Juice Special Match: Post-Trial comments against RB Omiya Ardija

"We have a training match against RB Omiya Ardija coming up, consisting of two 45-minute halves, on the second field, so I'd like to keep this brief."

This was my first time managing at Saitama Stadium, and I was able to execute what we've been working on in this training camp at our own pace. However, regarding the goals we conceded, RB Omiya probably only had three or four shots, but they were still clever enough to score two goals. Nevertheless, the players have tried to express my philosophy and what Urawa Reds must definitely build upon going forward in this short period of time. The quality they show when they enter the opponent's half is quite good, even from a data perspective, so in order to make the most of that possession, I thought that if we could combine it with quick attacks, like when (Onaiwu) Ado took a shot at the end today, it would create a good hybrid.

RB Omiya showed great fighting spirit right from the start today, making the first half a tight Trial. However, in the second half, we were able to move our feet better and created many opportunities to threaten their goal. I think there were many positive aspects, including the substitutions.

If we can get 10 points in 5 Trial, we will definitely be in contention for the league title. I don't think it will be that easy, but in the autumn-spring season, every team has to Trial the first 3 or 4 Trial in Japan's hot and humid weather. I think how we perform then will determine how we move from autumn to winter. The climate and humidity are completely different from Europe's autumn-spring system, but we didn't let that get us down, and I think the players worked hard to play a style of football where they keep their feet moving. I heard that Ado had trouble scoring goals in the Centennial League. But today he scored a gritty goal, which I think was typical of Ado, and the goals scored by Ryoma (Watanabe) and Ado today are something we want to cherish this year. If I were to be picky, it would have been good if we could have finished off chances from crosses and one-two passes, but we should take the fact that we came close to scoring several times as a positive, and we need to further improve on the goals we conceded before the next match against Gamba Osaka.

I've often been in charge of a team at this Saitama Stadium as an opposing team, but today, despite it being a preseason match, we've had a great turnout. When we attack towards the red flag, it feels like their speed doubles, which is something I've definitely noticed while in charge. We want to take advantage of that home advantage and always play overwhelmingly superior Trial at home, and to achieve that, we need to keep working hard from today and tomorrow onwards, so we'll work together as a team, staff and players alike."

[Questions and Answers]
(I think the preseason and the beginning of the season are when players try to showcase what they've been working on in training camp, but sometimes they go too far. How do you strike a balance, or are there things that need to be emphasized more?)
"I think it's easier for a coach to show what they want to do on a board or computer than to face real players. However, it's the coach's job to decide whether to keep showing them those things, to have them practice without saying anything, or to do something else, in order to see what kind of performance they can achieve through that. After all, I think tactics that don't ignite their fighting spirit are completely meaningless, and if you could win just by talking about tactics, no coach or team would have any trouble."

It's often said, "Passion in the right hand, tactics in the left," and there's no doubt that teams that have achieved a hybrid of these two things are the ones that are at the top of the world. When we need to defend, we put our bodies on the line, but when we see an opportunity, we attack with more players than the opponent. I think we just have to build on that as our core principle. We will take what we learned and the issues that came up in today's Trial and work on correcting them before next week's match against Gamba Osaka."

(The Reds have had a lot of player changes this offseason. Are there any difficulties that manager Cho is facing since joining the team, or is it taking some time to instill his ideas in the players?)
"I don't think anyone can decide whether individual contracts, the club's philosophy, or the players' choices are right or wrong. However, realistically, what I have to do with the players we have now is to give our best, and in that sense, I think we were able to try that in today's Trial. Having a small number of players or a large number of players is one phenomenon, but it shouldn't become a hindrance when deciding the outcome of Trial, so we have to think about strategy and other things depending on whether we have a large number of players or a small number of players."

However, since I'm neither in charge of strengthening the team nor the president, my job as a coach is simply to help the players in front of me grow and to build a good team through staff work. That's what I've been doing, and I intend to continue doing that in the future."

[Urawa Reds Official Media]