SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

Yesterday was the 30th birthday of Kyogo Furuhashi, our current leading striker. I posted a wee montage of some of his highlights during his time with us and elsewhere, but my congratulations to the wee man on this milestone birthday were echoed by few of our fellow contributors.

Perhaps this was because we were in the middle of another songs/GB debate. Maybe it was down to a deep depression over a certain event in the US-or alternatively, many of us were busy watching it. More likely it was due to being a Monday, notoriously one of the slower days on the site.

Quite possibly of course, it was entirely due to his current and ongoing form. Let’s face it, although McInnes as predicted was a torn-faced greeting’ bastert after the game, insisting that our second goal should not have come about, the truth is that the goal in question shouldn’t have been a deciding factor in the match. The reason for that is simple-our continuing profligacy in front of goal.

On the plus side, it should be pointed out that the midfield finally remembered how to create chances for our forwards. Our creativity at times was outstanding, something we haven’t seen for far too long. The finishing though was woeful-and the wee fella was the worst culprit. Which provides the title for today’s article. For at the moment, there is little doubt that Kyogo is a conundrum, and one that the manager is no nearer to solving.

Kyogo arrived at the club in summer 2021 as an early signing under AP. Quite honestly, his headline stats were little to get excited about, 50 goals in 112 matches for Vissel Kobe. He had recently been playing alongside the peerless Iniesta, over in Japan to dazzle them in a way that only Iniesta can, and we heard that Kyogo had learned from him how to use space to lose his marker, to time his runs. Personally, I was in the wait and see camp-but it didn’t take long for him to show us what he had.

In an injury-stricken first season he was a star man, particularly when teamed up with Jota on the wing. Twenty goals in only 33 matches is proof enough of that. The same duo were relentless in the second season, with Kyogo returning figures of 34/50. In those two seasons, Kyogo wasn’t just our leading striker, he was our talisman. An icon. He could do no wrong, and even though he didn’t take every chance that came his way, it sure as hell looked like he did!

Of course, AP had set the team up in his own fashion, a strategy which played directly to the strengths of Kyogo. Get the ball to him as quickly as possible. Playing on the shoulders of the defence, his speed and timing were a joy to behold. And a particularly successful ploy was to cut the ball into the six yard box for him to slot home. Did this work? Indeed it did, and five trophies from six tells you all you need to know.

Then suddenly we find ourselves without AP and without Jota. BR walks through the door with his own tactical plans. Tellingly, there is less emphasis on cutting the ball across the six yard box. Even worse for Kyogo is that the plan is no longer to get the ball to him as quickly as possible; he is to be used in a more withdrawn role, to be more involved in the build-up. Even with pace to burn, it is rarely easy to be in at the start of a move and there to finish it off-unless of course the move itself takes so long to build that the chance never materialises in the first place. And this is a huge part of why his return has dropped off in the last 18 months. From a return of 54/83 in his first two seasons, it has dropped to 31/81. And when a striker isn’t banging them in as regularly as before, when he isn’t being played in his optimum role, his confidence will drop, that vital fraction of pace and speed of thought disappearing along with it.

Which leads to the ever decreasing circle of a poorer return rate, and a higher percentage of missed opportunities when they do finally arrive. It’s like he’s so surprised to find the ball at his feet with the goal at his mercy that he’s forgotten what to do with it! Like on Saturday, and like too often already this season in particular.

So whose fault is that? Is it his, for failing to adapt to the new system? Or is it the fault of the manager for trying to impose a system on players for whom it is unworkable? Well, Jock Stein always said that you should never ask players to do what they simply cannot do, but that didn’t stop BR from trying CalMac as a left back as an example. And I don’t think the current system is working for Kyogo. What’s worse, given that the manager is not known for changing his preferred system, is that Kyogo is not working for the current system. So something has to give. 

I’ve been looking at the return rates of our top strikers over the last decade or so, and Kyogo bears favourable comparison with the likes of Hooper (83 in his three seasons) Griffiths (78 in his first three seasons) Dembele (48 in two seasons) and Edouard  (85 in four seasons). All of these players left us for one reason or another, and each time we carried on regardless. Is it time then for Kyogo to do the same? Is that a question any of us would ever have considered only eighteen months ago?

More to the point, would we have even considered a derisory £10m for his services eighteen months ago? Has his value dropped by 2/3 in that time, for I doubt we would have entertained less than £30m at that time. And the fans would still have been bloody fuming anaw! 

For the avoidance of doubt, I absolutely adore the wee man. I think he is probably the best striker we have had since The Magnificent Henrik. I can hardly give higher praise. But I hate what has happened to him in the last eighteen months, what is happening before our very eyes. I hate seeing him miss chances that he would have put away in his sleep. It hurts to watch him making runs that go unnoticed, it hurts to see him dropping back to unfamiliar territory to do what he is told-instead of doing what he and we love best, which is scoring goals. And there is absolutely no chance that we would be stupid enough or contrary enough to sell him right now, not with so much to play for and with so little there in reserve for his absence. Heaven forbid that he should even pick up an injury,ffs. 

But for his own sake,I think he should tell that new agent of his to earn his corn. Go get him another club. Go and get the sun on your back, like another of our great heroes did. Most importantly, go to a place where the manager wants him and has a system designed to cater to his strengths.  He might never be loved by fans elsewhere as he is here, but at the moment I think it is more important for him to be loved and appreciated by his manager. 

But only in the summer. Not now, no way.

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Above article by BMCUWP