Meiji Yasuda J1 League Round 31 match against FC Tokyo [MATCH PARTNER DHL] Post-match comments

"Firstly, I am very disappointed with today's result. We worked incredibly hard today and fought to achieve a winning streak. I think this was a game that really tested our mettle.

We started off very well. We dominated the game and created some decent chances, like Ryoma Watanabe's shot. But we conceded a goal by chance and had to react. A few minutes later we had a penalty for a handball, which was a dark scenario. It was a very difficult obstacle for us.

After that, we lost our rhythm and were not able to play as well as we had early on. I think we wasted valuable time in the first half. However, in the last 8 to 10 minutes of the first half, we were able to press forward and keep the opponent in the penalty area, and continue our attacks.

In the second half, we brought in Genki Haraguchi as a second striker. A little later, we also switched to a two-man front line with Yusuke Matsuo and Thiago Santana. We tried to break through the opponent's defense in various ways, but we couldn't create any clear chances.

At the end of the second half, after Kaho (Koizumi) came on, we had two chances to score, but the quality of our finishing today was not high enough.

Even in a game like this, we need to remain calm and manage the game. In the locker room, we always talk about "always thinking about the next play." However, this did not work out well in the game.

We must take this lesson to heart and prepare for our next very difficult away game against Vissel Kobe."

[Question and Answer Session]
(There were three yellow cards in the second half, and there were some moments when the players seemed to lose their composure, such as arguing with each other. How do you plan to improve this?)
"Yellow cards are a result of determined play and going in to fight.

"If we can't calmly think about the next play on the pitch, if we lose focus, if our minds turn to other things, then I don't think that's a good thing. After today's game, I realized that the work we need to do here is not just tactically, but also mentally."

(Did you communicate with the referee after the match?)
"I went to check the referee's interpretation of the first half when Diego Oliveira stopped Samuel (Gustafsson) on a counter attack. I don't think there was anything wrong with the referee in today's match, but I wanted to get some clarification on this incident so I went to ask."

(After Genki Samuel Gustafson, the team went from being able to push back the opposition in a well-organized formation to everyone moving around, which resulted in confusion in the middle.)
"As his physical strength declines and time runs out, it is normal for things to get a little chaotic. Of course, Genki is still in the process of adapting to the team. Looking at his performance today, there were a lot of positives. I think he will be a strong point for this team in the near future."

You tried to create attacking formations by using different players up front, but did you see any positive results that can be carried over to future matches, or are you still feeling your way around the attacking formation?
"That's a very good question, but I don't want to talk about it at the moment as I'm feeling pretty bad about it.

Going forward, I would like to continue to play the way I did early in today's match. I also think there were times when we created chances by moving the ball calmly in zones 2 and 3. I would like to continue to keep those elements. However, no matter what the flow of the game is, I think it is important to keep fighting without losing sight of our direction."

[Urawa Reds Official Media (URD:OM)]