J.LEAGUE: Table-topping Reds starting to fire on all cylinders

Vissel Kobe may soon regret kicking the Urawa Reds when they were down earlier this season.

The teams last met in March in the Emperor's Cup, mere days after the Reds sacked manager Holger Osieck in a bid to stop a seven-match winless streak dating back to the 2007 season.

With the Reds in disarray, Vissel swept into Saitama Stadium, stunned the hosts with an early goal and held on to hand new caretaker Gert Engels a loss in his first match in charge of the 2006 J.League champions.

The teams square off again on Saturday in Round 10 of the J.League, but the Reds are a much-improved side than the one that started the season with three straight losses.

Now undefeated in nine outings, the Reds top the table and are playing devoid of the lethargy and hesitancy seen in March. They still don't have the swagger of previous seasons, but it's nevertheless a marked improvement.

Engels attributes the rise from 17th place to first under his watch to myriad factors that have all, finally, started to come together.

"We are playing more compact and straight ahead now than before, when we played a little more from left to right. We are also trying to play quicker and more in the opponents' half as well," Engels said after Urawa's 4-2 win over Consadole Sapporo on Tuesday.

He also mentioned a looser atmosphere in the locker room, Marcus Tulio Tanaka's move from central defense to midfield and a clearer understanding by the players of what role each has to perform when they're on the pitch.

Another key to the resurgence is that the much-ballyhooed strikers are finally earning their keep.

Yuichiro Nagai scored twice in Round 6, Naohiro Takahara did the same in Round 8 and Edmilson emulated the feat against Sapporo in Round 9.

"I am very happy about this," Engels said. "I always say that it doesn't matter who scores, but of course it does. I am very happy when (the forwards) score."

Edmilson and Takahara were big-name signings brought in to cover the void left by ace marksman Washington, who rang up 42 goals in 52 matches for the club before returning to Brazil in the offseason.

But both have struggled to fit in this year, leaving Tulio to pick up the slack. The 2006 league MVP leads the team in scoring with five so far this campaign.

Edmilson and Takahara will need to pick up their games considerably to be anywhere near as prolific as Washington, although there are signs their partnership is beginning to blossom.

Takahara set up Edmilson's second goal against Consadole and had a goal of his own disallowed for offside in the first half.

There was nothing fancy about either of Edmilson's goals, but that's exactly what Engels wants to see from the former Albirex Niigata player.

"He can shoot with his left and right foot. We've been trying to figure out how to get him into situations where he doesn't have to do a lot on the ball, because he doesn't need to do much more than that. That's how we like it," Engels said.

Historically the Reds have done very well against Vissel, who have only three wins in 18 attempts against Urawa.

It's not all daunting news for Vissel ahead of kickoff, however. Kobe should be a confident bunch after a 2-1 win over Gamba Osaka and a 2-2 draw with the reigning champions Kashima Antlers in the last two rounds.

The team welcomes back hard-nosed volante Kim Nam Il from suspension and also has the hot boot of star striker Yoshito Okubo to bank on. The national team forward is responsible for three of his team's last four goals.

Urawa hope to have injured strikers Nagai and Tatsuya Tanaka back on the bench against Kobe, although Keita Suzuki is expected to remain sidelined from a debilitating virus until Round 12.

But despite the slow start to the season, the injuries and the coaching change, the Reds are already back in first and it appears as though they're just getting warmed up.

Engels, however, says topping the table this early in the season is academic. He prefers a wait-and-see approach.

"Saying we've gone from 17th to first sounds cool, OK, but we were six points out of first after two games and we were six points out of first two rounds ago," Engels said. "We are in first, it is good, but it's too early to matter.

"We need to keep winning our games and we'll see what happens."(IHT/Asahi: May 3,2008)