Di Bradini Cup 33 - Mizuyuki 3-1 Kernansquillec
Three thoughts on comfortable MD2 victory for the Little Nova
Organisation, composure, precision. These three words neatly summed up a disciplined performance from the Little Nova in their second match of the DBC group stages; a performance that proved to be more than sufficient to see off Kernansquillec by a relatively comfortable two-goal margin. Here are three thoughts from our specialist panel on the win and the performance.
1 • Kirisaki is an absolute gem of a player
Step forward Kanade Kirisaki; the enforcer of the Little Nova's new look midfield.
One of the defining characteristics of Shirazaka and Kiriyama's tenure as managers have been their willingness to blood new talent on an almost unprecedented scale. We're not talking about the odd prodigious talent, either; under the duo's oversight of the youth teams, there has been a significant influx of scholars into the IFA's footballing academies and development camps.
The brilliance and success of this policy is perhaps best represented by the emergence of Kirisaki. A strong, tireless terrier of a defensive midfielder, boasting one hell of a bite in the tackle to boot, the young Aonojuku native had been hailed as a rising star by pundits and managers alike. Lacking match sharpness for the Little Nova's first match against the Calanian Union, Kirisaki had to make her debut against a decent Kernansquillec team, and looked every inch a potential superstar as she patrolled and secured the midfield with remarkable tenacity.
Mizuyuki certainly did not look like they missed their former captain Miyashiro, who had to be satisfied with a spot on the bench and a late cameo. If anything, Kirisaki's energetic performance, full of bite, was a refreshing change from Miyashiro's often anaemic performances. One particular moment, late in second half stoppage time, served to perfectly illustrate Kirisaki's capabilities - having lost the ball to an excellent tackle by Lilly James, Kirisaki charged the full length of the field, in the knowledge that the game was already won, in order to dispossess the Kernansquillecan winger.
Our assessment? Tenacious, brave, and bloody-minded. Kirisaki will make a name for herself yet.
2 • Shirazaka needs to fine tune her defensive tactics
While Kirisaki did an admirable job of keeping a firm hold of proceedings in midfield, you can't reasonably expect a fourteen year old to be everywhere at once. The defensive midfielder was generally effective in breaking up play and recycling possession for her team with quick passes, but she was at times taken out of the equation - long balls, especially, evaded her due to her lack of physical presence as compared to the player she replaced, Miyashiro.
These long balls, although a rare sight, brought about several hairy moments for Shirazaka's defence; individually, Ryūsaki and Tachibana are competent defenders more than capable of holding their own against an aerial barrage, but they showed some uncharacteristic signs of hesitance here. Tachibana, usually a solid header of the ball, misjudged the flight of a floated ball early in the second half and inadvertently directed her defensive header onto a post, with Shigure nowhere near. Her defensive partner Ryūsaki was also far from her usual composed self, more inclined to dive into tackles than she usually is. This eventually cost her as she mistimed a sliding challenge on Rebecca Findlay on the hour mark, earning herself a yellow card for her troubles.
While it might be easy to shift all the blame for the defensive shenanigans onto individual players such as Tachibana and Ryūsaki, the fact remains that Shirazaka's elaborate zonal marking system still needs some serious polishing. Last Di Bradini Cup saw Shirazaka going for a more pragmatic, conventional man marking system which worked wonders en route to the Little Nova's cup triumph, but her newly-implemented defensive system doesn't seem to do her players many favours. Tachibana's errant header that so nearly resulted in an equaliser for Kernansquillec was directly caused by a breakdown in communication between herself and Shigure, while Ryūsaki's naturally aggressive positional instincts saw her position herself, on average, almost ten yards ahead of Tachibana throughout the match.
Shirazaka's system isn't, by any means, entirely at fault for this less-than-impressive defensive performance, but if the Little Nova are to defend the Di Bradini Cup, they need to do it on a solid defensive platform - and Shirazaka will need to put in the hours on the training ground together with her players if she's to provide that platform.
3 • Shigure is a capable replacement for Kashiwagi
Another cycle, another new first choice. Shirazaka and Kiriyama seem to take pleasure in shuffling their abundant pack of talent, and this time they've made a change in an unexpected position - replacing their first-choice goalkeeper for the past two cycles, Chiyo Kashiwagi, with the rising prospect Eri Shigure. It seemed to be a change made purely for changes' sake; while she wasn't the most competent of goalkeepers, Kashiwagi had arguably been an important part of last cycle's cup winners. On the other hand, Shigure was mostly an unknown quantity, having played in all of fifteen professional matches before yesterday's clash with Kernansquillec. It seemed to be some questionable reasoning on the managers' part - why fix something that wasn't broken, and run the risk of the change upsetting the team's balance and organisation?
However, Shigure showed us what she was truly capable of. She might not have been very busy during yesterday's match, having only four fairly routine saves to take care of during the course of the ninety minutes, but she is, above all, a safe pair of hands. In this respect, she is far and away superior to Kashiwagi. No unnecessary showboating, no fuss, no catastrophic mistakes, only one goal conceded - and that was a well struck Jakki Snijder free kick that any goalkeeper would have been hard pressed to keep out.
As a pure shotstopper, there can be no doubt that Shigure comes out on top; on the fifteen minute mark, Lauryn Hollands unleashed a powerful long range cracker that a lesser 'keeper might have done well to parry. Shigure, however, had different ideas, judging the situation almost to perfection and saving the shot at the first time of asking with a minimum of fuss. While Shigure is no classy operator on the ball as Kashiwagi is, this is also one of her strengths; her safety-first approach translates to less clangers, less mistakes, and above all, less concessions. Shigure's style might be anathema to the current vogue in the form of technical sweeper 'keepers, but she is undoubtedly the best option that Shirazaka possesses at the moment.
In summary : Kashiwagi can do a job in a pinch, but Shigure will surely make the number one jersey her own in the near future.