Post-match comments from MEIJI YASUDA J1 100 YEAR VISION LEAGUE Round 6 Trial against Tokyo Verdy

"I think we had a good start. Our goal today was to control the game and dominate, and I think we were able to do that from the beginning. However, we made two crucial mistakes; we managed to avoid trouble with one, but the second one led to a goal against us."

We continued with our plan to exploit the space between the lines and behind them, but today our coordination after entering Zone 3 wasn't very good. This was due to some poor judgment and also to situations where players were acting individually. In the first half, we created our biggest scoring opportunity with a pass from (Matheus) Savio to (Kaneko) Takuro. I think that was our only real scoring chance in today's Trial.

In the second half, we switched to a two-striker, 4-4-2 formation to exploit the space behind the opponent's defense with diagonal runs. After that, we brought in Shoya Nakajima, a creative attacking midfielder, and reverted to a 4-2-3-1 formation, but it didn't work very well, so we went back to two strikers. At that point, the game became much more open, and we were sometimes caught out by counter-attacks from Tokyo Verdy.

I think we continued to work hard and create chances. In particular, there were opportunities with (Onaiwu) Ado, but as I said earlier, we weren't able to coordinate well in Zone 3 today. I don't know if it was because we were nervous, but we weren't able to create enough opportunities to score."

[Questions and Answers]
(The opponent was using a three-man defense, and their defensive strategy involved pressing forward from a deep position. What were your thoughts on this?)
"Today we had prepared various attacking strategies, including using long balls to push forward. However Tokyo Verdy had a very organized defense in Zone 1 today, so it was difficult for us to break through. We were unable to create any clear scoring opportunities."

(After this, we'll face Kashiwa Reysol and FC Machida Zelvia, both teams that use a three-man defense. We don't have much time to practice, so what kind of things will you focus on in the team?)
"First, I'd like to analyze all aspects of their performance, including their high press. This was the first time we've faced this system this season. We used two different ways of applying high pressure against this system in today's Trial alone. However, even though they both use a three-man defense, Kashiwa is a completely different team in terms of their build-up style compared to Tokyo Verdy. On the other hand, I think we need to increase the speed of play in the higher zones 2 and 3. We didn't increase that speed today."

[Urawa Reds Official Media (URD:OM)]