Meiji Yasuda J1 League Round 29 match against FC Machida Zelvia: Post-match comments

"The first thing I want to say in summary is how regretful we are that we missed out on the three points. The staff, players, and everyone involved with the team went into today's game at the National Stadium with a strong will to get three points and hand the baton over to coach Maciej Skorza, so in the end we ended up with a 2-2 draw and only got one point, which is just disappointing."

[Question and Answer Session]
(The opponent created a lot of chances in the second half.)
"In the first half, we worked well to eliminate Machida's strengths, especially in defense. In the second half, we were unable to prevent that, so we replaced Mochizuki (Henry Kaiki) and changed the formation, which was difficult for us on the bench to predict. It took time to communicate the appropriate players and our formation and to adjust positions.

However, with Rio Nita playing as a two-man front line and running into space, we spent a lot of time on the defensive, but the players also felt that we were trying to turn things around and counterattack. We had some tough times, but when I spoke to the players after the game, it didn't seem like it was that tough, so I think we were defending well. Looking from the outside, there were some very dangerous scenes, but I heard from the players that they didn't seem too worried."

(In the second half, the opponents came at us man-to-man, and we lost the margin of possession we had in the first half. So did you think we should bring in a player like Samuel Gustafson and keep the ball going, or should we be more decisive in kicking?)
"I think that's correct. It was my decision, and there was also the option of using Gustafsson's quality and experience. We were talking on the bench, and I think the strong feeling was that we didn't want to change the formation of (Watanabe) Ryoma and (Yasuhi) Kaito. We also had the tactic of counterattacking, and I thought it would be good if Thiago (Santana) could receive the ball and pass it to Nita, so I decided to go for a longer ball. If I had to say why, I was a little scared of conceding a goal after losing the ball in the early pressure."

(What was the intention behind using Yoshio Koizumi as a starter and Ryoma Watanabe as a defensive midfielder? Also, was this decided after discussing with manager Maciej Skorza, or was it the decision of interim manager Ikeda?)
"Whether the decision should be made by me or by Maciej (Skorja) was decided after discussing it with Maciej. I think you can understand that we both agreed on the idea. The reason why I used Ryoma is that I think everyone knows he is a clever player, and I wanted to eliminate Machida's strength, the long ball, and the targets of Oh Sehun and Mochizuki. There are two aspects to suppressing those long balls, the source and the receiver, and I think the cleverness of the defensive midfielder, whether to go forward or press back to steal the ball, was one of the reasons why I used Ryoma Watanabe."

(The first goal was a set piece. Was it something the team had prepared for, or was it something a player improvised?)
"Of course we had a goal in mind, and we had been preparing for it in practice. Our team has a coach, Maesako (Masato), who is in charge of set plays. He has excellent analytical skills, and both the staff and the players were aiming for a point from a set play, so that went as planned."

[Urawa Reds Official Media (URD:OM)]