Agent Orange Reports: You're Losing Me, Jang

For the third straight game, Omiya failed to put up a decent number of shots on goal. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say it was because there is constant turmoil in the line-up. After a game but ultimately fruitless effort against a very strong Kashima Antlers side, Ardija coach Jang Wae Ryong decided to turn everything upside down and throw a not fully game-fit Tomoya Uchida and a not fully acclimatised Dudu into the starting line-up. It failed.

Now we have to worry about what changes are going to be made at Vissel Kobe next week - Yosuke Kataoka, Kohei Tokita and Yusuke Murayama as a new three-back set? Mato Neretljak in the middle? Huh? Where was Yoshihito Fujita last night? Why no Park Won Jae? You want to beat a smaller, tired team? Big and fast is the answer. You wanna know why we lost two games to FC Tokyo? Look at the manager, because seriously FC Tokyo wasn't all that impressive in either match.

Two FC Tokyo guys that were were the duo of Naoki Ishikawa and wayward striker Sota Hirayama. Every time Ishikawa touched the ball, you thought he would score. He's kind of in a Michael Jordan-type of zone which helps everyone else out. As the resident Taishi Tsukamoto fanboy, I will say that the young defender played him about as well as you can expect. Ishikawa got his shots, but unlike against Kataoka at Ajinomoto he had no clear shots and couldn't get past the Squirrels number two shirt.



Hirayama had the game of his life last night, capitalizing on two Omiya mistakes and making a complete ass out of himself for most of the night. Nice Michael Jackson crotch grab there, haven't seen that about a thousand times in the past two weeks. It's like clockwork that once a year Yasuhiro Hato makes some marginally talented guy look like a superstar for one night. At least Ajinomoto Kita night is out of the way for another season - summer's warm, water's wet and we always lose at home to the filth from Chofu.

Less Than Scintillating - Game Notes

1. Last night marked the highly-anticipated debut of Dudu - and it was. Before I go into a long diatribe about how Jang pulled a huge gaffe on bringing in Enilton Jr, I'm gonna tap the brakes and give him the benefit of the doubt of having being in town for about a week and looking completely out of sync with the rest of the squad. I didn't think it was a great decision to start him right out of the box and I think I was right. When he started getting used to the pace, he got pulled. Kind of panicky man management.



2. I was kind of impressed with Seo Yong Duk. He's a bit of a drama queen and he didn't shoot much, but he can hold the ball in traffic and he's got some speed. They have a few more games to play him before they have to decide whether or not to rent him, cut him, or cut one of the other four foreign players. He's a live body, but I'm not sure he's worth a full international spot.

3. Hato and Mato nearly came to blows, that's the second time I've seen Hato get angry this year and I gotta admit, i kinda like seeing him get passionate on the field. He wasn't ever really vocal before, so I like him getting pissed off about bad play. Good sign, I just hope we don't see Murayama.

4. I don't care if you walk alone or not, just walk away.

Three Stars

1. Koji Ezumi - Nice saves and really couldn't do a whole lot on the three goals.

2. Taishi Tsukamoto - No goals allowed against the hottest player in J1 and singlehandedly stopped a flurry early with hard work.

3. Seo Yong Duk - Nice play, looked dangerous and had the only real dangerous chance on goal.

Requiem For A Mullet

I was not shocked or disappointed at the loss of Denis Marques. And it's not because I thought he was a cancer (he's not), or a bad guy (one of the nicest I've met who's worn an Omiya uniform), or a bad player. He was none of those things. In fact as a pure offensive talent, he was probably the best that we have ever seen put on the orange. The problem with Denis was that he didn't fit in the current system. He needs the ball to be effective and that caused a slowdown in the offense. He wasn't the most interested defensive player I've seen and he wasn't that crazy about contact.

When he was on his game, he was fantastic. Last year's dismantling of JEF United was a sight to behold and his passwork with Klemen Lavric was really top class. He now moves on to Flamengo, where I hope he can flourish and succeed. You and your magnificent mullet shall never be forgotten! Bom Dia!

Orange! Supremely irritated!! Football!!! God, don't make me take an eleven-hour bus trip and stink up the place with no shots.

*