In this arc, Isagi has improved a lot, gaining MV egocentrism, the lefty shot, and now the two-gun volley. With all of these improvements, I hope that when the rest of the cast returns, we will see more advancements beyond what was introduced. Bachira, Chigiri, and Reo have still been training all this time, and it will be disappointing, in my opinion, if none of them have new tricks up their sleeves. Here are my guesses for what they might have.
Bachira: His improvement is simple: curve shots. We know that Bachira has the ability to curve the ball with his passing; this just needs to be applied to his shooting. A constant criticism of Bachira as a striker is his lack of finishing. If Bachira can show the ability to shoot around defenders, this issue can be solved. We can also see Bachira getting good at feints—he has a high feint stat of 95. He could also improve at chip shots, similar to his goal against Team V.
Chigiri: I want to see Chigiri learn and perform rabonas. The rabona is where you kick the ball while crossing your legs, used to perform a kick that would typically require the weak foot. This will allow Chigiri to perform crosses while still being on the left side. The weakness of Chigiri’s golden formula is that you know what he’s planning. Chigiri tries to bait out or in, but currently, he has fewer options if you just let him go to the outside. Now, if he can perform rabonas when sent to the outside, he can send a cross inwards, creating a lose-lose situation for the defenders.
Reo: Reo has improved a lot, but I don’t believe this is the final form of Reo’s chameleon style. The main thing I want to see Reo gain is a puppeteer style. Reo’s ideal style of play is supposed to be a fusion of Sae and Rin, but in my opinion, there’s barely any Rin. Reo copied Sae’s dribbling and uses Sae’s passing; I guess he uses Rin’s finishing, but in reality, Sae has the same type of finishing as well. I want to see Reo utilize Rin’s puppeteer play style to control multiple players. So far, Reo has only been shown to play off Nagi, but if Reo can use his puppeteer play style to manipulate Agi and Chigiri on the pitch, that will expand his options.
Nagi: Moving to goalkeeper (in a serious note), he could also make an interesting target man and perform with that play style. Another thing Nagi could do is make use of his trapping, as we saw with Kaiser, to perform insane spins. He needs the ball to stay still, so Nagi should be able to tap the ball, killing all spin and allowing more versatility to his finishes.
Niko: Niko is an interesting player. The main thing for him is to plan strategies. He has the best teacher ever to learn tactics from, and when looking at the first selection and his light novel, his use of strategies was excellent but then disappeared. Personally, I would like to see Niko play as a sort of player-manager, where he stays on the bench but is able to identify the weak points in the opposing teams and form counter-strategies based on that. I would also like to see Niko develop more weapons, for example, his tackling and long-range passing.
Barou: I want to see Barou get better at pressing and stealing the ball from opponents. This will make unique use of Barou’s physicals and IQ, giving him an edge over the likes of Rin, Isagi, and Shidou. Playing with the best defense, Barou learning how to press better and react to maintain possession will be extremely useful and solve Japan’s weakness with their defense by stealing the ball high up the pitch. Barou falls short of Isagi and Rin due to their superior playmaking, but as a wise man once said, the best playmaker is a well-timed press.
Aiku: Aiku is weird. I guess better man-marking, but it isn’t like he is bad at that aspect; it just was never required of him. Maybe he becomes a more aggressive center-back, moving up to score as a regular part of his game. For me, the main thing is a leadership role. I personally believe that Aiku should be the captain of this team, so him being the leader able to maintain order with all the ego flowing around will be crucial.
What are y’alls ideas for power-ups? Anyone got any good ideas for Otoya and Sendou?
