FA Cup: With thesis on dribbling, Brighton's Mitoma a star in the ...

Mitoma did a thesis on dribbling at the University of Tsukuba before joining Brighton for merely €3 million

It’s a well-known fact in football that the mind plays a key role in a player’s success. Only physicality is not enough, if you haven’t learned the skills and aren’t aware of the know-hows of everything, then you won’t be able to direct your energy in the right direction.

There are different things in football on which the player can work upon, to make himself better. Ranging from dribbling, shooting, passing to scanning, tackling and much more. Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma has proved how crucial it is to learn the skill of dribbling.

The Japanese winger scored the winner in their 2-1 win against Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup. After his heroics in the dying minutes at the Amex Stadium, his degree in Physical Education from the University of Tsukuba, came into the limelight.

KAORU MITOMA. 92ND MINUTE AGAINST LIVERPOOL.

UNREAL ???? pic.twitter.com/c9se5K1Ee1

— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 29, 2023

Interestingly, the forward did a thesis on dribbling at the end of his degree. He put cameras on the heads of players to understand and analyze the skill in a much better way. “I put cameras on the heads of my teammates to study where and what they were looking at and how their opponents were looking at them,” Mitoma told The Athletic.

The 22-year-old concluded that players who are good at dribbling don’t look at the ball much rather they have a better understanding of their surroundings. “I learned that the good players weren’t looking at the ball,” Mitoma revealed. “They would look ahead, trap the ball without looking down at their feet. That was the difference. I was one of the better dribblers at that time, but not exceptional.”

We have also heard from Pep Guardiola in the past, how Lionel Messi doesn’t do anything other than scanning the field in the first 10-15 minutes of the match. This allows the 2022 World Cup winner to edge past defenders through his twists and turns later in the match, as he becomes aware of spaces that he needs to exploit.

“He [Messi] is not out of the game. He’s involved. Moving his head. Right, left, left, right. He smells who is the weak point of the back four. After 5-10 minutes, he has the map. He knows if I move here, here, I will have more space to attack,” Guardiola stated about Messi in ‘This Is Football’ documentary in 2019.

Mitoma joined the Seagulls a little late this season, still he is third on the list of successful dribbles per match in the English Premier League. In 14 league matches, he has four goals and an assist. His progression in the game was also witnessed, when he netted 13 goals in the Kanto University Division 1 League in Japan, after completing his thesis. Before that, he mustered seven in the previous season.

J1 League side Kawasaki Frontale gave the player an official contract at the age of 19. At that point in time, he felt that he ‘wasn’t physically ready’ but after his thesis he concluded, “the power of my characteristic dribbling has doubled.”

Only 18 months after his thesis, he got an offer from the English top-flight club Brighton. The Seagulls signed him for merely €3 million, which is a bargain, considering how exuberantly the clubs spend for new players.