Celtic star Kyogo Furuhashi has reflected on his battles against “difficult” Ange Postecoglou and his Yokohama F Marinos side in the J League.
Kyogo was at Vissel Kobe before joining Celtic. Though his side was awash with talent, the Japanese sensation couldn’t bag a title, with Postecoglou and Ange-influenced Kawasaki Frontale hoovering up the trophies. He did win a Japanese Cup and Super Cup, but his new manager was often in the way, when it came to the J League.
Now he’s playing for Postecoglou, Kyogo reflected on battling his boss in Japan, speaking to Celtic’s in house media. And, excitingly for Hoops fans, the Japanese centre-forward set out his ambitions for the rest of the season.
Already, Kyogo has 14 goals in all competitions. But after speaking on his manager, the Japan international made his agenda extremely clear.
Kyogo said [Celtic FC]: “In Japan, going against Ange’s team [Yokohama F Marinos] was always difficult and challenging.
“His style of constantly keeping the ball at the front is delightful and enjoyable for me.
“First of all, as a team [I want us to] win the Championship. Personally, I want to score at least 20 goals. I have been missing opportunities a lot, I want to score goals to support the team.
“[Additionally] I also want to be more aggressive when it comes to defending to support the players at the back.”
Kyogo promises Celtic fans even more
It’d be hard to argue Kyogo has disappointed us Celtic supporters in any lasting way. If anything, it’s hard to see how he could be more popular.
However, it’s his motivation and work rate on the pitch that’s helped in creating the considerable favour towards him. So really, it’s no surprise to hear he wants a lot more.
To hear him drift into self-criticism is somewhat surprising though. Yes, he’s missed some chances, but “a lot”? He’s a centre-forward; that’s going to happen sometimes.
Fine, there have been a couple of games he could’ve turned on a dime. The first meeting with Bayer Leverkusen stands out. However, you really are unlikely to find a Celtic supporter with a bad word to say about Kyogo, especially in front of goal.
It is great to hear him talking about pressing with aggression, though. Kyogo has been exceptional at forcing defensive errors. Most notably, he hounded St Johnstone’s Zander Clarke into a botched clearance in the Premier Sports Cup Semi-final, which led to James Forrest’s goal.
Genuinely, Kyogo has been an absolute revelation. If he can score even more goals and hound more defenders, we couldn’t really ask much more of him.
Especially when it sounds like nobody is asking more of Kyogo than Kyogo himself.
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