Thursday 30 April 2009

Man of the Match? The one and only Paulo.

Fuz Fuz writes:
Well, for me, that would very easily be Paulo. What a difference one man can make. I felt at the end of last season that Paulo's presence on the park changed the way the team worked, and it certainly did so today. Marcos "Glue" Paulo - holds the team together and the ball sticks to him! He worked so hard yesterday creating chances and getting the ball forward, it was a pleasure to watch and I found myself thinking, yes, we can win this after all. Before a ball was even kicked it was clear Paulo was up for it, high fiving each and every player and raising spirits - and after half time, he was so keen to be back out he was almost at the half-way line before the rest of our team appeared.

Ok, so he can't shoot - well neither can Johnsen apparently and he's actually a forward. Although, without being too harsh on Johnsen he looked more full of fight than before and is certainly trying harder, so we'll see.

I like the way Nagai looks, and would like to see him on the park a bit more - Johnsen's going to have to do something soon to keep his first team place out of Nagai and Hara's clutches, who both look ready for the fight.

Yesterday was a great day, good weather, good crowd, the S-Pa fans were out in force and the changes in the team proved to be vital. Let's see some more football like this and start winning some games - it's still early days in J1 and we can still finish up top.

Oh and in other news - Nishibe, despite letting in two yesterday, wasn't particularly to blame and appears to have learned how to catch the ball. That was a great big relief to the UK Ultras (minus one, who loves Yohei regardless of how many mistakes he makes, such undying loyalty has to be admired).

So, the season is young, Marcos proved himself yesterday and if he doesn't start / make more appearances now then Kenta either has a personal vendetta or an eye problem. We have a fit bunch of strikers raring to go and the defence was on the ball yesterday - literally. Paulo was my man of the match yesterday, but Iwashita would be a second - he was so quick on it yesterday and more than once got the ball cleared and out past midfield to create opportunities.

The Future's Bright. The Future's Orange.

5 comments:

Canty said...

Hiya

I'd agree with that summary. Urawa certainly started the brighter and they're passing was far superior to S-Pulse's. Paulo certainly was the driving force behind the team and is worth keeping in the team for his leadership alone - even though he makes a few too many mistakes.

And what a miss with the last kick? What might have been......

The crowd was so big because everyone in this area got free tickets for primary school children.
Enjoy your trip to Hiroshima

Barry said...

Not only that, their parents could come at a discount! Fair play to S-Pulse, I say. There's a vast sea of casual, floating football fans in the middle and west of Shizuoka who certainly aren't going to be enticed to The Yamaha any time soon.

All in all a successful exercise in building our presence in the hearts and minds of the area's kids! :) Playing the derby at Ecopa is a mistake, but if this same fixture falls on such a profitable national holiday next year, I'm not adverse to trekking out to Ecopa again if it means swelling our coffers / breeding some new fans.

Barry

Fuz said...

I agree with Baz, let's grab all the undecided football fans and turn 'em into true Oranges!

Anonymous said...

Anyone coming along to the Big Arch tomorrow?

http://sanfrecceole.wordpress.com

Barry said...

Hi Stefanole,

Thanks for the comment. Yeah, me and the other half are on the first Shinkansen out of Shizuoka tomorrow for a long weekend in Hiroshima (with football taking centre stage on Saturday!).

As you've scored nearly three times as many our defence is going to have to tighten up before four tomorrow!