I don’t say this lightly as someone who unreservedly loves Ginga e Kickoff.  But you know, that was the most interesting pure soccer episode I’ve seen since Giant Killing.  And it’s not especially close.  I’m reading Be Blues (which so badly deserves an adaptation too) as I follow Ao Ashi on-screen, and that’s really the only other soccer series that deconstructs the game to this degree.  But it does so in very different fashion, to the point where they really complement each other (you’d need to read it – I lack the vocabulary to explain why).

As you would expect, starting a match at left back after only ever having been a striker is not a pleasant experience for Ashito.  Once the match gets started Takeshima proves to be not as laid-back as he appeared.  And naturally it’s Ashito’s mistakes which set him off.  We’ve heard about the shuffle, but there’s much more to positioning than that.  For one thing he always has to be aware of where the right back is, because if both fullbacks push up the shuffle becomes impossible.  On sides like Manchester City or PSG they often do anyway because those teams are so territorially dominant, but here we have the B-team in underdog mode against the A-team.

Naturally enough Akutsu targets Ashito – he’s an A-hole, but even if he wasn’t it’s still the logical thing to do.  The A-team pushed up a defender to crowd Ashito off the ball, leading to the only goal of the match.  Another crisis point for Ashi – what to do when he’s theoretically supposed to be doing the shuffle but the enemy is attacking down the right wing?  Takeshima later drills it into him that it’s better to leave the wing exposed than the middle, but never having played back there before Ashito didn’t know that.  And how would he?  Strikers are in their own world.

Again, what Ashi is going through here is quite understandable.  He thinks he doesn’t belong here, and he’s not having fun.  It’s hard not to feel sorry for yourself in that situation, and where’s the motivation for trying to master the position if he’s not going to enjoy himself even if he does?  What kind of future is that?  Ashito is making assumptions he shouldn’t be making but he lacks the context to realize that, and – in his defense – he doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of support from his coaches.

From the outside it’s not that hard to see the problem.  Ashito is thinking too much, even factoring out his nagging self-doubts.  His vision is the whole reason he’s here, but he’s not able to use it because he’s constantly distracted by trying to figure out what the hell he’s supposed to be doing (and where).  It’s only when he stops thinking and starts reacting that things take a little turn for the better.  After seeing Eisaku take a bullet that was meant for him, he manages to clear a shot off the line.  And then, on the ensuing corner, he correctly assesses where the danger is coming from and sprints to his opposite flank to intercept the corner and (unsuccessfully) start a counter for Tachibana.

My favorite part of the episode was actually the post-match conversation between Anri, Yuuma, and Keiji (who’s surprisingly emerged as one of my favorite characters).  She’s puzzled as to why Fukuda-san has exiled Ashito to fullback, but not because she sees him as a striker.  She recognizes his vision but considers it unrealistic that he could literally memorize the positions of everyone on the pitch, as only “special” players could do that (you do the math).  She also declares that Ashi should have been moved to either attacking midfield or deep-lying playmaker, but “definitely central”.

That’s certainly the logical assumption, because that’s where the players Ashito most obviously resembles (Xavi, Pirlo, Iniesta, et al) reside.  The boys accuse her of being blinded by her biases, and maybe she is.  Maybe I am, too, because from where I’m sitting she seems to be correct.  But it’s true that wide players can be playmakers too, and it’s also true that sometimes managers think outside the box and come up with something genuinely new tactically.  Before Cruyff no one at the top level approached football positionally the exact way he did – he took bits and pieces of what he’d learned from others (especially Rinus Michels) and constructed something genuinely new.

Is that what Fukuda is trying to do, and is Ashito a component of that?  Is he some kind of hybrid fullback-#8, envisioned to become part of some sort of positionless football?  I’m skeptical to be honest, but willing to be convinced.  The fact that Ao Ashi is willing to acknowledge what seems to be the obvious path for Ashito inspires confidence that this strange one isn’t some gimmick the mangaka Kobayashi Yuugo is pulling out of his ass – this is going to be justified, even if I don’t wind up buying into it.  And I expect that watching this hardheaded and earnest kid try to navigate this path is going to be a fascinating viewing experience.