Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
By Walter Broeckx
Some of us had high expectations on Wellington Silva who would join Arsenal in January. But as he didn’t get a work permit he was send on loan to Spain.
A bit under the radar was the signing of Ryo Miyaichi. Some knew he had done a trial last year then went to Ajax, broke his leg and then it became a bit quiet.
But he recovered from his injury and signed for Arsenal. There were some clips on You-Tube where you could see a very fast forward running on the left flank for his school team. Arsenal asked a work permit and as usual it was refused. He wasn’t a special talent or not enough according to the people who know such things.
And then Arsenal decided to send him on loan to Feyenoord. I think most of us know Feyenoord. One of the big teams in Holland who have won a lot of titles and cups in their history. Last year they finished in 4th place but there were some signs on the wall that is was all going a bit downhill.
And so this season Feyenoord went from being a top club to being a bottom of the league club. They even had to go through the humiliation of being beaten 10-0 (Ten – nil that is) by PSV. I was looking at that match live on TV by accident that day and this really was hitting the bottom on that Sunday 24 October 2010.
So on the day that Ryo went to Feyenoord they found themselves 4th from bottom. And as there are 3 clubs going down in Holland and they just had a 4 points advantage above the 3rd last club things didn’t look good at all for this traditional club in Holland. Just 20 points from 21 games. Only 5 wins in 21 games. Things looked bad for Feyenoord.
On came Ryo. And all of a sudden things changed. From their last 6 games in which Ryo played they won 4 and had to settle for 2 draws. Games which also could have been won if it wasn’t for some bad defending.
I must admit that at first I didn’t really noticed it. It was only because of the Dutch TV broadcaster (NOS) that I by accident saw that they started talking about Ryo and his incredible performances for Feyenoord. So I paid some attention to the summary of the game and saw really exciting things from this only 18 year old Japanese schoolboy.
Well in fact it is a story that sounds like a fairy tale. A boy comes from a school team, gets a chance in professional football at a team that is struggling and suddenly when he plays the whole team plays better and starts winning things. If you see this scenario in a Hollywood picture you just wouldn’t believe it. Currently Feyenoord are joint in 10th place and if they keep playing like that they could even get in the play offs for European football next season. Their season has been completely turned around.
And as I come from Belgium we also have the Dutch TV channels over here in Flanders and I am a very privileged spectator. Since I noticed Ryo I know record each program from the Eredivisie on my hard disk so I can see at how he is doing. And he is just doing great!
What do I like about Ryo? Well he is fast. Not as fast as Theo I think but he has one asset that could turn him in to a real golden boy. It doesn’t matter which speed he runs the ball is almost always under control and I mean close control. Dare I say it? Well, why not, he reminds me a lot of Christiano Ronaldo for that part of his game. The way he dribbles is amazing to see and he can come on his left foot or right foot it doesn’t seem to matter to him.
What I also like about Ryo is what happened at Den Haag. A team that has some, well let me call them some Birmingham-Stoke thing about them. After having terrorised their right back for almost the whole game that back had enough of it. Ryo ran past him once again as if he didn’t exist and that back brought him down with a vicious body check. The defender got a yellow card and Ryo was down and most 18 years old would stay down and run home to their mother. But Ryo got some treatment. Came back on the field and seconds later he got the ball in a similar position and with the same right back in front of him. And then he just did what he had been doing the whole game long: just ran at him and left him behind. Now that is why I called having guts. He is not that easily intimidated. A great asset.
What also is a very good thing is that he doesn’t shy away from working for the team. When they have to defend he will defend. He doesn’t look lazy and that also will be a big plus for him in the future. Since then in a few games the teams that play Feyenoord are trying to double mark him by putting 2 players against him. Just the fact that other teams adapt their tactics to stop Ryo is a big compliment for the way he has played so far. And maybe a big important thing about this double marking is that this has given much room to the other attackers from Feyenoord and they can exploit this and have done so.
Is he there yet? No, he isn’t. A lot of work has to be done. But after seeing him play 6 games in the Eredivisie and seeing him turning the season from Feyenoord on his head I surely would say this guy seems to have a special talent.
The Feyenoord fans are going crazy about him. If you could read Dutch and understand Dutch you can find a lot of clips, blogs, comments from the Feyenoord fans who think that Ryo has made the change possible for their club. And also the manager is full of praise for this new boy in town. In fact he keeps him on the field for the whole game because he is the kind of player that can change a game with one action. The fans have given him the nickname Ryodinho already for his trickery and performances.
And Ryo is like we over here expect people from Japan to react. He seems to be standing with both feet firm on the ground. Passes praise to his team mates and thanks them for their help. Just says he is trying to do his best for the team, has a lot to learn and wants to work even harder to even get better. And if you realize that until a few months ago he never really played anything near to professional football this really is amazing.
If he keeps this attitude and if he can keep injury free we really could have something special in our team. If only he could get at work permit this summer, I would love to see him running on the left flank and Theo on the right flank. What a combination that could be.
And based on the reactions in Feyenoord circles they must be very, very pleased with the not-given special talent work permit for this special talent.
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