After Sanfrecce Hiroshima’s first J1 Championship three years back, they were picked apart by Urawa Reds, and then won another Championship. They won J1 again… and were picked apart by Reds again. Finally, the losses told and Gamba Osaka took over the J1 reigns last season but, just to be consistent, Reds have picked up Naoki Ishihara for 2015, as Sanfrecce continue to hemorrhage players.
2015 begins with talisman left (wing) back Hwang Seok-Ho (scorer of some very important goals last season) jumping ship to Kashima Antlers and Yojiro Takahagi leaving for Western Sydney Wanderers.
The biggest transfer news of the new campaign is possibly that Tsukasa Shiotani is still with the club and, with Hiroki Mizumoto, Kazuhiko Chiba will look to keep it “tight at the back”.
With the aging – and rarely seeing-a-full-90-minutes – Hisato Sato as the main fulcrum up front, accompanied by (dare I say it, or perhaps give it inverted commas?) “Japan international” Yusuke Minagawa looking for goals, Sanfrecce are looking short up front. Tokushima Vortis have sent over Douglas, but there’ll need to be a huge improvement from him to make Sanfrecce a top team.
In midfield, Kyoto Sanga have been raided and Kohei Kudo has joined the team, but the squad is definitely looking a little shallow. Toshihiro Aoyama, Shiotani and Sato may feel the pressure of keeping this team on course… manager Hajime Moriyasu
is a tactical genius in this writer’s opinion, and Sanfrecce
will in no way be struggling in the relegation zone (famous last words?), but anything better than a mid-table finish may be a stretch.

Sanfrecce do have the Number One (as voted pre-season) mascot on their side, though – at least until Urawa Reds move in and sign him too!

By @JSoccerMagazine for JapanFooty.com

LAST SEASON:

Nagoya Grampus manager Akira Nishino told me early last season that he had a long-term plan to rebuild the team and that 2014 would be successful if he managed to lose some dead wood, bring in some youngsters and a add a couple of key players, while avoiding relegation. He had the backing of his board/owners and it seems the supporters also understood that it would be a season of consolidation and didn’t give the team a hard time, despite their flirting with the relegation zone at times during the campaign.

They finished with a goal difference of minus one, a reflection on Nishino’s approach to football that saw Gamba Osaka score goals galore in a decade of his management, while conceding by the truckload, also. Nishino’s approach has not changed and Nagoya are another team where he seems to have instilled the philosophy of “they score three, we’ll score four (or at least try to). Boredom is one thing that did not set in when watching Nagoya Grampus in 2014.

Ending the season very much mid-table – 10th position, 13 points off relegation and 12 points off an ACL spot – the team seem poised to improve upon the steady rebuilding that has taken place.

TRANSFER ACTIVITY:

Last season saw Grampus bring in two players mid-season who will, hopefully, be key THIS season. Kengo Kawamata and Leandro Domingues should now be more settled and ready to improve on last season’s placing. They will be joined by Novakovic from Shimizu S-Pulse and buoyed by the news that Kensuke Nagai’s loan move from Standard Liege has been made permanent. Akira Takeuchi returned from JEF United – he spent 2006 to 2011 with Nagoya and will be a familiar face to the fans. Shun Obu – a central defender from Fukuoka University will be pushing for a place and hoping to learn from Tulio.

2015 HALF FULL:

Future Japan international Kengo Kawamata, and midfield general Leandro Domingues arrived during the last campaign and should have now fully settled in, while Kensuke Nagai is back fully on board the Nagoya Express; three players who could make the difference between a top-three finish and being also rans again. They’ll certainly expect to be among the goals. The aging and injury prone pair of Kennedy and Tamada have been released, a good chunk of cash to invest in more players mid-season, perhaps? Could the missing link be just a transfer away? Mid-season moves were decent enough last season, could there be more in 2015? With forwards gelling, an injury-free season and a tightening up of the backline we could see some two-stage play-off action for Nagoya this season.

2015 HALF EMPTY:

While defense has never been a priority for Nishino, the back line does seem a little threadbare with just a university rookie and a returning “reject” from a J2 outfit coming in, and the fans may have to allow either another season of rebuilding/consolidation OR accept the fact that they may well leak goals, before starting to show any impatience. If the goal scorers don’t gel or suffer injuries there does not seem to be strength in depth in this squad (yet) and, if the forwards don’t produce – for whatever reason – but the goals are still conceded it may well be difficult for Grampus to mount a serious challenge for the top four place they should be going for this season.

KEY PLAYER:

It’s time for Taishi Taguchi to step up. Kawamata MUST prove why many observers want(ed) him in the national team. Novakovic could well be yet another shrewd Nishino signing – he makes a habit of going for foreign players who already have experience in Japan, and improving their output. But, as I have noted, that goals should be there this season. The key point is going to be less goals conceded. With that in mind, I feel that Tulio will be the key man. Not necessarily for his actual performances, but more for the leadership he will need to show to bring through the less-experienced members of a team that has a future. If Tulio fails to lead from the back – Nishino’s “coach on the field”, Nagoya will struggle to reach their potential.

Another view from @heavy_stereo_

Nagoya Grampus, who rarely seem to make big changes between seasons, added only three players to the squad, but all seem to be key changes.
In goal, nothing has changed from last year, with Seigo Narazaki appearing to be the number one choice, ably backed up by Yoshinari Takagi. With Koji Nishimura and Masataka Nomura also on board, plenty of competition for places. If Narazaki manages 30 more games, he will reach a magical 600 J1 games – a feat unmatched after two decades of J.League play.
In defence, Shun Obu, coming in from Fukuoka University, is a tall central defender who will make the competition for places more heated. Obu actually played in some J1 games as a “special case” player last season and has already already proved that he has potential. Also incoming, from JEF United, is Akira Takeuchi, who previously played for Grampus from 2006 to 2011. One also can not miss the development of Yusuke Muta and Yuki Honda. With the incoming youngsters It goes without saying that the experience of Tulio is very important, as Grampus blood the next generation.
In midfield, there will be a noticeable absence of Naoshi Nakamura, who retired after 14 years with the club. His number 7 shirt has been handed to Taishi Taguchi. In central midfield, the combination of Taguchi and Danilson looks to be the first choice for manager Akira Nishino. With Yoshizumi Ogawa – our number 10 – Leandro Domingues, and up-and-coming young players like Asahi Yada
there will be plenty to choose from and a healthy competition for places.
Up front the club said sayonara to Josh Kennedy and Keiji Tamada but Kensuke Nagai, Kengo Kawamata and Novakovic – signed from Shimizu S-Pulse are regarded as a potent trio who should be able to be among the goals.

by Angus MacLeod of JapanFooty.com

Given the poor goal return from Albirex in 2014, one might have expected them to go after an established striker in the off season, but judging from the lack of investment in that department, it would seem that Hiroshi Ibusuki (who arrived at the club last summer) and possibly Japan U23 star Musashi Suzuki will be the men manager Masaaki Yanagishita is most looking to in terms of coming up with the goods in front of goal this campaign.
Versatile attacker Ryohei Yamazaki, who joins from Jubilo Iwata, could prove a useful addition to the side, and one would expect him to chip in with a few goals irrespective of whether or not he is played as an out and out forward.
Hideya Okamoto, who looked particularly impressive when playing alongside Kawamata in 2013, has somewhat surprisingly been allowed to join Oita Trinita, while fan favourite Atomu Tanaka left the club for HJK Helsinki. Defender Shusuke Tsubouchi (Jubilo Iwata) and Isao Homma (Tochigi SC) have also left the club.
Defensively, Albirex once again begin the season looking in good shape, with the loan signing of once-capped Brazilian left back Bruno Cortes in particular being one of the more eye-catching J.League imports over the winter. As impressive as the coup of Cortes is though, Albirex’s biggest achievement over the close season would seem to be the retention of midfield general Leo Silva, despite strong interest from Urawa Reds. I see him as the key player for the team this season (picture taken from JSoccer Magazine’s interview with Leo Silva – see separate post or JSoccer Magazine issue 15 for the interview by Tiago Bontempo).

It would seem very unlikely that Albirex has the capability of challenging for the title over the course of a 34-game season, particularly given the lack of fire power at their disposal. However, with the two stage format coming in to play, there is always an outside chance that a good run of results in either half of the season sees them scrape into the new end-of-year championship play offs, but it is difficult to visualise them being able to score enough goals to do that. While Ibusuki has the potential to get in among the goals, I just cannot really see him carrying the team to the extent that Kawamata did in 2012, and there does not seem to be another player in the side who you would really fancy to hit double figures this campaign.
Albirex’s ‘defence first’ policy has served them well in the past, and, although it could be argued that the squad is now weaker than it was 12 months ago, they have not hemorrhaged players to the extent that I would be tipping them for a relegation battle.
Despite the signing of Bruno Cortes getting attention, the underlying message the list of incoming talent suggests is that we can probably expect more of the same from Albirex in 2014. They are likely to be a tough team to break down and get the better of, and we can expect them to once more prove capable of occasionally outsmarting and defeating supposedly more talented sides using a combination of well rehearsed counter-attacking moves and set pieces. While I do not think they will struggle over the season’s duration, unless of course key players are either injured or transferred out, I do not really envisage
anything more than a solid upper mid-table finish, and again, that will most likely come down to an inability to carve teams open in the last third and convert draws to wins.
The real worry for Albirex this campaign is the familiar threat of players being poached away mid-season. We saw last summer what a huge loss the departure of Kim in particular was, with the side’s counter-attacking ability severely diluted as a result of his departure. Should key players such as Leo Silva or Hiroshi Ibusuki be prised away from the club mid-campaign, or fall victim to long-term injury, it will be very difficult for Albirex to sustain any early season momentum that they may have built up.
The lack of prowess in the last third of the pitch is a major worry, and it would not be surprise if Albirex struggled badly in patches as a result. I cannot imagine them being so bad across the campaign that they wind up going down, but they could be a mildly more entertaining version of what we saw at Ventforet Kofu last season, whereby the team smothers the opposition without really asserting themselves in a creative capacity thorough much
of the campaign.

by @PedroIriondo

After a difficult roller-coaster year last time out, Reysol fans look forward to the new season, this time with Tatsuma Yoshida in charge. Yoshida, although well-familiarized with Kashiwa’s youth academy and its characteristically attacking style, will face a difficult challenge in “Year One after Nelsinho”.
Last season, the legendary Brazilian manager chose the best possible manner to say goodbye – an amazing seven-game winning streak to end the season that granted qualifi cation to the AFC Champions League play-off . Such a magnificent run, coupled with the victory over Lanus at the Suruga Cup Final saved Reysol’s season. The departures of key players such as Junya Tanaka (to Sporting Lisbon, in Portugal), and Leandro Domingues (Nagoya Grampus) did not help with consistency.
For the new season, the return of Yuki Otsu (from VVV Venlo, Holland) and the arrival of Cristiano (Ventforet Kofu) guarantee an electric attacking-midfield. Both players have a great ability to score goals, and to create chances, from which strikers Masato Kudo and Leandro should profit. Otsu, who shone at Kashiwa before moving to Europe, will be especially motivated to recover his best football. In addition, several young players have either come back from loans – Yamanaka, Taketomi, Nakagawa – or have been promoted from the youth team – Nakayama, Oshima – a sign of Yoshida’s confidence in Reysol’s academy.
Even though a new coach and several new players have arrived, Reysol is expected to skip the transition period that this may require. Kashiwa’s goal for the season should be no less than qualifying for the league play-offs and advancing to the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League.
Once there, Reysol has the potential of beating any team. What will finally happen will very much depend of the inspiration of those in the front line.