Over the 2019 J1 League season, Urawa Red Diamonds had quite the year to forget as the club finished 14th in Japan’s top flight, just a point above Shonan Bellmare who finished in the relegation play-off spot.
The season which saw Tsuyoshi Otsuki brought in part-way through was quite the comedown from the 2018 term, where the Red Devils finished fifth and recorded an Emperor’s Cup victory.
The 2019 term was even more forgettable for the Reds than at first glance as they suffered two cup final defeats, first against Kawasaki Frontale in the Japanese Super Cup and later in the AFC Champions League against Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal.
Otsuki’s side could be considered on the bigger end of the spectrum in the J1 League as they have won the title once and finished runners up five times previously, having also won the AFC Champions League twice.
So, this tactical analysis will dissect the current tactics of Urawa Red Diamonds which were on show in their opening game of the 2020 season. Analysis will also be used in the scout report to show how those tactics could return the club to former glories.
Front four in attack
In the opening game of the 2020 season, in which the Red Devils defeated Shonan Bellmare 3-2 away from home, one of the factors which allowed Otsuki’s side to be so potent was their out of possession structure. Having lined up in a 4-4-2 starting formation, the wide midfielders Koya Yuruki and Takahiro Sekine – would look to become wingers and create a front four when in possession.
As can be seen in this annotation, when in possession, Urawa Red Diamonds would push their wide midfielders high and wide to create greater width and stretch Shonan Bellmare’s defensive line. Depending upon which side of the pitch the ball was located, the winger on the opposite side of the pitch would drift more centrally to create a narrow three. In this instance, Sekine is in possession wide on the right, so, Yuruki has drifted further infield to create another option.
Further evidence of this tactic can be seen in the Urawa club’s crossing map from the 3-2 victory. The Red Devils would often look to swing crosses into the six-yard box where the two strikers and tucked in winger would be waiting. Most of the success in this area came, evidently, in the first half.
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