Head Coach Katanozaka: "Thank you so much for coming to Panasonic Stadium Suita to watch GAMBA OSAKA's match today and for supporting us. We fought hard with the players against Kawasaki F, the absolute champions who have won consecutive championships, aiming for three points, but as you can see, we conceded a goal at the very end and ended up with one point. I just told the players that it's important to keep your concentration until the end and fight as hard as you can, and that in soccer, things like this can happen, you never know what's going to happen, so it's important to win without giving them any openings. Of course, Ishikawa was very disappointed with his mistake and felt responsible. I'm sure there are various opinions, such as "If we hadn't conceded that goal" or "It was Ishikawa's mistake." However, what I told Ishikawa was that these things can happen in soccer, and how much he can recover from this experience. There are still 31 games left in the league. In the lead-up to these 31 games, Ishikawa helped the team by making saves in the opening and second games. In this way, it is very important to see how much we can recover from this and how we can motivate ourselves for GAMBA OSAKA and turn this mistake into a victory. And not one of the players or staff blamed Ishikawa. I think this is very important and good. What happened can't be undone, and I'm sure there will be many things said later, but we have to move forward and we have to keep building up while there are still games to play. And in today's game, I felt that we have no choice but to keep our concentration high and keep going in our daily training so that we can turn this game that ended with one point into a game where we can get three points. As for the game, we didn't shy away from Kawasaki F and took on a bold challenge, and we prepared to show what kind of soccer we can play now and how we can fight for 90 minutes at home. The players were really focused and expressed themselves with that aim, and I personally think the game turned out like this, but I'm very grateful to the players. Our consecutive matches will end here, but we have to play against Jubilo in the next league match away from home, so I want to make sure I've fully recovered and put in a good game and keep racking up wins.

Q: I'd like to ask about the final scene. I think that if the other players had called out to Ishikawa rather than just Ishikawa, the loss could have been prevented. What is your view on this, Head Coach Katanozaka?
Head Coach Katanozaka: "Yes, that's right. I think you're right. It's easy to say "what if," and I spoke to the players about that too. Of course, if we had been able to do that, we might not have conceded a goal, and it might not have been solely Ishikawa's fault. But that's just "what if." However, I want the players to grow from this experience so that they can win again, and I think this regret, or rather, this conceded goal, has taught us that we still have weaknesses. We need to fix that, improve, and make it a habit to stay focused and keep doing it in our daily training so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again in the next game." class="r"/>

Q: Regarding the match, instead of the usual three-back formation, you used a four-back formation, which you also used against Kawasaki F when you were with Oita. What was your intention behind this?
Head Coach: "We still have games to play in the future, so I can't say too much about it, but I think we'll be able to show our strengths better with a four-back formation, so it's a challenge for us."

Q: "Today, you played with two strikers, and the team was working together to defend from the front. Was the aim of using two strikers to strengthen the first line of defense?"
Head Coach: "Yes, if we drop back in defence, Kawasaki F has a lot of skilled players, so we tried to restrict them from the front with two strikers as much as possible. And we also wanted to have two strikers up front to be a threat to the opponents on the counter attack, so we played with two strikers."

Q: Today, Saito, who started for the first time in a league match, played a very effective game, using his box-to-box technique to look after the area in front of the goal while also showing up in front of the opponent's goal. What is your assessment of him?
Katanozaka: "He played 45 minutes in the last Levain Cup, and he played well there, and his strengths were really coming to life, so Kawasaki F is very good with the ball, and I thought we needed a Head Coach like (Saito) Mitsuki who can work hard and get the ball in defence, so I let him play, and this time I was watching to see how long he could hold on for. He's still not in good condition for 90 minutes, so I'd like to gradually increase the time and have him try to play with three or four players in a way that makes the most of his strengths, and today he made his presence felt in the defence from the first half to the midfield, and contributed to the team, so I expect that if he improves his condition even more, he will perform even better."

Q: "Today, in the first half and in the scoring scenes, there were many scenes where we were able to take control of the game by switching between offense and defense. Is there anything you told the players about this before the game?"
Head Coach: "In training, we have to be conscious of switching between offense and defense. In modern football, the speed of the transitions is getting faster, and football itself is becoming more intense and faster, so we are challenging ourselves in that way, and it is very important to be able to fight tenaciously against the opponent and to be able to surpass them in attack, so we are working on making it a habit. In that context, we would like to try to create a system that allows us to win games in combination with the opponent. The players are becoming very conscious of this and are improving, which is why we are winning points, and I would like the players to see how GAMBA OSAKA is playing with great dynamism this season. Although we ended up with one point today, the players were not afraid to challenge Kawasaki F. Of course, in the second half, there were times when we were leading and the other team lost the ball, but the applause we received from the fans and supporters after the game gave me a lot of courage, and I would like to challenge again and share the joy so that we can win a game at home again.