ULSAN, South Korea -- With just over a month of football left to be played in their 2024 season, there is still plenty on the line for Vissel Kobe.
The biggest assignment of all is the quest to successfully defend their J1 League title -- with only four matches remaining in the campaign, they remain one point behind leaders Sanfrecce Hiroshima and very much still with a chance of overtaking the team threatening to dethrone them.
On the continental front, they would also have completed six out of eight games in the AFC Champions League Elite -- with two more to be played in February. By then, they could already have one foot in the round of 16.
And if Vissel are to finish the calendar year on a high, it could just be a late-season tweak from coach Takayuki Yoshida that worked wonders.
On Wednesday, they continued their ACL Elite campaign with a clinical 2-0 win away to two-time champions Ulsan HD -- who offered a threat of their own in the first half but then had no answer for the visitors after the break.
The goals came from tactics now firmly entrenched as part of Vissel's DNA. Pressing high and hitting on a short counterattack.
But the man who got the goals -- Taisei Miyashiro -- is clearly thriving now that he is not only being deployed centrally but alongside focal point Yuya Osako.
In the first half of the campaign, Miyashiro was often deployed on the left. When he started centrally, it was usually in place of Osako as the sole striker or alongside someone like Daiju Sasaki.
It certainly did not stop him from excelling as his nine goals in the J1 League -- behind only Osako and Yoshinori Muto at Vissel -- will attest to.
Still, for the second ACL Elite match running, Miyashiro once again got on the scoresheet with Yoshida getting adventurous -- employing what is essentially a attack-minded 4-4-2 even if Miyashiro does drop deeper when his team are not in possession and in line with the wide forwards.
Granted, the system didn't work as well as Yoshida would have liked at the weekend when they missed the chance to overtake Sanfrecce after losing 2-0 to FC Tokyo but it is clearly working on the continental stage -- and there is reason to persist given it is surely impossible to drop Miyashiro in such form.
Perhaps wisely, just like how they made this recent adjustment, Vissel will not be stuck in their ways.
"Of course, we make adjustments depending on our opponents. Today, you might have seen something different," Miyashiro told ESPN, when asked if he was enjoying the current game plan.
"We're thinking what positions to take that will be good against the opponents. Anytime, all the time, even on the field. We did some things good today, but there were also some things that were not good.
"That's why we have to keep going and improving. Already, the season is almost over. Throughout the year, we've been getting improvement -- that's why we continue to keep challenging and improving ourselves."
Not like they ever had any issues with scoring, especially with Muto also chipping in with a remarkable haul of 11 league goals from on the right.
All of a sudden, the two-pronged spearhead that is ably supported by those from out wide makes Vissel look an even more formidable team.
Including this weekend's Emperor's Cup semifinal that could lead to a place in the decider, Vissel might have up to nine more games in 2024.
That's still plenty for their new attack to fire them to success.