Both teams were very tired and lacked aggression. With so many supporters in attendance, we needed to play a game more worthy of the name Hanshin Derby.

Q: You said that you were tired and not as aggressive as you should be, but what do you think was the reason for that?
A: After four straight games, we were at the peak of fatigue, and I think the players who were playing in consecutive games were in that position. I keep saying this, but even in that situation, we need to play tougher to get stronger, so before the game today, I talked about playing football with more determination, and I think all the players were in the right frame of mind, but maybe their bodies didn't listen to them. From about the middle of the first half, both teams started to stretch out, and I think that was Vissel's aim, but there was no compactness at all, and I talked about how we needed to increase the tempo of our passes in the second half, but the tempo of our passes and our movements didn't increase, and I felt that the goal was a little far away.

Q: I think it was due to fatigue, but neither of your two strikers looked great after a long absence. What do you think are the issues to address when you are being held back, and how do you score goals?
There were many good scenes in the opening minutes of the first half where the A side split into two sides, so I think we need to create more of that kind of formation. Also, I think the players on both sides had several shooting chances, so in a close game, they could try to break through with dribbling, and the side players need to make changes when the FW are being pushed back or not in good form.
Either way, we are now entering the national team week, so we need to make sure to take advantage of the break to refresh our bodies, and when the break returns we will have another home game against Sendai, so we need to prepare well so that we can play even more aggressive football at home.

Q: With three games remaining in the first stage, Urawa won, and the points difference is now nine. You've probably been asked this question many times, but it's a tough situation. What are your thoughts on that?
A: If you ask me that, I can only say that we will fight until the end without giving up, and although we have three games left in the first stage against Gamba, we need to win them all and keep putting pressure on Urawa as much as possible and fight until the end without giving up. However, in addition to the regulations of first and second, points throughout the year are also very important in this regulation, so just like last year, we need to avoid winning and losing, and in the case of a tie, we need to avoid going out of our way and conceding points and ending up with zero points, so that we can increase our points throughout the year. In the old first and second regulations, only the team that won the stage could go to the championship, but this time it's not like that, so of course we haven't given up on the first place, but I think we need to fight until the end with a firm mindset of the whole season.