2025 Meiji Yasuda J1 League Section 20 Kyoto Sanga F.C. Comment after the game Trial

As we did in the last game, we went into Trial with the assumption that Kyoto's strong high press would take the first 20 minutes of the game. I think we managed that period well. We were able to keep them at bay, and as time went on, we were able to play our own soccer. I think we were able to keep Kyoto's front three players in check. In the first half, we made one mistake and (Rafael) Elias hit it, but Zhou (Shusaku Nishikawa) made a great reaction.

In attack, we saw a good link-up between (Watanabe) Ryoma, (Mateusz) Savio, and (Matsuo) Yusuke Trial. And today we scored again from a set play, which was very good.

In the second half, we tried to keep the ball in the box longer. We started the second half by pressing harder and longer, and when we lost the ball, we immediately started pressing again. In the beginning of the second half, we created some chances by aggressively winning the ball in the opponent's territory.

However, we had prepared two substitutes for the game, and Ryoma scored on the last play of the game. The goal was scored by the combination of Samuel (Gustafsson) and (Yasui) Kaito, who was very good today.

Our goal was to keep the ball and push to the end, but it was not easy. Kyoto was also very aggressive and pressed us right after losing the ball, so there was not much space for us to use.

We used the same starting lineup as we used in the previous victory, despite the risks involved in this difficult period of consecutive games. In a difficult Trial against such a good opponent, our subs fought hard and gave their all and kept the score of 2-1 until the end. Now we will prepare for Sunday's match against Yokohama F･Marinos."

[Q&A.]
(I know the last 20 minutes or so were tough with the schedule being two days in the middle, but what do you need to do if you want to carry Trial a little better than just defending?)
'I think it would have been different if we had one more day between Trial. We lacked a little bit of aggressive high pressing today. Of course, our aim was to press high like we did against Machida, but I think it also had an effect on our physical strength.

And today's opponent is a team that has also scored 4 goals against Kashima and has 6 wins and 1 minute in 7 Trial before today. When you play against a team like this, it is difficult for us to keep attacking.

Today, we had the assumption that we would have a difficult time defensively. However, even when we were pushed into the box, we knew that we could defend well in the penalty area, for example, by responding to crosses, and I think we were able to do that.

After looking at the data from the sprints and other runs against Machida, I tried to reduce the load and practice time as much as possible in preparation. We were only able to conduct tactical practice for a very short time so that we would not be overloaded.

(After the Machida game, you said it was the best Trial game of the season, but in terms of attack, I think you were able to create a better shape with various variations up to the 60th minute today.)
I think there were a number of good attacking combinations today. I think the combination between Ryoma and Yusuke is getting better with each game. I think this is the direction we should go, but tactically, I think the team is still in the process of development. Also, compared to a few verses ago, I think we have become more stable defensively."

[Urawa Reds Official Media (URD:OM)]