David Wyatt-Hupton

Here's one thing I've not liked. Started the season with optimism, but the Swallows are the worst team in the league by far. No hitting, no pitching, no speed and dodgy defense.

It's been far too long BlueSky! Work has been kicking my ass recently with the CWC commitments but now we're into the latter stages I'm hoping to have more time. Also absolutely thrilled with the Kobe comeback this year. Despite missing out best players for huge portions of the season.

Absolutely. If you can reinforce without losing some of your key attackers I can see you being consistent in challenging for the title. Got to say that you guys are my favourite team to work in J1, always entertaining.

True but I think that shows some depth issues and over the last few years switching off defensively has been a real issue. I hope you sort it as I've always liked Frontale and you certainly have the attack to make noise this year

That Kawasaki/Yokohama FM game was great for the neutral but also exposed why neither of these teams will challenge this season. Yokohama showed great grit to come back but have no game management skills to see it out. Kawasaki always looks good going forward but shocking defensive effort. #J1

It really is. We've never played overly attractive football but we've always created chances, we're really not doing that this year. Osako looks a little off the pace so far and Miyashiro hasn't really got going yet. Definitely missing Muto

A very fortunate goal by Erik got us the win on Wednesday, but we're still not creating a great deal of chances. Erik is gaining a reputation of being in the right place at the right time since he arrived on loan from Machida. 3 goals in 3 games for him for Kobe. #VisselKobe

Outstanding pitching display by Ogawa today. Swallows take both games they could play (one cancelled due to rain) against Hiroshima and you can feel a little momentum in the building. Yamada is back, Murakami is getting there and we still have Avila, Lambert and Baumann to come in terms of pitching.

He played for Sporting Gijon for a short period didn't he and just didn't do a thing and I think he was on Belgium for a while where he was OK but nothing special. Think you're right, Asia and the level suits him.

As a Swallows 🐦 fan that opening series against the Giants was difficult. Pitching staff, defense and hitting were all poor, situation hitting even worse. But without Murakami, without Yamada and without Shiomi, we're short right now. Hopefully back on track against the Carp 🎏 on Tuesday. #NPB

I think Yokohama will get soundly beaten, watched a bit of their Okayama defeat and it's slow, boring and predictable football. Kawasaki are Jekyll & Hyde aren't they, but handling Afif will be difficult, one of the best in Asia. But I like what Kawasaki are building under Hasebe.

They didn't have a Ceara last year, think he really was the missing piece. We'll see what happens but nobody else looks consistent enough.

Unfortunately I didn't see it mate. But something isn't clicking is it, right now I can only see Kashima going on to win this.

With the NPB season starting on Friday my focus will shift to baseball at work, at least for the first couple of weeks as we get going. But I'm looking forward to J1 being back. I don't find Japan's qualifying games all that exciting, it's largely too easy for them now.

Yeah agreed. I think they need some more creativity. They're desperately missing Araki this year and it's a shame to see a guy like that warming the Kashima bench.

FC Tokyo desperately need a striker. The game against Shonan was a perfect example last week, they created 5-6 good chances, even an average J1 striker would have put at least one away. Instead it's 0-0 and again this week, they struggle to put the ball in the back of the net.

Absolutely vital 3 points there.

First half we were excellent, moved the ball between the lines well and Erik took both goals very well.

Second half we struggled to create anything, struggled to hold the ball and Shonan got the ball in too easily.

Still, we batted to the end for the win. #Kobe

Yeah he's certainly got talent, very small which may prevent him from going much further than a mid to lower table J1 side. Was 2nd in assists last year with Yokohama in J2.

Nice way for the Swallows to confirm they'll be revealing their opening day pitcher tomorrow.

The employee who portrayed popular mascot Tsubakuro since 1994 died back in February.

Pedro Avila held his introductory press conference in Tokyo today as new pitcher of the Swallows. A great signing who will helpfully hope us climb out of the basement. We have the bats, now we may have the arms to compete. "my changeup is my weapon" #TokyoSwallows

Think we're certainly lacking a lot of energy. We don't have the legs in midfield, that's for sure.

We've done a lot of losing to start the year haven't we. They looked a little out of touch today. The sights of goal we had were snatched shots with no composure. Like you, I'm very disappointed in what we were served up today.

Positives - Muto, Miyashiro and Ideguchi all returned and either started or played some very decent minutes. That's the extent of it.

I thought Yoshida was outcoached, he didn't have the players up for the fight and failed to adapt once Gwangju got their tails up. Passing accuracy was poor, tracking was poor, second ball pickup was poor. Osako was completely isolated, midfield was non existent. Focus now turns to the league (2/3)

It's taken a few hours for this to sink in and for me to compose my thoughts. Heading to Gwangju with a 2-0 lead only to lose 3-2 on aggregate is unacceptable for a team who want to be regarded as the best team in Asia. Not a single player can leave that stadium thinking they played well. (1/3)

Yeah not sure where off hand, but I'd rather see a packed 25,000 stadium rather than huge empty patches of a 69,000 seater stadium

Weeknight matches never really attract a huge amount of fans in the ACLE in Japan, but the Yokohama FM fans who were in attendance were treated to a good performance today. League form has been poor but they're flying in ACLE. Shame about the attendance. #ACLE

That China bubble burst pretty quickly in the end.

You'd be committed to a mental institution if you'd said this a decade ago. Truly wild how quickly - and how far - the pendulum has swung away from CSL dominance in Asia.

Shanghai Port are absolutely shocking. Yokohama FM putting them to the sword in this second leg of the ACLE. 4-1 at minute 60, probably could have been 8-1. China are a long way behind in Asia when it comes to football. #ACLE