Why Mitoma is so good at dribbling

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Kaoru Mitoma has left many Premier League defenders mesmerised with his dribbling skills. The Brighton & Hove Albion winger only became a regular in the side post-World-Cup but has already become one of the most in-form players in the league.
His trajectory to the Premier League has been unorthodox. JJ Bull explains why Mitoma only became a professional at the age of 21, and how a University degree has shaped his playing style.
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Music sourced from epidemicsound.com
Additional footage sourced from freestockfootagearchive.com
#PremierLeague #brighton

[@THEMAN39431]

The Mitoma is the powerhouse of the Premier League

[@theblaster110]

Underrated comment 😂😂

[@Truffle_Pup]

Take a bow son, take a bow

[@tobertitus]

suuuuuuuch a stretch lol

[@pr3cious193]

@@tobertitus I think this person doesn't speak english and used google translate

[@eleonarcrimson858]

This is gonna be rough for the people who is not gonna get it

[@sumy5543]

Fun fact, although Japan does not have a drafting system like US, college/high school football remains a very important part of their youth system. Recent years, a lot of pro clubs even choose to cooperate with their local school in youth scouting and development. Which means player can choose their preferrable career path rather than focus on college/club solely. Mitoma is still a rare case, because he went from a club youth team (Kawasaki Frontale) to his college (University of Tsukuba), then he went straight back to the first team of his old club. Club youth system of course provide a more professional environment and a closer relationship to the first team. On the other hand, school system brings stability and flexibility to a young athlete. You can always choose to quit football and focus on other option. Even if you are determine like Mitoma, it still provides you a chance to explore other things, like sport science. In terms of standard of play, it is actually quite close. For example, both Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki came straight from their high school team to domestic top flight club. In fact, Japanese high school football attracts even more spotlight than club's youth team, the recent final of the high school tournament recorded 50868 attendance in the main stadium of Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

[@nickraoyj]

Incredible! Thanks for sharing!

[@benshorthouse2979]

Awesome fact!

[@silvesta5027]

Fascinating insight! Thank u for taking the time to write this out

[@supreme_zeeyus]

That’s awesome

[@J4ww44d]

This is great, thanks for sharing man.

[@fpsoccer9791]

It's amazing that he wrote a thesis on dribbling, but the thing I think is so much more impressive is that he is able to put it into practice.

[@UnceenOut]

I saw him at Union in Belgium. He came on after half time when Union were down to 10 men and he changed the game. They ended up winning that game because of him. Happy he is doing well in the premiere league but wish he had stayed an extra season so I could watch him play some more!

[@josexavierpinto2189]

they mention his thesis every broadcast

[@ryanlee315]

You just can’t not mention it😂 Such a unique story

[@haimainjauo242]

And that probably makes his parents more happy than Mitoma himself. Can we also analyze him as a football player and not as a former student?

[@matthewmcneany]

I'd be interested in a video with slightly longer/thorough look at Mitoma's thesis. Dunno about anyone else.

[@haimainjauo242]

And maybe they can mention sources and not just gossip about it like teenagers

[@alexanderchurchill-moulder2969]

Literal student of the game, lol. What a fascinating career path.

[@scoopidiwoopwoopidiscoop6222]

Brighton scouting team just so so good on finding unknown talent. They deserve all the praise too

[@rhialux]

it feels like japanese football has got some real ballers coming through, mitoma aside there’s a whole bunch here at celtic and a good few in the bundesliga. a reo hatate analysis would be a fun watch, he’s one of if not the most technically gifted player i’ve seen play for celtic, was one of our best players in the champions league too. so fun to watch.

[@faris8745]

Don't forget Kubo

[@nowifi0208]

@@faris8745 Kubo is unbelievable at that age

[@akas224]

Brighton wants Hatate and sent scouts for him. but Celtic won't say yes. He would be perfect with Mitoma.

[@galois6569]

I've seen a few videos on Mitoma, but this is the first one that actually dived into his thesis.

[@haimainjauo242]

More like dipped a finger but okay

[@galois6569]

@@haimainjauo242 I'll agree with that. First video I've seen go beyond "His thesis was on dribbling."

[@sikkimese268]

Just love his style of dribbling and movement. Simple and effective with no unnecessary extra fluff. Almost David silva esq

[@alangdm]

I got to watch Mitoma in his two seasons at Kawasaki Frontale and he definitely was just too talented for the Japanese league He just destroyed the opposing defense at will, the second year basically the half season he was in before he went to Europe was enough for the team to win the whole season even after he left I was a bit worried he would not be able to do well in England but I'm glad to see I was wrong

[@jamesbaurus5928]

JJ's heart must have sunk a little bit when he had to describe Mitoma skinning Patterson. 😪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Yesshhhh

[@akamiguelsanchez9985]

I know it's mostly down to class In the UK, but it is interesting how very few young footballers go to university compared to cricketers or rugby players.

[@bryceyoung1033]

Probably due the fact they usually go from getting locked into academies to pro starts or you never hear of them

[@shutupMaji]

its not actually a class thing, most footballers do the bare minimum for studies around 16-18 whilst they're prioritizing the academy and those that break into the first teams make so much money that they stop caring for things like university I'm pretty sure its an entirely different story in places like Germany though

[@quagmir3]

Why on earth would you go to university if your talent is good enough for pro level? You can always go back to school later but it's a no-brainer to invest your efforts where your gifts are. In my opinion, with Mitoma's talent level he has blown 3 or 4 years of doing what he was born to do at the highest level by following a path he didn't have to take at that time.

[@davreiss]

@@quagmir3 Lol, because you don't actually know if you're "good enough for pro level" until you actually PLAY at pro level. The world is scattered with guys who were the hot young prospect as 13 or 14 year olds, but never progressed, flamed out after a couple years at the lowest tier, and are now embittered janitors because they never had any education....

[@andrasszabo1570]

@@shutupMaji It's absolutely a class thing. In "Why England Always Lose" by Kuper & Szymanski, they found out that almost all but 1 or 2 players are from a working class background in the England tournament squds and even PL-wide the British players are 90% working class. I know that Patrick Bamford is regularly mocked for reading the broadsheets because he's "too smart to be a footballer". Meanwhile Eddie Jones (the former England rugby head coach) was chastised for stating the obvious that English rugby is too public school-based and there are no pathways for unearthing working class players.

[@kieronparr3403]

Dribbly boi

[@NotJeffsHandle]

Yeesshhhh

[@zebra7578]

I really want to learn how he moves elegant and smoothly with the ball. It looks effortless, would love to play like that

[@Growlizing]

Apparently, he figured out that a good dribbler looks very little at the ball, so he practiced until he could run with and control the ball without having to look at the ball. This leaves his attention free to focus on the opposing player and the game state.

[@Snorlaxxll]

I need to see him against AWB. What a battle that could be.

[@CoconutJewce]

Man Utd Brighton rematch is on March 19th!

[@nthoj6510]

JJ the bull! ❤❤ I love your content keep them Coming!! TIFO is awesome

[@danielodutola8855]

We all knew right from the start that the Red marker is Trent.

[@RudyOMP]

“Kwaru” 😂

[@KellenBricks]

"Kwaroo Meetima" 💀

[@cursive1805]

Keep up the great work

[@nyandog1668]

It’s about time you made this video😉

[@rajdeepchowdhry5806]

Love a good ol JJ review 🤤

[@crazyacea]

Kwaru is my boy. Good video, cheers.

[@rana1561]

In a parallel universe, Mitoma would be Athletic's J-League correspondent and expert

[@snakeobias]

I play local level futsal weekly in Japan. You would not believe the quality of dribbling here.

[@TheFlyingEpergne]

i bloody love mitoma

[@jonathanfunes2324]

I love this guy!

[@kaleshksekhar2304]

Mitoma become future legend

[@mujeebahmed7940]

Top talent 👏🏽

[@eh7hillside]

JJ, it’s Kah-oh-ru, not Ku-ah-ru

[@haimainjauo242]

HE EVEN GOT HIS NAME WRONG 💀 JJ SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT THIS WHOLE VIDEO

[@skusami2548]

there are Nobel prize winning scientists whose theses have been discussed less than Mitoma's

[@thciswack99]

We say it every video but this host is so so good at explain football.

[@earthwizz]

Ange tells the story of Mitoma arriving in the J league from nowhere (university) and blowing everyone away.

[@RuliManurung]

4:15 "...as they always were under Lampard" 😂 You just couldn't resist, could you JJ? 😄

[@greaterthanharrowk1679]

Thanks for clearing that up, thought that was the sun for a second

[@ishaandw]

Did they change the title?

[@greaterthanharrowk1679]

Would love to see him up against awb

[@waveplay3978]

He needs to come to Arsenal. A guy like that with his mindset and will to be a student if the game - it's Artetas dream player

[@Axezane]

Professor mitoma

[@ehsbe1056]

He’s a really special player, he seriously understands how to play the game, his technique is insane, give him another season and he will be the next son (not a race thing but I think they play quite similarly)

[@Scarrrhtx]

In a interview he said he was just putting wtv to pass the test and y’all used that so much

[@Huwlingberger]

The cruel angel’s thesis

[@azkancut8737]

"Let's talk about Kuarou Mitoma" at the beginning. Kuarou? 🤣

[@RevivingSanamahism]

Blue Lock 🔵🔐 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Bachira is here

[@Wladislav]

First sentence: _Let's talk about KOWARU Mitoma!_ Goddammit JJ.

[@fishyfish6510]

New PL winger: *waiting anxiously for his time to shine Trent Alexander Arnold: "Who is your favorite fearless hero?"

[@Jelapi18]

Martinelli is like...What's looking up?

[@dontwannaname]

Where did he come from? Where did he go? Where did he come from, Kaoru Mitoma?

[@Huskiemusic]

My partner came in and asked why I was watching Goldie Looking Chain.

[@MrDannyWright]

You couldn't let JJ do another take to say Mitoma's name correctly?

[@mourningireland4560]

Japanese is a pitch accent language. The way you say it is probably also technically wrong.

[@MrDannyWright]

@@mourningireland4560 Mate he called him Koaru.

[@protean8885]

@@mourningireland4560Yeah, we're not asking for much - at least the order of the *romanised* letters right.

[@haimainjauo242]

They couldn't even do another take to fix his wrong statistics lads. I think we're aiming too high. Tifo is slowly falling off I can see the deterioration with each podcast or video

[@ToniLekic96]

Why is Kaoru Mitoma so good at Dribbling > how Kaoru Mitoma mastered Dribbling at university

[@zulucruz664]

From Kaoru to Kowaiiru for any Prems RB.

[@cosmiccloud4286]

He cracked the code pf messi's dribble in his PE that's why he is so good. Batman of football with pred time he can take on anyone lol.

[@iBhacaBeats]

this is actaully true. I have been saying it time and again that players should study Messi. He does not care about being fancy. All he wants is to eleminiate a defender. Messi never does a step over or a heel flick, not that he can't, but because they are very time wasting skills. About 3 seconds more is spent doing flicks, heel chops, or stepovers.

[@iBhacaBeats]

"You could see the way he runs. He doesn't use step overs." Here in my beautiful country of South Africa people think i'm hating when i say freestyling and fancy dribbling is time wasting. I always tell people that Messi is the best dribbler of all time in PROFESSIONAL football. I am glad there is another player besides Messi who dribbles like Messi. I always say step overs are useless. I say Messi is more effective than Ronandinho coz he is not flashy. All he cares about is losing the defender and creating goals as quick as possible. I've always encouraged and preached that players should study Messi. Now they should study Mitoma and his story. There is nothing i hate more than a dribbler who wastes time. People like Neymar are one of those dribblers. Don't give a defender time to think. If you were to search Kasi football or kasi diski, you would be amazed how much hype they get but they not beating any defenders then call it dribbling. I really hope South African young players study Mitoma coz apparenlty Messi is a god, which is not true. 2008 and Messi was better than 2007 or 06 Messi coz the man kept working hard. Calling him a god as if he did not work on improving is disrespecting him.

[@kaysannashiru9193]

For me the most exciting team in the Premier league now is Brighton. They play good football.

[@jnxs1234]

Garbiel Martinelli must be one of the few exception to good dribblers looking up. He's looking down 90% of the time hahaha

[@leksaaq]

Why didn't he call Mitoma a dribbly boy? I was waiting for it the entire video

[@containedhurricane]

I reckon Saint-Maximin to have more tricks up his sleeve, but Mitoma seems better at one-two and teamwork

[@litos9738]

2:11 He came from Japan 👍

[@MelbourneMeMe]

It's Mi-to-ma...

[@internetexplorer6097]

Asian players are generally underrated

[@dumisanimupfurutsa2817]

That Lampard shade was unnecessary 🤣

[@MrFrunk1]

He clearly went to Blue Lock

[@fishyfish6510]

But he's not a striker 😆

[@nikesh9157]

Cringe

[@shahnewaz9700kf]

He's what chelsea expected mudryk to be

[@alexthompson3887]

No doubt they’ll buy Mitoma too in the summer, for 20 times the price Brighton bought him for.

[@shahnewaz9700kf]

@@alexthompson3887 how much they paid for him?

[@akas224]

​@@shahnewaz9700kf 2.5%of Mudryc. Mitoma needs to work 40days to be equivalent with one day salary of Mudryc.

[@95814]

Kaoru is a tough one but is pronounced "kowrue" (rolling the "r" slightly)..."cow" and "rue".

[@TheDandelionMind]

His wife is an athlete too (I want to say triple jumper but could be wrong).

[@akas224]

Ange is a big fan of him but Brighton was quicker and said he's not for sale. now he's too expensive.

[@lancecheng]

Kwaru Mitoma 😂 come on bro

[@jaymccormick9173]

Spelt Gilmour wrong

[@simonmarie83]

Surely it's a dissertation and not a thesis. Not that it makes it unimpressive. How many footballers would take the academic route?

[@hb3393]

Todd Boehly rubbing his hands watching this

[@adriennash7326]

"Kwaru" 😅

[@aidandonnelly3022]

Should hear how everyone butchers caicedos name

[@Q9Teen]

Kaoru Mitoma JJ: Koaru Mitoma me: *triggered KA-O-RU, KA-O-RU not KO-A-RU anw, good video as always

[@colouredIncognito]

You went from a decent channel to oversimplification galore

[@adegbiteolabanji5809]

Perfect Manchester city player

[@mourningireland4560]

More like Mintoma. Mint player. Mint.

[@CoconutJewce]

The way he pronounces his name 💀

[@Reizeroworldnoyume]

What's fun it's that you look like you just came off the bed, that makes me laugh everytime

[@ezzydeen1]

He dribbles alot like Sane Does.

[@FlashMeterRed]

he agreed the contract with kawasaki in 2018, the contract just didn't start til 2020

[@panyal]

Easy answer: he's got a degree in dribblenomics ☝️

[@nkanyisowalter8901]

*Trent left the chat

[@Qwuiplash]

JJ is so awkward, really makes for good entertainment.

[@elwendozaza5017]

School is cool after all

[@benlee7608]

Funny guy

[@nithinr818]

Y'all are late with this, we all know Mitoma invented dribbling in college!

[@stormking16]

This is something you're taught in basketball at 8 years old LOL

[@hazard1one]

the guy name got butchered 😭

[@giventema4009]

Mitoma❤ is. Better than Messi there I said. I just had to. U guys don't understand

[@baguswidhiatma1673]

K.A.O.R.U not Kuaru

[@ethankay5344]

he's been found out unfortunately.. not performing recently. other teams saw this video lol

[@ChineseKiwi]

This comment aged like milk after that last goal LOL

[@russianweeb]

f̷̩̜͚̤͇͔̿̋̓̐͜͝͝e̷̞͍̲̜̔̃́͝e̷̠̭͎̽̂̾̕d̷̛͈͓͉̮̦͔̼͈̳͔͙͊͌̌̊̔̏̊͂̔̚̚t̸̢̛̤̰̯͕͊̀̈́̈͛́̈̒̓͝͝h̴͖̠̱̝̣̼̩͕̥̭̜͊̍͗̋͛̾͋̌̍̒̓̍͝ę̴̛̯̮̰͖̝͎̼͎͙̼̻̻̺̈́͒̈́͐͂̔͒͘͠â̵̬̰͍̾̉ĺ̸̞͌̐͐̉̑̐̓͒̎̊̈͘͝g̸̛̩̥͌͋̌̊̑̌̈̓͝õ̴̡̯̥͔͓̙̪͓̫͓̞̞̣̜͓̅̀̑̉̒̋̇̄̐̋͝r̸̨̤̤̔̆̍͌̾̈́͆́̚͜į̶̨͓̗͚͚̳͉͕͚̝̪̳͍̲͌̈̊͗͛̎͌̌͒̏̒͋͘͝t̶̨̘͕̂̽̀̉͐̈́̎͌̌̿́̆̿h̴̡̥̺̤̳̘̳̜͈̝̤̱̾̐̽m̷͉͊̾̊̽̅́͋͋̍̂̋́̚̕͘

[@ZMASTER180]

He's literally isagi from blue lock irl😂

[@speakertrees]

Korea y Japan gonna win the wc sumdia

[@nerdifymusic7322]

This is why you watch anime in sub. If you do, you'd probably know how his name is pronounced either the right accent. But enough nit-picking 🤣🤣🤣

[@gaks1780]

why does JJ bull talk like that

[@4071816]

Please pronounce as miTOMA rather than MItoma

[@duran9664]

Dah⁉️ Because he wrote his thesis about it. 😒