Review: Avispa Fukuoka vs Cerezo Osaka (J1 MD2)

A 0-3 defeat in the first away game under the new manager. Cerezo look to build on the positives from the second half.

Six days after their superb comeback victory over Fagiano Okayama in the season opener, Cerezo Osaka travelled away from home looking to make it back-to-back wins as they faced Avispa Fukuoka in Matchweek 2 of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League. There was one change to the starting XI from the opening game. Ayumu Ohata came in at left wing-back in place of Niko Takahashi, who had joined Holstein Kiel in Germany on loan.



Early on, Cerezo created chances down the right through Dion Cools, Takumi Nakamura and Shinji Kagawa, a combination that had also worked well against Dortmund and Okayama. In the 9th minute, Yumeki Yokoyama carried the ball forward on the left on the counter, cut inside and shot. His effort narrowly missed the target, but it was a promising finish. However, after the 10-minute mark, Cerezo began struggling to move the ball forward against Fukuoka's press. In the 12th minute, they were pinned in on the left side of their own half and allowed Fukuoka to create a clear chance from a cross. Werik Popo's header went wide, allowing Cerezo to escape, but the flow of the game remained unchanged. As Shunta Tanaka reflected after the match, "Our distances weren't good, and we struggled to make the second balls our own. They kept picking them up and taking control of the game. It would have been good if we could have changed something during the first-half water break, but we just carried on like that for the rest of the half." Cerezo continued to sit too deep, with the wing-backs unable to push into advanced positions, and conceded in the 35th minute. Fukuoka stretched the defence from side to side, and eventually Cerezo lost the battle at the far post against a cross from the right side of their own half, before Fukuoka bundled the ball home in the resulting scramble in the middle. Even so, Cerezo would have wanted to get to half-time only one goal down despite the difficult flow of the game, but they conceded a second in the 43rd minute. After Fukuoka recovered a ball that had been cleared from a cross from the side, they fired a long-range shot into the net. The goals exposed issues in dealing with crosses and competing for second balls, but the failure to play out under Fukuoka's press and the resulting inability to escape their own half also contributed to the flow of the first half.





Jackson Irvine came on for Kosei Okazawa at the start of the second half. "It was 0-2, so we had nothing to lose and they dropped back. Given the situation, it became easier for us to move forward in the second half," Irvine said after the match. Cerezo consequently spent more time in possession and entering the opposition half. Irvine, who said that "my focus was on becoming a link man," received the ball, carried it forward and played it vertically, helping to give Cerezo's attacks greater rhythm. Cerezo created a clear chance in the 57th minute. After Tanaka picked up the second ball, Solomon Sakuragawa did well to get a touch on Yokoyama's cross with his head, but it came back off the post. In the 60th minute, Thiago Andrade and Yota Komi came on for Yokoyama and Kagawa. Cerezo were on top during this spell, but in the 74th minute they lost the ball on the right side of their own half and were hit on the counter. Popo broke through and, despite a desperate attempt by Cools to cover, finished the one-on-one with the goalkeeper. In the 78th minute, Pablo Sabbag came on for Takumi Nakamura as Cerezo's fourth substitution. Komi dropped into the right wing-back position, while Thiago, Sakuragawa and Sabbag formed a front three. With a formation designed to put more pressure on the opposition, Cerezo pushed forward. In second-half stoppage time, Tanaka had a clear chance after running onto a through ball from Cools, who had pushed high up the pitch, but his shot narrowly missed the target. The match ended 0-3. For Cerezo under their new manager, it was a defeat that exposed plenty of issues in only their second game of the season.





Fukuoka had the upper hand in the tactical battle, the one-on-one contests and various other aspects of the game, but there was nothing wrong with having these issues emerge at this stage. The Cerezo debuts of Irvine, Komi and Sabbag were also positives that can contribute to the team's future. "Physically, the opposition controlled the game in this match. By coming into the team, I want to increase our intensity and presence in midfield" (Irvine). "I want to turn my attacking plays into shots, goals and assists" (Komi). "I hope to get my fitness up quickly and help the team with 100% of what I can give" (Sabbag). Looking ahead to what these three players can bring, Cerezo will identify the issues from this match and prepare for next week's home game against Shimizu S-Pulse, where they will go in search of all three points.