16 Feb 2003(Sun)

Football managers have very different ways of going about their job.

Some are high-profile, always in the spotlight and always with something to say, such as Philippe Troussier.

Others are low-profile, revealing little of substance to the outside world while keeping a firm grip on the team, such as salary-man lookalike Masakazu Suzuki.

Suzuki was as low-profile as they got, so when he stood down after guiding Jubilo Iwata to the "perfect" championship last season, the news had little impact in the Japanese soccer world.

With a minimum of fuss and no fanfare, Suzuki's assistant, Masaaki Yanagishita, made the step up from head coach to manager of the league champions.

Yanagishita had his first taste of mass media attention in Tokyo on Friday night when he attended the official managers' press conference of the four-team A3 Mazda Champions Cup.

He is young, at 43, but still has vast experience with the club.

From 1993 he has been on the coaching staff, working with the satellite team, the senior team and the youth team, so no one knows the Jubilo players better than him at all levels.

He has vowed to continue to play the attractive, attacking style which swept Jubilo to the first and second stage titles last season, and is experienced enough to acknowledge that one man cannot replace Naohiro Takahara.

Last season, Takahara scored 26 goals in 27 league games to earn the top scorer award and also the J.League MVP honor.

It was no surprise when he headed off to Europe, to join Hamburger SV in northern Germany, but it was a surprise when Jubilo did not buy a replacement.

"That's because Takahara is irreplaceable," Yanagishita admitted Friday night.

So, too, was the veteran striker Masashi Nakayama, said the new manager.

"We have many other players with scoring ability that cannot be replaced by a single player. Therefore, we have to replace Takahara as a team, not as an individual."

Yanagishita mentioned two players who could partner Nakayama in the A3 Mazda Champions Cup.

He could use the Brazilian, Rodrigo Gral, who scored just once in nine appearances last season, or the 20-year-old Yasumasa Nishino, who has made only one league appearance for Jubilo since joining from Toyama No. 1 High School, the same school as Kashima Antlers' Atsushi Yanagisawa.

Nishino is tall at 1.83 meters and sturdy at 79 kilograms, and is already making his mark at Olympic team level.

With Ryoichi Maeda, another talented youngster, also a possibility to start up front alongside Nakayama, new manager Yanagishita will be as interested as anyone to find out what is his best combination in the post-Takahara era.

ends