Yokohama F. Marinos, Australia, and the Old Firm Derby have all been involved in a strange love triangle in recent years.
Over the past decade, the club brought Japan and Celtic legend Shunsuke Nakamura back, appointing him as captain until his departure in 2017. A year later, the Australia men’s national team head coach Ange Postecoglou was placed in charge of the first team following Erick Mombaerts’ departure.
The Australian was highly successful with Marinos, helping the Japanese giants win their first J1 League title in 15 years in 2019, and actually the side’s first trophy since their victory in the Emperor Cup final in 2013.
Following Postecoglou’s success in Japan, the coach was scouted by Celtic after a disastrous campaign in 2020/2021 where the Bhoys lost the Scottish Premiership by 25 points to bitter rivals Rangers.
Postecoglou won the title in his debut season at Celtic Park, while Marinos managed to find an excellent replacement too for the 57-year-old in the form of another Australian manager.
This time, the Japanese outfit appointed the former Rangers defender Kevin Muscat as the new boss, who won three league titles with Melbourne Victory. Muscat had previously worked on Postecoglou’s coaching staff for Australia at the 2017 Confederations Cup and thus knew how to carry on his predecessor’s legacy in Yokohama.
Yokohama Marinos are top of the J1 League right now, and with just five games remaining, Muscat’s men are five points clear. Unless a cataclysmic catastrophe occurs, they will be crowned champions once more in a few weeks.
This tactical analysis piece will serve as a scout report on Yokohama F. Marinos. It will be an analysis of the tactics deployed by Muscat, which have led the side to be champions-elect.
Kevin Muscat Formations And Differences With 2019
The two managers have been quite similar with their approaches in both Yokohama F. Marinos’ title victories over the past three years.
During his spell at the Nissan Stadium, Postecoglou was rather unyielding in his approach to the team’s base formation. Marinos primarily lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but this would only be taken into account during defensive phases.
Overall, the 4-2-3-1 was used in 50 percent of the team’s games. The current Celtic manager prefers to rotate between this conventional shape and the more offensively balanced 4-3-3, including the 4-1-4-1, which the team employs in 37 percent of the time.
Muscat has been much less flexible than that. The team’s base formation only really becomes apparent out of possession.
