Kuryu Matsuki

[Charlie Wayman]

6 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

With game time, and support and instructions from others, he's improving. 

He's bulked up a bit and had a bit of bite to go with his industry against Wrexham. While Bree supports him, he's able to track and attack elsewhere. Not in the way Fellows would. But then, Matsuki looks to be very useful centrally, and from corners.

….and scores goals!

[benjii]

Apart from THAT miss, I thought he was excellent and showed he is a genuine option in the 'hole' should Azaz be unavailable. 

He has the potential of a really good player.

[SuperSAINT]

4 minutes ago, benjii said:

Apart from THAT miss, I thought he was excellent and showed he is a genuine option in the 'hole' should Azaz be unavailable. 

He has the potential of a really good player.

Lovely pass to Archer for that first goal.

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

11 hours ago, benjii said:

Apart from THAT miss, I thought he was excellent and showed he is a genuine option in the 'hole' should Azaz be unavailable. 

He has the potential of a really good player.

Aye, I said earlier in the season, that this season is him getting use to the Championship. 

Next season he should improve a lot further and will be useful. 

Edited April 15 by JohnnyShearer2.0

[austsaint]

On 08/04/2026 at 08:33, saintant said:

Matsuki digs in and does his job for the team. Nothing too flashy but he quietly goes about his business and is very effective.

With Matsuki and Manning the Club has the “Two left feet” many others would like!

[badgerx16]

10 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Aye, I said earlier in the season, that this season is him getting used to the Championship. 

Next season he should improve a lot further and will be useful. 

Next season will be him "getting used to" the Premier League.

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

32 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Next season will be him "getting used to" the Premier League.

Well, if he does a similar job to this year then great!

[Turkish]

11 hours ago, benjii said:

Apart from THAT miss, I thought he was excellent and showed he is a genuine option in the 'hole' should Azaz be unavailable. 

He has the potential of a really good player.

He does and another weird thing that he played really well at Norwich in the league cup, scored a belter then barely played for months. Another odd decision in the first half of the season

[trousers]

22 minutes ago, Turkish said:

He does and another weird thing that he played really well at Norwich in the league cup, scored a belter then barely played for months. Another odd decision in the first half of the season

Indeed... Was very odd at the time and baffling looking back on it

[Tamesaint]

17 minutes ago, trousers said:

Indeed... Was very odd at the time and baffling looking back on it

Yes but we had a manager who couldn't get a tune out of this team and who thought that Dom Ballard wasn't a natural goalscorer. 

[LordHester]

6 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

Yes but we had a manager who couldn't get a tune out of this team and who thought that Dom Ballard wasn't a natural goalscorer. 

Ballard's had one decent season in League One, but Still wasn't the first manager who didn't think he'd make it at a higher level.

[spyinthesky]

15 minutes ago, LordHester said:

Ballard's had one decent season in League One, but Still wasn't the first manager who didn't think he'd make it at a higher level.

To be fair Dom didnt set the world alight at Blackpool but that may have been that he hadnt recovered fully from a bad injury.

[Lighthouse]

Matsuki certainly wins the award for most improved player of the season. Of all the criticisms of Still, I’m not sure that choosing not to play KM is really one of them. He had just turned 22 and never played in England before. That goal against Norwich reserves was a cracker but I think he needed a bit of time to adjust to the Championship.

[St Louis]

6 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

Yes but we had a manager who couldn't get a tune out of this team and who thought that Dom Ballard wasn't a natural goalscorer. 

I would imagine Will Still had absolutely zero say in the Dom Ballard transfer.

In the summer when he left, as well as Stewart and Archer who are still here, we also had Onuachu, Juan, Brereton Diaz and Armstrong on the books. And were in the process of signing Downes.
You can see why we let him go and why he wanted to go, as at the time he wasnt ahead of any of those 6 and was coming off the back of lots of injury issues and 3 unsuccessful loans in League One (he'd only scored 6 goals in 45 League One games and not shown much promise).
I'd also be confident that all 6 of those strikers would score as many (or more) than Ballard in League One (OK... maybe not Downes!)

[Disco Stu]

1 hour ago, LordHester said:

Ballard's had one decent season in League One, but Still wasn't the first manager who didn't think he'd make it at a higher level.

More than decent. Exceptional. He's likely going to win the golden boot.

[bugenhagen]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Matsuki certainly wins the award for most improved player of the season. Of all the criticisms of Still, I’m not sure that choosing not to play KM is really one of them. He had just turned 22 and never played in England before. That goal against Norwich reserves was a cracker but I think he needed a bit of time to adjust to the Championship.

I agree that he probably needed time, as in that game against Norwich, he was bullied off the ball every time a player came near him. Yes, he scored a cracker, and he looked useful in between the lines playing one-twos, but he did not look physically fit to play in the Championship.

When he finally came back in he looked better, both in terms of the pace of the game and the physical side of things.

[Luke SkyWalker-Peters]

I like Ballard but:

a) The club gave him multiple loans after his injury and he struggled. It was best for his career to move on permanently.

b) When Archer was his age he was getting a goal or assist almost every game in the Championship. As Archer has struggled with physicality in the systems we have played, why do people think an objectively slower and weaker Ballard would have had enormous success?

On Matsuki:

He seems to be the first real positive of our multi-club model. We have seemingly signed him for almost nothing and would have been completely unable to do so before SR.

He looks like a manager's favourite type of player. Works hard for the team, good at everything, can play multiple positions and scores goals.

[davefizzy14]

Matsuki is class 😊

[benjii]

Thought he was really good again.

[tdmickey3]

MOM

[Toadhall Saint]

My MOM today.

[Harry_SFC]

He's the Steven Davis of the team 

[Patrick Bateman]

36 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

He's the Steven Davis of the team 

Actually not a bad shout in all seriousness!

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

10 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Actually not a bad shout in all seriousness!

Agree. Not spectacular but from his first game you could tell he has a good understanding of the game, can control a football and can see a pass. Apart from being a little lightweight, so can be pushed off the ball quite easily, I like him in our team - and his attitude seems to be excellent.

[Harry_SFC]

35 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Actually not a bad shout in all seriousness!

Obviously Davis played at a higher level but they both do a similar job. Good at pressing, keeping possession and passing. Technically good with the ball at feet too.

He lacked a bit of physicality but he's improved that. I didn't think he'd become this important. 

Edited April 18 by Harry_SFC

[SuperSAINT]

Very good.  Easy to forget he’s only 22.

[KingInDaSouf]

Has been called up for Japan, well deserved. 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

10 minutes ago, KingInDaSouf said:

Has been called up for Japan, well deserved. 

Underrated player. Works so hard for the team.

Edited 11 hours ago by JohnnyShearer2.0

[Turkish]

12 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Underrated player. Works so hard for the team.

He's very underrated. Hard working but also got a bit about him.  He's not a get you out of your seat player like Scienza is but he's effective can find a pass and a goal threat. Like him a lot, probably starts ahead of Fellows at the moment

[AlexLaw76]

Outstanding success of the multi-club model.

[skintsaint]

29 minutes ago, KingInDaSouf said:

Has been called up for Japan, well deserved. 

They changed the manager then? Thought Sagawara had to leave to play in a top league to keep his Japanese place.

Matsuki seems to be getting better with us and such a hard working player - deserved call up.

[KingInDaSouf]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Outstanding success of the multi-club model.

Broken clocks and all that. 

[Disco Stu]

Very well deserved. Always makes me nervous when our players are put on the world stage. I was very thankful the Larin deal was sorted before the world cup.

[Saint NL]

Didn't sugawara want to leave because he wouldn't get called up for Japan whilst we are in the Championship.

Goes to show, if you're playing well enough it doesn't matter 

[revolution saint]

26 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

Didn't sugawara want to leave because he wouldn't get called up for Japan whilst we are in the Championship.

Goes to show, if you're playing well enough it doesn't matter 

Possibly although I think it's as much that the club wanted rid of Sugawara due to wages and Tonda not really rating him and wanting a more physical option at RB.

Fair play to Matsuki though.  I thought he looked a bit lightweight initially but he's developed that part of his game and a decent option and definitely more of a goal threat than Fellows.  Will be interesting to see what the club do in terms of contract - he's 23 and just under two years left so I'd be thinking about a new contract if he carries on improving like he has done.

[SNSUN]

#teamMatsuki! Get in Kuryu, well deserved. Needs to start regularly at RW, he was important in our great run earlier in the year because of his endeavour and goal threat. 

[Charlie Wayman]

4 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Underrated (?)  player. Works so hard for the team.

By whom?

I've always rated him very highly as a future top player. This is great news but inevitably the vultures will be circling. 

Luckily or unluckily we have now a front four that must be attracting attention in higher echelons. It makes it even more imperative that we get out of this league in May

[swedish dave]

Am very pleased for him. Last season he was a bit in-and-out of the team, and consistent form

but he really has shown up this season. The only annoying thing I find that's connected with him

is out of his control, namely those match commentators who call him " Matski ". Surely such names

with two syllables aren't so difficult, when many others have longer double-barrelled names .

It's  Mat -su- ki ... for goodness sake, show some respect to the man and get his name correct.

 

[Saint NL]

9 minutes ago, swedish dave said:

Am very pleased for him. Last season he was a bit in-and-out of the team, and consistent form

but he really has shown up this season. The only annoying thing I find that's connected with him

is out of his control, namely those match commentators who call him " Matski ". Surely such names

with two syllables aren't so difficult, when many others have longer double-barrelled names .

It's  Mat -su- ki ... for goodness sake, show some respect to the man and get his name correct.

 

Well, that's the thing....

https://www.howtopronounce.com/matsuki

The correct pronunciation is Matski. 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

By whom?

I've always rated him very highly as a future top player. This is great news but inevitably the vultures will be circling. 

Luckily or unluckily we have now a front four that must be attracting attention in higher echelons. It makes it even more imperative that we get out of this league in May

Plenty of people online etc. 

[gio1saints]

I like his energy. I think he’s starting to look better than Charlie Alcaraz to me. Not really a winger more of an Inside forward on the right or central but he’s always busy and has got goals in him. End season he will be a £30m player carries on as he is.  

[Ken Tone]

51 minutes ago, swedish dave said:

Am very pleased for him. Last season he was a bit in-and-out of the team, and consistent form

but he really has shown up this season. The only annoying thing I find that's connected with him

is out of his control, namely those match commentators who call him " Matski ". Surely such names

with two syllables aren't so difficult, when many others have longer double-barrelled names .

It's  Mat -su- ki ... for goodness sake, show some respect to the man and get his name correct.

 

Think it's actually correctly pronounced something like Mats'ki

[SNSUN]

 

49 minutes ago, Ken Tone said:

Think it's actually correctly pronounced something like Mats'ki

Coo-Yoo Mat'Ski-san.

[sockeye]

1 hour ago, swedish dave said:

Am very pleased for him. Last season he was a bit in-and-out of the team, and consistent form

but he really has shown up this season. The only annoying thing I find that's connected with him

is out of his control, namely those match commentators who call him " Matski ". Surely such names

with two syllables aren't so difficult, when many others have longer double-barrelled names .

It's  Mat -su- ki ... for goodness sake, show some respect to the man and get his name correct.

 

to be pedantic... it's ma---tsu-ki, with an almost silent u

at least bazuna and onuacho have left the club now though

Edited 4 hours ago by sockeye

[LiberalCommunist]

 

Even though KM popped up with some key moments last season, I did not think he would force his way into our starting 11. But he has been a bit of a revelation these last couple of months. He offers something that we seriously lack. I hope his form keeps Fellows warming the bench. He could definitely learn a thing or two from this guy. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

45 minutes ago, LiberalCommunist said:

 

Even though KM popped up with some key moments last season, I did not think he would force his way into our starting 11. But he has been a bit of a revelation these last couple of months. He offers something that we seriously lack. I hope his form keeps Fellows warming the bench. He could definitely learn a thing or two from this guy. 

Yep, have to agree. Didn't think he would anything other than a bit part player, but he's taken his chances well. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

Thoroughly deserving!

[Nolan]

It's good to see how he's improved, especially given how sceptical some people were in his lab year at Göztepe.

He's got a lot of years ahead of him. Hopefully a good few of them with Saints.