Shinji Okazaki

[possiblygeorge]

You know we drew, right?

I'm not complaining! I said before the match it'll be a 1-1 draw and i'll take it and I am happy with the result. I'm just saying Shinji has been a bit patchy so far given the skills he possesses. 

[possiblygeorge]

No. This needs to be let go. Shinji was FOULING Bastien, not the other way around. Shinji had both arms around him impeding him from the penalty spot to 8-ish yards out when Schweinsteiger broke free. It's not a foul to break free when someone has both arms around you. That's never a call going our way.

 

How do people fail to mention that Shinji had both arms around Schweinsteiger the whole time?

They both had arms around each other, can't penalise either player in that instance, so the ref let it go, Shinji didn't have the strength

[shen]

There's been quite a bit of 'Shinji bashing' recently but Ulloa's miss on Saturday has been (conveniently?) overlooked.

Ulloa really should have put that ball away and shooting to either side of the keeper would have secured us a win.

 

It's not long ago that I was defending Shinji and trying to see the positive in the things he does. But it is getting to the point now where I struggle to believe we do not have better options currently.

Ulloa should have finished it, no doubt, and he did exactly the same mess of a brilliant through pass afterwards as Shinji had done earlier in the second half.

But you know what? It took 5 minutes for Ulloa to actually get our biggest chance. Shinji never even came close to threatening for 60 minutes.

Yesterday Shinji once again showed that he doesn't have the attributes to do the job he's being asked to do.

When he finally does get the ball from a fine run and a great pass, he embarrassingly fluffs his lines in his best Kramaric imitation....

[Stadt]

I didn't rate Nugent really but I think Okazaki doesn't offer anything more than what Nuge did

[okie fox]

Okazaki is too lightweight for the premier league.  He was a passenger against Man U.  Ulloa, King, even Schlupp would have been better options behind Vardy.

[vandamman]

Has anyone got any evidence for Okazaki mania in Asia? I somehow doubt Okazaki shirts are flying off the shelves in their millions

[Dr The Singh]

Early days yet for Shitji, I don't think he has quite found his feet yet. I'm still on the fence, however my German friends are telling me he isn't very good

[filbertstreet]

Early days yet for Shitji, I don't think he has quite found his feet yet. I'm still on the fence, however my German friends are telling me he isn't very good

ay up thats racist can't make fun of asians

[Dr The Singh]

ay up thats racist can't make fun of asians

Like it

[BigMicky]

Has anyone got any evidence for Okazaki mania in Asia? I somehow doubt Okazaki shirts are flying off the shelves in their millions

Based on??? Their star striker playing for a team joint top, why would they be interested..

[act smiley]

I completely disagree with this and said as much during the game. He was FOULED... and had little chance of getting to the ball as he was being held back. Also, Kasper should have come for it. The Dane's command of his own area is too erratic.

I've not been a huge fan of Shinji..but to be blaming him for that goal is wrong IMO.

 

In terms of fouling, six of one, half a dozen of the other for me, really; if you're going to get involved in that, you've got to do it better than the other guy and he just didn't. Disappointing and all, but hardly the biggest issue.

 

I don't get the need to have a massive scapegoat all the time. Has he been a little disappointing, sure, is it some astonishingly poor decision that he starts ahead of Ulloa in this formation, not really, would it be interesting to see King given a go in that position, sure, would Shinji be better as a sub option for Vardy, quite probably. None of that's sky-is-falling must-get-rid-and-buy-£40m-superstar-or-we're-doomed material like loads of posts in this thread seem to make out.

[MooseBreath]

Yesterday Shinji once again showed that he doesn't have the attributes to do the job he's being asked to do.

What job do you think he is being asked to do?

He's clearly being asked to play more of an attacking midfielder than a striker, and he's performing that role better than anyone else in the squad has shown themselves to be capable of.

I'm don't think Ranieri would have signed Okazaki. He's merely making the best of what he has got and right now Okazaki is the best player we have for that role.

[MooseBreath]

Has anyone got any evidence for Okazaki mania in Asia? I somehow doubt Okazaki shirts are flying off the shelves in their millions

Mate people were saying he only played on Saturday because we were on TV. The type of people making that argument are those that don't realise that Japan has a different TV schedule to the UK. They're morons of the highest order, not worth arguing with.

[BigMicky]

Mate people were saying he only played on Saturday because we were on TV. The type of people making that argument are those that don't realise that Japan has a different TV schedule to the UK. They're morons of the highest order, not worth arguing with.

Do you have viewing figures for Japanese TV then?

[MooseBreath]

Do you have viewing figures for Japanese TV then?

What's that got to to with what I said?

[BigMicky]

What's that got to to with what I said?

Were you not insinuating that folk in Japan were not watching the game?!?

[The Doctor]

No. This needs to be let go. Shinji was FOULING Bastien, not the other way around. Shinji had both arms around him impeding him from the penalty spot to 8-ish yards out when Schweinsteiger broke free. It's not a foul to break free when someone has both arms around you. That's never a call going our way.

 

How do people fail to mention that Shinji had both arms around Schweinsteiger the whole time?

 

It's standard tussling in the area from any corner. The foul comes when Schweinsteiger grabs the back of Okazakis neck and throws him out of the way - it's clearly a foul on Shinji, unless you're just desperate to put Shinji down.

[filbertstreet]

watched this film this evening, reminded me of my favourite japanese striker

 

[volpeazzurro]

For all that's being said our manager keeps consistently picking him. As we've only lost 1 game thus far I suggest despite everyone's musings that he knows why he's picking him and knows what he's doing . I'm sure he'll change it if he deems it necessary as unlike NP I don't think he picks favourites or readily bears grudges. At this point in time for me, if Ranieri says he plays then there's a good reason for it.

[MooseBreath]

Were you not insinuating that folk in Japan were not watching the game?!?

No my point was that just because the game was shown live in the UK doesn't mean it was shown live in Japan. People were arguing that Okazaki only played because it was being shown on British television. Clearly Britain is not Japan so the argument was idiotic.

It probably was shown in Japan in some way like I imagine most premier league games are, but the fact that it was on sky had no relevance whatsoever to the Japanese viewing figures. The late kick off probably meant less Japanese viewers than normal.

I don't care about how many Japanese people watched or whether it was on Japanese TV at all, I'm just pointing out the flaws in the argument that he only played because we were on sky.

[The Doctor]

For those making the marketing argument - can you explain why we went 3 and a half years without an Asian player at the club (from Abe leaving christmas 2011 to Shinji signing this summer) if the owners are determined to have an Asian player in the first team for the sake of marketing? Does that not seem more like signing the right player when they become available than making additions for marketing purposes?

[Soar Fox]

I didn't rate Nugent really but I think Okazaki doesn't offer anything more than what Nuge did

Don't say that around here, according to MTWG we were bottom of the league because of Nugent.

[Stadt]

Don't say that around here, according to MTWG we were bottom of the league because of Nugent.

he did miss a few chances and we should have upgraded on him in the summer, I don't think we have though 

[fleckneymike]

For those making the marketing argument - can you explain why we went 3 and a half years without an Asian player at the club (from Abe leaving christmas 2011 to Shinji signing this summer) if the owners are determined to have an Asian player in the first team for the sake of marketing? Does that not seem more like signing the right player when they become available than making additions for marketing purposes?

 

I don't agree with the marketing argument BUT King Power is about to launch in Japan. Taken from Forbes.com

 

"Duty-free king Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha could lose his King power retail monopoly at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports as well as Phuket airport, with the military junta saying it's looking for ways to increase competition. Vichai is eyeing expansion in the region, including in Japan and Korea. King Power's revenues were up 20% to $1.9 billion in 2014 despite last year's political crisis, which hit tourist arrivals."

 

If you're about to launch into a new market it does no harm to have a player from said market. Once again I'd like to add that I don't think this is why we signed him but it will certainly do no harm.

[ThaiFox]

Could really see why Ranieri picked him in earlier matches as he tried hard to put defenders under pressure, but he has not taken his chances, he has had too many poor matches, and in my view is not strong, quick or big enough to start PL matches. Thought he was very poor against Man Utd. Maybe a good option for late on in matches, or if Vardy is injured.