{"id":1976,"date":"2021-07-01T15:59:13","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T06:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/?p=1976"},"modified":"2026-09-23T15:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T06:07:01","slug":"cklamovski-relishing-second-chance-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/cklamovski-relishing-second-chance-in-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Cklamovski relishing second chance in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Asian football world settles into the reality that one of their own is now at the helm of a major European powerhouse, Ange Postecoglou\u2019s former right-hand man is setting Japanese football alight, having made an exceptional start to life at the helm of J2 side Montedio Yamagata.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When Peter Cklamovski took the reins at Yamagata back in May, the club was struggling just above the relegation zone, six weeks later and they\u2019ve shot up to seventh having won six and drawn the other of the seven league matches played since the Australian coach was appointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is only a small number of teams in such a rich vein of form anywhere in the three tiers of Japanese football and few playing in the eye-catching manner that Montedio are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over that seven-match run the club, from a mountainous and picturesque prefecture north of Tokyo, have scored 13 and conceded just twice and as remarkable as it seems, a run at promotion is not out of the question barely two months after Cklamovski was brought in with an immediate mission to ensure that the team didn\u2019t slide down towards J3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More impressive than the raw numbers is the way that the team, hardly blessed with the deepest or most talented squad in the division, has been transformed and how quickly they\u2019ve taken to the progressive footballing philosophy that\u2019s the trademark of both Cklamovski and Postecoglou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cklamovski oversees training (Photo: Scott McIntyre)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Watching the team train and then watching them play it\u2019s not hard to see why as there are demands for excellence at every turn: no moment wasted, a constant desire to find and manipulate space and movement, a fierce drive to train and play at a cyclonic tempo and underlying defensive principles over positioning and numbers that are non-negotiable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked to drill his underlying philosophy down to a couple of core principles Cklamovski, talking exclusively to The Asian Game<\/em> in Yamagata, offered the following: space, tempo, distances and movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith all that aimed at scoring goals,\u201d he added with a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 42-year-old worked as Postecoglou\u2019s trusted lieutenant for close to a decade and they share many of the same traits, with a dogmatic insistence on not wasting a single moment in preparation, an unswerving commitment to playing positive, possession-based football and a penchant for focusing only on the here and now, knowing that hard work today is a pebble on the pathway to future success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsistency in everything we do is ultra-important and that\u2019s with all aspects of the game, defensive principles to make them as clear as possible, attacking principles again that\u2019s fundamentally to make that easy to understand and as clear as possible,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen to make it consistent so you do it every day and you do it better every day and keep evolving the game and that\u2019s what I\u2019m passionate about and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll continue to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Scott McIntyre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Given that when he took over the task was far more about looking down than up, when asked if the exceptional start has given him pause to consider an unlikely promotion push this year, he smiles, shakes his head and says I should know the answer to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t help it but I just don\u2019t focus on those things,” he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the day for me and getting the most out of the day which is a bit of a life philosophy that I instil to my family as well in getting better every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the players I want to make sure that we enjoy that hard work of getting better every day and see where that lands, so I just concentrate on what I do and enjoy it and see where it takes me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The footballing mantra for Cklamovski is the same as that adopted by Postecoglou and it\u2019s simple: play consistently, play good football aimed to dominate in all aspects of the game and results will come rather than approaching things from a results-first mentality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u3010#\u30db\u30fc\u30e0\u76f8\u6a21\u539f\u6226<\/a>\u3011
\u30b0\u30c3\u30ba\u30b7\u30e7\u30c3\u30d7\u3067\u306f\u300c\u30af\u30e9\u30e2\u30d5\u30b9\u30ad\u30fc\u76e3\u7763\u5fdc\u63f4\u30b0\u30c3\u30ba\u300d\u3092\u9650\u5b9a\u8ca9\u58f2\u4e2d\uff01

\u201cBOSS\u201d\u306e\u6a2a\u9854\u304c\u30d7\u30ea\u30f3\u30c8\u3055\u308c\u305fT\u30b7\u30e3\u30c4\u3092\u59cb\u3081\u3001\u30e2\u30d5\u30e2\u30d5\u30d5\u30a7\u30a4\u30b9\u30bf\u30aa\u30eb\u3084\u30af\u30c3\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u30ad\u30fc\u30db\u30eb\u30c0\u30fc\u3092\u8ca9\u58f2\u3057\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002
\u305c\u3072\u3053\u306e\u6a5f\u4f1a\u306b\u3054\u8cfc\u5165\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u3002#montedio<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wjuV5YEqOi<\/a><\/p>— \u30e2\u30f3\u30c6\u30c7\u30a3\u30aa\u5c71\u5f62\u5e83\u5831\uff0fMontedio Yamagata (@monte_prstaff) May 30, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>