Round-Up: Takashi Usami
May 7, 2016 The career of the Japanese started early. With 17 Usami debuted for Gamba Osaka in the AFC Champions League and scored the 1:0. The youngster was also used in the league and in the Japanese Cup. In the following season 2010/11 Usami finally was on the shopping lists of several European top clubs. In the J-League, he was elected “best young player”. Usami’s destination was Bayern – but for a long time it looked as if the transfer could not be realized. In the end, both clubs agreed a loan deal with a subsequent option to buy. The then 19-year-old arrived in Munich in mid-July 2011 with his first words in Bavarian “Servus, I bin der Takashi”. But he was not happy in Munich: the Japanese only had three games in the first team, one in each competition – even though he showed his potential in 18 games for the second team. The FCB ultimately did not use the purchase option, but Usami nevertheless remained in the Bundesliga and tried it at 1899 Hoffenheim. 20 games he collected at Hoffenheim, some even with appealing performances – but the TSG also did not pull the option. So Usami after two seasons in Europe returned back home, where he is a core component of Gamba Osaka today. In March 2015 he made his debut in the Japanese national team.
At Bayern Takashi Usami possibly also arrived just at the wrong time. But Usami is still young – a second chance in Europe is thus still there. Especially in the upcoming summer break, an opportunity might arise.
We congratulate Takashi Usami to his 24th birthday!
On a weekly schedule, miasanrot.com provides a 2-for-1 information combo meal. It contains a link list to (hopefully) worthwhile texts about the red giant. Each round-up is dedicated to a former Bayern player who is celebrating his birthday in that week.
MiaSanReview
Analysis: FC Ingolstadt – FC Bayern 1:2 (1:2)
The Pep Episodes XXXVIII
Analysis: FC Bayern München – Atletico Madrid 2:1 (1:0)
Analysis: FC Bayern München – Borussia Mönchengladbach 1:1 (1:0)
The Pep Episodes XXXVII
Press review
4EVER
https://twitter.com/esmuellert_/status/729067323257163776
Champions League recaps
Thank you for a fantastic Champions League run.
FCBianca1900 produced another emotional video. It’s in German, but you’ll get the point:
Michael Cox wrote a combined analysis abouth both games against Atletico and he focuses on Bayern’s full-backs, how Bayern created width, their use of crosses and Boateng.
Tom Payne wrote the analysis for spielverlagerung.com and he also looks at the special roles of the Bayern full-backs Lahm and Alaba.
Atletico is a “bend, but don’t break” team in the expected goals models, but still Bayern were able to put up impressive numbers against them.
What Pep will leave behind
The final verdict about Guardiola’s tenure at Bayern has not been announced, but one argument against him has often been the fact, that he inherited “a perfect team”, the treble winners of Jupp Heynckes. Arjun Pradeep compiled a list of the record of all managers succeeding a UCL winning manager and Guadiola’s success is unparalleled and way ahead of the likes of Felix Magath and a certain Carlo Ancelotti. Further statistics about the impressive numbers Guadiola’s teams have put up in the last seasons can be found here.
Michael Cox thinks that “inverted wingers are slowly becoming the norm in modern football” on ESPNFC based on Guadiola’s usage of Lahm an Alaba in the games against Atletico.
Raphael Honigstein believes that “Bayern will benefit from Guardiola’s triumphs and failures for years to come” on ESPNFC.
István Beregi explains the concept of “positional structure” in the possesion phase based on Guardiola’s Bayern.
Hummels transfer
On ESPNFC Uli Hesse looks at each of the transfers between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund to explain the special tension concerning the discussed transfer of Mats Hummels.
Raphael Honigstein explains Hummels past at Bayern Munich.
