Japan Women's NT 2022

    It's not Mayu but she didn't look good either today and not just because they lost. Koga always looks good regardless whether they win or lose. But to me personally they could have done without her in this match against Serbia.

    Quote from Pancake

    It's not Mayu but she didn't look good either today and not just because they lost. Koga always looks good regardless whether they win or lose. But to me personally they could have done without her in this match against Serbia.

    without mayu? or koga?


    I wonder why Airi didn't get a shot

    Quote from Pancake

    They had no problem defeating Serbia last year and it's the same squad just with Mihajlovic playing this time

    In the VNL 2021? No. No one in that starting 6 from last year is in the lineup this year. Serbia Team B last year, this year it is Team A-B. Even Lazovic didn't play vs Japan before because she was injured.


    That's not an excuse though. Not surprised with the loss since they are still not the dominant team most people think they are, just because of the win streak. They clearly struggled and I hope they improve their game especially leading to WCh.

    surprised Koga was even subpar her usual level even with the rest. Inoue just died. when the two top players are not playing well, something is really wrong with this team.

    Quote from sitenoise

    without mayu? or koga?


    I wonder why Airi didn't get a shot

    Without Mayu.

    I know some here were wondering if she would get more participation since she barely had any during the first 2 weeks but perhaps it would have been better for her to start then than now when all the teams middles are fully in effect.

    I think the squad still has Japan defense swag, but they are not playing as fast as they did in 1&2 and I believe they need to in order to be more unpredictable, giving everyone a better percentage shot. Not sure how they get that back besides confidence, which is doable with the right souls

    Quote from Irina

    surprised Koga was even subpar her usual level even with the rest. Inoue just died. when the two top players are not playing well, something is really wrong with this team.

    I confess, right off the bat I'm jumping to a conclusion, but I think Arisa needs backwind, needs to feel and work with playing well to play well, and resting her, or whatever the beginning of this week was, took air out of her balloon


    It was kind of shocking how "un"-something she looked

    Quote from sean1

    I'm not so sure Inoue is good for longterm success. That was always the question with her. She does well to decent in other international matches but all of a sudden goes into retrograde towards the latter part of any tournament.

    I think she's not just the problem here. If it is, then Koga would have blasted her way back or the others are also. but all of them are flopping. the thing with Japan is they are so by the book that they don't do well out of system. When I was teaching English to Japanese students, they would panic when I ask them a question that isn't in the book. they have no spontaneity. and I think that's also true in their team.

    Quote from sean1

    I'm not so sure Inoue is good for longterm success. That was always the question with her. She does well to decent in other international matches but all of a sudden goes into retrograde towards the latter part of any tournament.

    to be fair, she has zero chance against players like Ishii or Nagaoka back then. Even Koga only got to be dominant now (she got into the NT many years ago).

    Quote from Irina

    I think she's not just the problem here. If it is, then Koga would have blasted her way back or the others are also. but all of them are flopping. the thing with Japan is they are so by the book that they don't do well out of system. When I was teaching English to Japanese students, they would panic when I ask them a question that isn't in the book. they have no spontaneity. and I think that's also true in their team.

    I didn't say problem did I? I said it's questionable whether she's good for longterm success. Koga has no right to blast away anyone she doesn't have that authority. Koga and Hayashi definitely did not fall apart here but Manabe did flop by prioritizing that college rookie instead of Airi.

    Quote from sean1

    I didn't say problem did I? I said it's questionable whether she's good for longterm success. Koga has no right to blast away anyone she doesn't have that authority. Koga and Hayashi definitely did not fall apart here but Manabe did flop by prioritizing that college rookie instead of Airi.

    I mean to say the Koga would come back swinging and dominant like she was last week. apart from Saori, japan really don't have a boscovic or egonu-like player. they always moved like one unit and that a combination of certain players work and not just one player. the player combination last week (without Ishikawa) is their unit and when that was broken, they went along with it.

    Quote from sean1

    Manabe did flop by prioritizing that college rookie instead of Airi

    :hit::hit::hit::hit::hit::hit::hit::hit::hit:


    I'll hold back, for now :drink:

    Quote from sean1

    I didn't say problem did I? I said it's questionable whether she's good for longterm success. Koga has no right to blast away anyone she doesn't have that authority. Koga and Hayashi definitely did not fall apart here but Manabe did flop by prioritizing that college rookie instead of Airi.

    Inoue wasn't completely awful. Probably just burned out atm. I think they were expecting this to go even more smoothly with Hammy and Airi but some strings aren't connecting.