Urawa Reds' rise back to the top of the J. League may not have been achieved with the free-flowing style the club's supporters demand, but after last season's histrionics, no one in Saitama is likely to be complaining.
Four 1-0 wins in a row have taken Urawa to the summit for the first time since August — a month when the wheels began to fall off the team's 2008 title challenge and the guillotine moved into position over then-manager Gert Engels.
The end of that season was marked by total disarray on and off the pitch, and it is to new boss Volker Finke's credit that his side is playing well-organized, disciplined soccer so early in the new campaign.