The Japanese winger Kaoru Mitoma by Brighton & Hove Albion studied the art of dribbling – at a Japanese sports university. He’s now playing them on the lawn premier league dizzy.
In football, people like to talk about rehearsed moves, standard variants, and tactics. A precisely planned sequence of movements, defined in advance, played through several times in training and in team meetings.
Contrary to this, dribbling: A mix of stomach, or rather foot feeling, intuition and reaction determines the movement of the player. In these situations, Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton & Hove Albion shine regularly.
The Japanese winger not only has a lot of talent and speed in his feet, he studied the art of dribbling – in his final thesis at the Japanese sports university Tsukuba.
Lessons learned from dribbling research
Under the working title “Research on information processing on the attacker’s side in one-on-one situations” did he want to “demonstrate the relationship between footballer’s athletic abilities and visual information processing in order to improve one’s skills and contribute to theoretical football training“.
For his research, Mitoma mounted cameras on the subjects’ heads and analyzed the training sessions.
“That was an excellent idea, nobody had done any research in this field before”said Masaak Koido, who has been coaching the university soccer team for which Mitoma also played, for almost a decade, the “Japan Times”.
During his four years of study, Mitoma also gained insight into nutritional science and honed his starting and stop-start skills with former Olympic hurdler and now professor at Mitoma’s chair, Satoru Tanigawa.
Work pays off in the Premier League
After completing his studies, he moved to the Japanese first division club Kawasaki Frontale. He scored 30 goals in 62 competitive games, scored 20 more and sparked interest in European football.
Brighton & Hove transferred three million euros in 2021 for the 25-year-old to free him from Kawasaki. A loan from the Belgian first division club Royale Union Saint-Gilloise brought him match practice, he has actually been running for this season Brighton & Hove – and played its way into the hearts of the fans.
He has been a regular on the left flank since November. He scored six goals and one assist, scoring in last weekend’s 4-0 win against West Ham United with a speed dribbling a penalty kick and scored the 3:0.
One of the best dribbling players in the Premier League
“Mitoma is a great player, he is very important for us,” said Brightoncoach Roberto De Zerbi just under a month ago after the 1-0 win against FC Bournemouth, Mitoma hit with a head. However, its influence on the game goes far beyond the classic statistics sheet.
The Japanese national player tears open spaces with his dribbles and regularly drives the ball towards the penalty area. Just over 50 percent of his dribbles succeed, one of the highest figures in the league.
Kaoru Mitoma (right) in the Japanese national jersey
The 25-year-old also convinces with a safe passing game and is a central pass in the offensive game. Hardly any winger in the Premier League statistically plays more passes and has such a high level of pass security (over 80 percent of his passes find the teammate).
Mitoma: “My quality is speed dribbling”
“My best skill is speed dribbling. I’m an attacking player and I want to create chances with my dribbling and passing‘ he said in an interview for his club’s website.
With his skills, Mitoma is likely to be the only footballer who lets defenders drop out in the Premier League and then explains to them scientifically why he did it.