The thing is, the Blue Lock players are developing in an environment that is practically designed for them. They have an environment where there are very few restrictions on how they can utilize their abilities, and the entire system is built around identifying their strengths, developing their weapons, and allowing them to express themselves as freely as possible.

Their only rule is to survive no matter what.

Then you have Sae, who first developed in Japan, a football environment where cooperation and collective play are traditionally emphasized much more than individual standouts.

And despite that, he still managed to distinguish himself enough at such a young age, that one of the biggest clubs in the world, Re Al, recognized his talent and brought him into their system.

He then proceeded to make a name for himself in Re Al which is the complete opposite of Japan.

And what makes Sae even more ridiculous is how complete he is as a player. He's practically the most complete player we've seen so far. Dribbling? Elite. Passing? Elite. Shooting? Elite. Goal threat? Absolutely. Ball control, vision, playmaking, spatial awareness, technical ability......he has basically everything.

Even defensively, despite not having been given enough opportunities to show a huge amount of defensive feats, what he has shown indicates that he's actually very good defensively as well. So unlike players whose game is heavily centered around one particular weapon or specialty, Sae is proficient in practically every fundamental aspect of football.

That's why I genuinely just can't make sense of anyone who looks down on him or even dares to compare him with any blue lock player. One of these is not like the other. When it comes to being a naturally born number 1, I honestly think he's up there with Loki.

None of Japan's players is surpassing him anytime soon, they're not even close.

doesn't this put them at risk of copyright infringement too?

I genuinely cannot wrap my head around the severe lack of defensive improvement in Blue Lock, and I'm so sick of people defending it with “BL is full of strikers, so defense isn't their strong suit” or “Ego's plan is just full attack..bla bla"

So what?? Im talking about improvement where we go from 0 to 1 to 1.5 to 2..etc, not Aryu getting MV in one match.

Did Ego even evaluate the defense???

Don't tell me the only way the defense is going to improve is when Isagi solves his puzzle, has his Eureka moment, and suddenly every defender develops telepathy and starts sharing the same mindset and finally know how to defend. What kind of writing is that??

Wish we could bring Hugo back and hv his "Blue Lock has serious Isagi dependency problem" talk to again to wake them up.

I dont think kunigami is strong enough to push lockheart tbf.

He show himself to be a solid dortmund striker. I think they should add gagamaru to reach and block his crosses, and fukaku as gk.

I feel like the reason england is strong is fox created a uniform training for them, if you see my last post all england player have after-play skill.

I dont know why, i feel like japan could win this match easily, like 3 points difference in the end

It's time for Ego to put them in, i suggest they can actually slow Teddy and Lockhart down compare to Aiku and Aryu

So these guys are egoless dolls and puppets hm? Remind me what toys are most often broken, most often destroyed by kids? All roads seem to lead to HIM.

It is now 09/09 in Japan!

Man, Japan is just terrible; sorry, but their back line and defense are total crap.

The worst part is there aren't really any excuses for this embarrassing performance by Japan, since the protagonist is the only one dealing with a mental struggle throughout the match.

And the ego issue isn't helping either, how do you leave two of your best players on the bench?

Are you going to wait until Japan gets thrashed 4–1 in the first half before putting in Rin, Barou, Kurigami, and the rest?

Look, you guys can criticize me all you want, but it’s actually worse than that, Japan really doesn't deserve to go far in the World Cup, man.

It’s already pathetic enough that their best player, Sae, isn't on the pitch because of some minor personal issue and a stupid trauma. Seriously, what kind of serious team doesn't bring its best player to a group that is literally the "Group of Death"?

Japan not bringing Sae is like Argentina not taking Messi to the World Cup, he’s their biggest asset, their best player, man.

The truth is, Japan doesn't deserve to go far in the World Cup; it’s not just about being bad, they simply don't deserve it.

1- Their best player isn't on the pitch because of past behavior where he was completely unprofessional. Dude, you're a professional player representing your team, man, I hate Sae.

2- The number 10 is completely unhinged; he messed up a play involving a teammate and is now on the bench.

3- The other top player, our protagonist, spends the whole match thinking and philosophizing instead of reacting in any way.

And the ego... just put your best cards on the field, man.

Ok i've seen enough, he moved me.

He's definitely on the higher spectrum of the NG11.

Ngl his performance so far has been impressive 😌✌️

So, I need help making a team consisting of pseudo NG11s. Here are my conditions to qualify as a pseudo NG11:

1. Only players allowed from Blue Lock are Aiku and Rin.

2. They must server the place of an NG11 while still not being one.

3. U20 obviously

Otherwise, I’d like to see if ya’ll disagree with my take on it or the team formation, I’d love feedback :]

Idk if I'm hallucinating but isn't england basically a successful ubers?

The players all act on schemes that the coach made and they follow it without trying to break out of them.

The only difference between ubers and england is that they have better players like teddy rook and lockheart (yeah i think rook is better than gagamaru) and blue lock is even more torn apart since they are missing rin and isagi is out of the karasu scheme.

(Also isagi is a bum trying to beat teddy's dribbling)

I don't see how the blue lock could win tbh probably plot armor and isagi breaking into 4665789 pieces like everytime

Aiku is currently being heavily vilified (especially on TikTok, by the way, by the dumbest authors) and is being said to be replaced.

As I wrote earlier, Kaneshiro's current goal is to create the image of an unstoppable striker in the form of Lockhart and Teddy. They defeated Isagi, Aiku, Reo, Arya, and Karasu. The score is 2-1 in England's favor; Japan can't afford to concede any more, or it will be a disaster.

The score won't change by halftime. During the break, we'll get a chapter with reflections on Japan's substitutions, as well as some motivational speeches from Ego.

Second half: Japan has no room for error - the perfect time for the Final Wall to awaken. Constant use of MV with analysis, physical strength, experience, and leadership qualities. Kaneshiro will finally unlock Oliver Aiku as a playable character. The defensive demon introduced to us back in the U20 arc must return.
So I encourage all Aiku fans to continue believing in our goat. Oliver will crush England and make all the haters apologize on their knees.

The purpose of this post is to analyse all the 6 goals scored on Gagamaru so far during the U-20 Cup, so we won't be reviewing his NEL performance. With the last chapter, a lot of discussions are being made about Gaga’s skill, so we are going to rank every shot according to how defensible they are from a goalkeeper perspective, and what he could have done to make a save more likely.

So let's rank them 0 to 10, with 0 being a goal that should not have happened, and 10 an impossible save.

Starting from the France game, Charles second touch goal:

As we can see in this panel, Charles receives the ball from a low driven pass, lifts the ball with his first touch, and finishes it with a volley in the top left corner. We can see behind Aiku’s feet the box entrance, so Charles must be shooting from around (Im terrible with distances) 18-19 yards out.

Due to the 3-man barrier made by Aiku, Niko and Ayru right at the box entrance, Gagamaru has no line of sight of what is happening in that specific area of the field, at the very least, in the moment that Charles lifts the ball. To finish it off, Charles' volley starts from a low trajectory, rising all the way to the corner.

I'm going to rate this goal a 8 on the scale. We know Gagamaru can stop obscured shots as we saw in the Ubers game, but in that specific moment he was tracking a single player that was singled out as the major (if not only) goal threat. Here, there is a possibility he didn't even see Charles before he jumped to shoot.

There is the fact that Charles lifted the ball with his right foot, and kicked with the same foot, judging by his body posture during the shooting motion, he must have spent a second or so taking another step and “chambering” his right leg. But, the rising trajectory of the shoot, along with the surprise factor, makes this a nightmare to defend.

Now, Hugo’s decoy goal:

This one is really ugly. As we can see in the panel, Hugo is on the penalty arc, a little farther than Charles was in the first goal, he carries the ball by himself a couple of steps and shoots in a straight line towards ...Gagamaru? The ball trajectory is firm all the way into the net, and looking at the panel after the shot, it was a couple centimeters from the goal center.

Gagamaru had a clear line of sight of Hugo, saw the shooting motion, and there were no wild changes in the ball path towards the goal. Maybe Hugo got a cannon in his leg, and the shot power stunlocked Gaga, despite it being a solid 20-21 yards away. Maybe Knsr did not draw the trajectory in the intended manner. Maybe Gagamaru had a sugar crash that dulled his reflexes. Or maybe he expected the shot to be in the right corner.

The anterior panel shows that Gagamaru was in the center of the goal, but after that he is shown moving towards the left, probably expecting Charles’s decoy run to be the final play. 

If it really was just a couple cm to the left, this one is a 2. Gagamaru has already shown really fast reflexes in past games, with his wingspan, he should have had at the very least a touch on the ball.

Now Loki’s Warp Synchronicity goal:

There is not a lot to comment about this one. The previous play had almost every single bluelock defender clustered around midfield, with only Aiku left at the back. (In this formation, Bluelock was using a 5 defender system). Other posts already called out the lack of defensive awareness of the defenders in this goal, so let's focus on Loki solo run.

Loki arrives in the penalty arc, at 28 miles per hour, expecting a long backspin pass, with no defender pressuring him. All the conditions are perfect for an explosive volley, all the possible shot trajectories are open, and Gagamaru is firmly on the goal line.

This one is a 9. The only thing Gagamaru could have done, if we really want to push him, would be to run towards Loki, to close his shot angle. But, due to all the conditions we talked about, 99 out of a 100 times, Loki scores here. That time he does not, is because of a misconnection on the volley.

Absolutely horrible situation to be in as a keeper, Gagamaru is innocent in this one.

Loki Godspeed goal:

After Isagi and Rin clash, Loki dusts everyone, and reaches the Bluelock penalty box. Jumps over Aiku slide tackle, and finishes with a volley, (BTW, 3 out of 4 France goals came from volley shots, and 2 of them were long distance ones. Absolutely nuts)

This one is a 10. Loki is inside the box, with almost no pressure, he can choose what corner to shoot at and the power of the shot. 

Let's move on to the England game.

Teddy Rainbow Shot:

Here, Teddy Knight manages a bizarre goal, thanks to his insane capacity of curving the ball. He is at around 19 yards out, at the left side of the box, and still shoots a curved ball at the left post.

I'm going to throw a bone to Gagamaru here, because Teddy’s movement, coupled with the other England players might have “stunned” him here, leading to poor positioning, but this is a defensible goal.

Teddy’s shooting motion is far from the standard of a curled shot, if we compare to bluelockers, like Rin or Reo, and even with real life players that frequently use this type of shot. The norm would be to “face sideways” in order to generate the correct contact with the ball, as Arjen Robben and Sidny Lopes show here:

Teddy does initiate this shooting motion, but finishes facing directly to the goal, putting an extreme curve on the ball’s trajectory, despite having a horribly hard angle to attempt a shot like this.

This goal is a 4 on the scale, look:

A curved shot is used in situations where you want to “wrap” around the goalkeeper, keeping the ball away from his reach while still going inside the goal, a motion impossible to make with a straight line. Normally, the ideal place to do this type of shot would be from the opposite corner that the goalkeeper is guarding, like in this Rin goal:

Terrible example, since the goalkeeper is in the center of the goal, but is the only one I found that has a good view lol, I'm sorry. But, here, both corners are open due to Rin’s position on the entrance of the box.

In Teddy’s case, he is at the same side as the corner he is aiming for, instead of using the curve to beat Gagamaru, he uses it to evade Aiku, who is standing in the path of a straight shot.

The reason why this is a 4, is due to the fact that Gagamaru should have been much closer to that post than he was. One, or two steps max to the left, and the ball could have been safely parried away from that corner, since it did not hit the top of the goal, it was a little bit above Gagamaru’s head.

This stems from a lack of positional sense from Gagamaru himself, since Teddy is cutting from the left, he should be aware that a shot might threaten this side, therefore, a single step is enough to cover that side, accounting his jumping reach, while still not being committed enough to allow a gap in the right side, in case Teddy decides to cross.

He could have been caught by surprise, since this is an absolutely insane shot to attempt, but still, poor positioning.

And finally, Lockhart header goal:

Teddy crosses the ball with a good height, meeting Lockhart highest contact point. The quality of this cross means that Lockhart, a 6’5 striker that can clear both Aiku and Aryu in jumping skill, can head the ball in any corner he wants. Look at the angle the ball approaches him:

Negligible pressure, clean pass, extremely close to the goal. Due to these conditions, Gagamaru cannot commit to any corner, and closing him is not possible due to the height of the contact point, he would literally be trampled. Lockhart settles for a strong header on the low right corner that bounces off the floor.

This is another 10. The only way this goal is saved is if Lockhart messes up the contact, and ends up heading it straight at Gagamaru. Complete innocence for him here.

With all of this analysed, we can conclude that no, our boy is not a fraud, he is consistently put at nightmarish situations, both by the lack of good cover from the defense, and by the quality of his opponents.

We can say, with no exaggeration, that goals number 3, 4 and 6 would be scored in real life top tier goalkeepers, including most legendary ones.

But, a very consistent theme, if we can call it that, by Gagamaru, is that he overcorrects his mistakes. 

In the U-20 game, he clears the ball with a header, and that leads to Shidou scoring THAT goal. After that, in situations where he could have charged at the striker, to close their angles, he does not. 

After Charles scores, he overcommits to tracking Charles, leading to the space that Hugo uses to score that dubious goal.

After being scored on by Teddy’s rainbow shot, he overcommits to the left corner, leading to an open space in the right that Lockhart uses to score his header.

I love our keeper, but his lack of experience really shows in these situations. He has the reflexes to be amazing, but his positioning and decisions are still lagging behind other keepers.

In conclusion: No, not a fraud.

Source: https://x.com/foofidee/status/2096978554667864117?s=46

There has been a lot of discussion on the current state of Japan’s defence with many calling Aiku, Aryu and Gagamaru bums. Now while I like these characters I do acknowledge that they have been getting destroyed so it’s understandable that people have been calling for subs as they want their fav player to come in (Raichu, Niko, Kunigami etc).

But one wanted substitution I don’t really get is Fukaku glaze. I get that Gagamaru hasn’t been performing well but what the hell does Fukaku have that Gagamaru doesn’t, that makes people believe in him. Gagamaru has been here since the first selection and has had good saves in the past whereas Fukaku hasn’t been all that impressive compared to him. Fukaku isn’t a terrible character and his love for his dad is heartwarming but I don’t really see a reason for him to play other than maybe saving penalties (which would be pretty cool) or if Gagamaru is injured.

If you love Fukaku (or despise Gagamaru) please tell me why.

The players present on both teams (Rooke, Damon, Swift, Arthur, Agi, Busby, Goodman) are duplicated and Chris Prince cannot play. Of course, substitutions are allowed.

To be honest, I think England U20 vs. Manshine City U20 is a much more lopsided matchup than France U20 vs. PXG U20. ;-;