Takeshi Okada (Consadole Sapporo) It's my first season in J1 and we've done all we can to prepare for the season. Many of my players have stayed with the team, which has made my job easier, as they can understand what I want to do with them. We've set an initial target of reaching 10th place and winning 13 games. After clearing that hurdle, I hope we can go higher.

Toninho Cerezo (Kashima Antlers) We were able to produce our best results as a team last year. Now, all the other teams will be out to try and beat us. We need to be stronger mentally and physically to meet this challenge. I'm afraid (Naoki) Soma needs a long time to cure his knee injury. But I hope our youngsters, Yoshiro Nakamura and Yuichi Nemoto, will compete hard to win the position in place of him and help our team succeed.

Zdenko Verdenik (JEF United Ichihara) Some players such as Baron and Tomoyuki Sakai left us, but I'm happy with the players I've got now. The team has got good composure and the atmosphere is actually better than last year, but it may take time before we can function as a team tactically. I started with JEF halfway through last season but I can start from the very beginning this year and can assess our players by myself, which is good. We'd like to make a better finish than last year.