off a serious injury a chance to play instead of putting either a speed guy or a size guy in. Really? Does the coach care even less about this competition than me? I cannot remember for the life of me being this disappointed in a tie by Omiya. Seriously, it feels like a loss. Nabisco Cup no less... huh!

To top off the lost voyage to lower Japan, Yasuhiro Hato managed to get himself sent off in the last moments. Super. I don't understand why he still has a starting job. I remember him playing woefully for long stretches of last year and the coaching staff deciding that... Yusuke Murayama needed to be replaced. Fair enough, he didn't do much good when he was in.

Then, Hato had a nightmare game against Kashiwa in which his opposite man put up a hat-trick in his professional debut. Who gets replaced? Terukazu Tanaka, of course. Two weeks ago, he stood flat-footed while Takayuki Yoshida dropped a bomb to put Kobe up 1-0. Out goes Tsukamoto. I'd watch my back, Kohei Tokita - Haruki Nishimura might get some playing time soon if Mr Hato decides to flame out.

What To Do About Chikara

In an otherwise brilliant start to the season, the one worrying trend has been the play (in my opinion) of Chikara Fujimoto. It seems like the offense grinds to a halt when he touches the ball. I think I know why: he's out of position. Last year, Chikara thrived when he was put up top as the second striker. He scored more and helped to set up Klemen Lavric as a complementary offensive option. He was free to take a shot and the weakest part of his game, crossing, wasn't needed because he was in a central role.

Coach Jang Wae Ryong needs to make up his mind whether or not he wants Chikara to be ill-fitting as a wing, start up top, or come in as a super-sub. My choice would be for him as a starter / sub in rotation with Fujita, Naoki Ishihara and Masahiko Ichikawa until one or two make a definite claim to the job. I'd rather see Daisuke Watabe or Uchida play the side spot because they are small and fast and can cover more ground without getting clobbered. That's just me.

And Finally...

I love the new clean look of the Ardija official website. What I'm not so crazy about is the fact that they have taken out information like the monthly schedule page and cut back on play by play and shot charts for the games, in favor of blogs. Not just any blogs mind you: blogs by the marketing department personnel.

If I thought to myself, "What person in the Ardija staff would be fascinating to read about?" I don't know who I'd pick. Marketing department guy sure as hell wouldn't be it. And Mascot blog? Really? Really? Y'know what the mascots are thinking. "THIS SUIT IS HOT... WISH ALL THESE KIDS WOULD STOP GROPING ME... ALL I WANT TO DO IS DRINK... THAT MOM HAS A HOT A...," OK, you get the picture.

Orange! (Not very) HAPPY (You need to win against Kashiwa or else)!!! Football!

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