Ange Postecoglou’s Yokohama Marinos travels to reigning AFC club champion Urawa Reds on Sunday still looking for its maiden J-league win of the season.
The Marinos has made a slow start to its League campaign under new boss Postecoglou with just one point from three games, its most recent ending in a disappointing 2-1 home loss to Sagan Tosu last Saturday.
That result leaves the Marinos lying third from the bottom in the J-League standings but it’s not without company at this early stage of the season, with seven other J-League clubs also looking for a first win of the season.
Last Saturday, at the Mitsuzawa stadium, the Marionos fell behind early to a Tosu team whose early high pressing from the front, yielded a reward when Cho-Dong-geon pounced on an errant Jun Amano back pass to give Tosu a 12th minute lead. That was followed by a 57th minute penalty goal by Columbian Victor Ibarbo which double the visitors’ lead before Marinos’s Portuguese striker Hugo Vieira scored an 87th goal.
After the match, Yokohama coach Postecoglou commented, “It was a disappointing game for us. We didn’t play well, particularly in the first half. Credit to Sagan, they stopped us playing our game and we didn’t react well to it. It was a disappointing day all round for us.”
“I’ve changed a lot in the way we play and I’ve asked the players to change in many ways. It’s very difficult for them because the opposition make it hard for you. They made it hard for us but we’ve got to react better. My job is to find solutions and we’ll work hard in training.”
“We need to work hard in training to make sure we play better, and if we play better then we’ll win games,” said the 52-year-old Postecoglou.
“At the moment we’re being a little bit inconsistent, but I think that’s in some ways understandable because the players are being asked to do a lot of things differently and it’s taking time to adjust.”