It took Urawa Reds all of two matches to sack coach Holger Osieck and replace him with Gert Engels. Reds fans could be forgiven a sense of déjà vu - not because of the sacking, but because like Osieck before him, Engels is a familiar face within the Urawa camp. He's been at the club since 2004, but has surely leapt from the frying pan into the fire as he takes over as head coach at a club simmering with internal dissent.

The Reds have been outplayed in each of their opening two matches, losing firstly to Yokohama F. Marinos in front of more than 62,000 fans at Nissan Stadium, before just under 55,000 fans turned out at Saitama Stadium to see Nagoya Grampus snatch all three points from a club that is quickly becoming one of their favourite opponents.

Speaking of Nagoya, Pixy Stojkovic is yet to spontaneously combust on the Grampus touchline, although the exciteable Serb has shown signs that the only thing left of him could be a smouldering pair of shoes come the end of the J. League season. He was reportedly furious after Nagoya's opening 1-1 draw at home to Kyoto Sanga, in a match in which the visitors outplayed their more fancied opponents. Nevertheless following Nagoya's defeat of Urawa the diminutive former Grampus midfielder claimed that it was one of the best days of his life, leading one to ponder how Stojkovic might react if Nagoya actually won a trophy.

The topsy-turvy results continued on day two of the J. League, with the pick of the scores surely Vissel Kobe's 4-1 hammering of Kawasaki Frontale. Indeed Kawasaki's much-vaunted strike force hasn't looked remotely close to scoring yet, with coach Takashi Sekizuka suddenly the last to have realised that fitting Juninho, Hulk, Chong Tese, Kazuki Ganaha and Masaru Kurotsu into three striking places is not necessarily one of those "difficult selection scenarios that the club is happy to have."

With the League Cup taking centre stage for Matchday 1 and 2 of the group stage next Thursday and Sunday, certain clubs will invariably look to tinker with their line-ups in the hope of discovering a winning formation. Others will just be desperate for a win - foremost among them Urawa Reds, as they head into the Gert Engels era more quickly than anyone could have imagined.