* Not actually a shop

Friday, July 29, 2011

Kitakyushu v FC Tokyo: Saturday 6pm

J2 Matchday 18 Preview

Fresh off the club's biggest-ever home win, a 5-0 battering of Kumamoto, FC Tokyo head down to Kyushu for the third time in eight weeks tomorrow, to face the surprise of the J2 season, fifth-placed Kitakyushu. The second-year club have shocked the world (well, maybe not quite) with their dogged performances thus far, and after 17 games sit in fifth, having almost doubled their points tally from their debut season (27 pts in '11 compared to 15 in all of '10).

This is the first game of a run of four of five away for The Gasmen, a potentially crucial period of the season that will take us beyond the halfway mark, and if we can tread water and at least stay in the top three during this stretch then our promotion push will be set up nicely.

US
We have the chance to break or match a couple of club records in this game:
  • Consecutive league clean sheets - we equalled this mark (five, set in both 1999 & 2003) against Kumamoto, so Hitoshi Shiota will set a new record with another clean sheet here;
  • Longest in-season league unbeaten run - we will match the longest run in club history with a win or draw, the record was set in the final 12 games of 2005. 
No change (surprise, surprise!)
If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and Mr. Okuma will select the same XI for the eighth consecutive game here, provided Yuhei Tokunaga's niggling leg injury is ok.

Our 11-game unbeaten stretch, that began after the 2-1 loss at Kusatsu, has coincided with the number of consecutive starts for Roberto Cesar, Naotake Hanyu and Sotan Tanabe, and those three have developed an excellent rapport in our attacking third, as Kumamoto can attest after they tore the visitors to shreds last Sunday evening.

Tomokazu Nagira made his first appearance in red and blue last weekend, five minutes off the bench, and he's likely to keep his spot in the squad for this game with Jade North having just returned to training this Tuesday. North is a good bet to make the 18 for Gifu away a week on Sunday.

Monday, July 25, 2011

FC Tokyo 5-0 Kumamoto

J2 Matchday 17

Well, firstly, I have to apologise. I made a shocking error in my predictions in my preview on Friday. One that will take me a long time to live down... But how was I to know we were going to make history?!

I said that this game wouldn't be "as easy" as our 4-0 demolition of FC Gifu a week ago on Sunday, but luckily for everyone in the home end of Kokuritsu I was wildly mistaken, as a combination of our outstanding play and their ineptness meant we scored the biggest home win in our J.League history.

After their Brazilian midfielder Edmilson shot over in the 2nd minute, we then totally controlled the next 88, dominating proceedings on a level I've never seen from us before.

First things first, though, and Gasmen supporters got a bit of a shock as we were making our way to Kokuritsu, with news breaking via twitter (where else?) that our captain Yasuyuki Konno seems set to go on trial with French first division club Dijon this week. If he impresses, as he no doubt will, then there's a good chance he'll be offered a deal by the newly promoted club, and therefore last night may have been his final appearance in the red and blue. If it was, he was certainly sent off in style...

After Edmilson's shot we got straight into the groove, with Sotan Tanabe having a pop on the volley from the edge of the box in the 3rd minute following a headed flick-on by Roberto Cesar, but their keeper Minami was able to parry it out for a corner.

Friday, July 22, 2011

FC Tokyo v Kumamoto: Sunday 6.30pm

J2 Matchday 17 Preview

After the euphoria of last Sunday, when FC Tokyo's 4-0 battering of FC Gifu saw us climb to the top of the table and was topped off by Lucas' first appearance in a red and blue shirt in 43 months, The Gasmen will look to keep the good times rolling when fifth-placed Kumamoto visit us at the National Stadium on Sunday.

Before the weekend began I don't think any sane Gas-head would've even considered the possibility of us vaulting from fourth to the top of the league, but after Tochigi and Tokushima both drew at home on Saturday, we took care of business and Shonan did us a huge favour in the late kickoff on Sunday, downing previous leaders Chiba 2-0 at Hiratsuka.

US
I'm not even going to bother doing a formation graphic for this week, for two reasons: there's no doubt what the XI will be; and this11.com is playing up (at least on our home computer).

The squad should be unchanged as well, and once more the main interest will be in how much time Lucas gets off the bench, and how we set up when he makes it on the pitch. Last Sunday the big man replaced Sotan Tanabe (who had his best game since Kyoto, with a goal and two assists) and Naotake Hanyu slid over to the left, with Lucas playing in the hole, slightly further forward than Roswell usually does.

I still believe that when he's fully fit and ready to start Lucas will play alongside Roberto Cesar in a flat 4-4-2, but for now I have to give credit to Mr. Watanabe from the Tokyo Damacy show for his correct prediction that #49 would play behind The Salad...at least for now.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Gas Talk Episode 8

FC Tokyo 4-0 FC Gifu
J2 Matchday 16


Happy days at Aji Sta, as The Gasmen roared to the top of J2 with an utterly dominant 4-0 thrashing of bottom club FC Gifu. The XI was the same for the sixth straight game, but of course the big story was Lucas, who made the bench and then entered the fray in the 76th minute.

Yuhei Tokunaga opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, netting his first league goal in three years, as we finally capitalised on our dominance. After the break Sotan Tanabe (who played-in Tokunaga for the first goal) kept his composure well to double our lead before Roberto Cesar bagged a brace, his first a well-taken clip with the outside of his right boot, and his second, and our fourth, a penalty (that he took despite the home end baying for Lucas to take) after he was brought down on the right side of the box.

And we were there to tell you all about it. Tokyo Bairn and Dan joined me for a three-part Gas Talk, recorded before kickoff, at half time and then fulltime out on the back stairs.

Be careful of the volume levels again, in particular the difference between Parts 1 & 2 (recorded inside the stadium) and Part 3 (out the back so much quieter).

Enjoy.

Friday, July 15, 2011

FC Tokyo v FC Gifu: Sunday 6.30pm

J2 Matchday 16 Preview

Our five-game winning run was halted in a 0-0 draw at Oita last Saturday, but we're nine games unbeaten and level on points with third-placed Tochigi, so things are still looking good for The Gasmen. This is our longest league unbeaten streak, by the way, since we ended the 2005 season on a 12-game run (13 if you include our win to start 2006). There's your FC Tokyo trivia for the week sorted...

The Oita draw, a game we dominated but might've come away with nothing were it not for Hitoshi Shiota and his huge save in the 81st minute, may actually prove to be a blessing in disguise as the players can refocus and start afresh, hopefully starting a new winning run on Sunday night in our first ever meeting with cellar-dwellers FC Gifu.

This is the first of two in a row at home before we embark on a run of four of five away (well you could say five of six away, as our "home" game at the end of that run is Tochigi at Kumagaya, which I still insist is ridiculous).

US
Providing Lucas pulls up alright from yesterday's 3-1 training match win over Rissho University (3 x 30 mins), in which he played 45 minutes, he's an excellent chance to make the squad, and if he's in the 18, you'd bet your house on him getting at least half an hour off the bench (providing he doesn't start of course, which seems very unlikely) as he rounds into fitness.

It will be very interesting to see how Roberto Cesar and Lucas combine once the big man enters the fray, you'd expect The Salad to drop deeper, where he likes to operate, while Lucas will likely play the target man role, holding the ball up and creating in the final third.

That excitement about Lucas' return aside, it looks as though Mr. Okuma will be forced into one change to the XI, as Hokuto Nakamura played no part yesterday (mysterious injury? We'll never find out from the club), with Takumi Abe filling the breach.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Oita Trinita 0-0 FC Tokyo

J2 Matchday 15

The day the rainy season officially ends is always bitter sweet. Farewell to cloudy skies and general dampness, hello to even greater heat, albeit with the return of blue skies. The day was to prove so for our lads as well, at times playing good football and having periods of relentless pressure but again being unable to capitalise. Bitter sweet also as Oita oughta nicked it, and we had a stonewall penalty controversially denied.

27,519 watched this one, due I think to some campaign by Trinita to get 30,000 fans in. Splendid effort there, and perhaps something we can learn from? As for me, I watched in from the comfort of my armchair in front of my new BFT (work it out) and thanks to my Skyperfect E2 free trial. No longer the frustrations of Justin TV for me I hope. The first fifteen minutes or so were pretty even with Oita playing quite high up the pitch, but from then on we pegged them back for basically the rest of the match, with all their chances from then on coming from breaks.

The passing and movement of our midfield men was good up until a certain point, i.e. the eighteen yard box. Cesar almost produced magic that might unlock them on a couple of occasions in the first half but couldn't keep it down on one occasion and brought a decent low save from their keeper on another. The major incident of the first half and the game though (which you won't see reported in any other media outlet, even the FCT website), was a clear trip on Yazawa in the box as he was through on the keeper. The referee, I will admit possibly before the tackle was made, blew for what seemed to be offside, although Yazawa was clearly at least a yard on. Even the co-commentator said it didn't look offside, which in Japan is the equivalent of sheer indignation.

Into the second period and it was more of the same. I am not one for stats in football, it is not baseball or basketball after all, but even I would admit that 19 shots on goal and fifteen corners is an indication of how the game went. For all that though there was little that was clear cut: a free header and a diagonal shot from outside the box from Casual and a late volley from the back post from Konno which sailed just over was about it. It between all that, their forward Mitsuhira was clean through on goal and brought out a magnificent save from Salt field as he rushed out and dived to his right to block the shot.

So we couldn't really say this was a drop in form, as we have said over the past few games most of our goals have been from set pieces or loose balls in the box, rather than us playing through teams. Those breaks didn't fall for us yesterday, and we came up against a very determined side in front of a huge home crowd who ended up having the best chance of the game. No one really had a bad game, although I thought The Salad and Soutan faded badly in the second half heat. We badly need penetration up front (come on, we all know the feeling). We need Ishikawa fit (where is he, anyone?) and Lucas should be able to help out.

Thankfully Jeffery also drew so we remain two points off the top, although today Tochigi could overtake them and relegate FCT to fourth as Tokushima leapfrogged us yesterday. Let's look forward to a drubbing of basement dwelling whipping boys next week.

TB.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Oita v FC Tokyo: Saturday 7pm

J2 Matchday 15 Preview*     *I have no idea why this is indented, and I can't fix it.

WANTED: For Crimes Against Decent Football,
committed on six occasions between
Sept. 18 and Nov. 27, 2010
After winning three games in a week FC Tokyo are back in action tomorrow night when we visit former J1 mates Oita. That means of course, that we'll come face to face with the man who for some reason made six appearances for us on loan last season, Shunsuke Maeda (above). Hopefully none of his shite-ness will rub off on our players while he's on the pitch.

Anyway, Oita are one of the few teams in J2 we have a decent history with, starting way back in our inaugural season, 1999, and including the Kyushu club's run in J1 from 2003-2009. This will be our 19th league meeting: we've won half of the 18 previous games, with five draws and four defeats, while we've played a few Nabisco Cup games over the years as well.

US
With Daiki Takamatsu still out, Masato Morishige will be the only one of our ex-Oita players able to line up against his former club. Apart from that, there aren't many other nuggets of information I can share about our XI, as the only interest is in whether Mr. Okuma will stick with Hitoshi Shiota in goal, or reinstate Shuichi Gonda.

Here at On the Gas we favour Gonda, so he's in my predicted team here, but the way Big Bear has kept faith with Shiota for the Okayama and Tottori games would seem to suggest it's a 50/50 call at the moment.

Regardless of who our keeper is, there's no doubt that the ten outfield players will be the same as against Tottori, as they've started the last five games (all wins, of course) together, and indeed did so again in Wednesday's 6-2 training match win over Tokyo Gakugei University (3 x 30 mins).

Oooh, nice segue! Speaking of the win over the students of Gak, there was great news from that game as Lucas made his return to action, playing the last 20 minutes of the second period and then all of the third.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Gas Talk Episode 7

FC Tokyo 3-0 Tottori
J2 Matchday 14

In a Gas Talk first, Tokyo Bairn and I podcasted about last night's 3-0 win over Tottori live from inside Aji Sta!

We had hoped to do an in-stadium preview before kickoff, but were upstaged by the returns of Lucas and Yuto Nagatomo, but while the fireworks were going on at half time we discussed the first half, and then after all the sha-sha-shaaaa'ing that went on we retired to the concourse steps to break down the excellent second half display The Gasmen put on, with goals from Roberto "The Salad" Cesar, On the Gas Man of the Match Hideto Takahashi and Masato Morishige earning us a comfortable and deserved victory.

Things naturally get a bit noisy during Part 1 with the fireworks going off, so watch the volume levels, but  Part 2 was recorded out the back, and your eardrums shouldn't have too many troubles.

This will take the place of the usual On the Gas Match Report, so at about 23 minutes long I hope it will tide you all over. You can download the mp3 for yourself by clicking on the logo to the right, and if you're an iTunes subscriber, it will hopefully be up on there later tonight.

Enjoy.

Friday, July 1, 2011

FC Tokyo v Tottori: Saturday 6.30pm

J2 Matchday 14 Preview

After a successful midweek trip to Okayama, FC Tokyo return home to Ajinomoto Stadium tomorrow evening to face the new chums of J2, Tottori. It promises to be quite an occasion, as its fireworks night, and also ゲゲゲの鬼太郎デー, which is probably quite important to some people but means absolutely nothing to me. Still, whatever floats your boat, eh?

We may, though this is purely speculation on my part, also see Lucas presented to the fans, most likely before kickoff, as his return was officially confirmed by the club yesterday, but he has still not been assigned a squad number.

US
As with last season, we haven't been as convincing at Aji Sta (or Komazawa) as away from home. A lot of that comes down to us being unable to find a way to counter the blueprint, with teams still looking to choke our space, especially at home.

The stats back this up, as in our six home games we've scored only five goals, compared to 11 on our travels (from seven games). But as we continue to round into form, it may take just one outburst of scoring for us to shake off our home blues.

To the squad then, and the rubber match in the On the Gas vs. El Golazo battle over when Naohiro Ishikawa will finally start his first game of the season*.

As with Wednesday (when I was wrong), I'm predicting this will be the game, but on this occasion I think it'll be Tatsuya Yazawa making way for Nao's return.

That's just one of three changes I'd make, with Yohei Otake returning in place of Naotake Hanyu, and Shuichi Gonda reclaiming his place in goal ahead of Hitoshi Shiota, who surprisingly got another start in Okayama, when Gonda was named on the bench.

All of that would mean Nao on the right directly taking Yazawa's place, Sotan Tanabe moving into Roswell's hole (that doesn't sound right), and Otake taking over on the left.