Kubo Takefusa started at right midfield in Real Sociedad’s season opener against Betis, but was substituted for Oyarzabal in the 58th minute. Sociedad opened the season with a 0-1 loss.
On the 5ch “Geisokusoku+” sports board, threads quickly filled up with comparisons to Lee Kang-in, who scored the winning goal for Atletico Madrid that same day. While some posters defended Kubo by pointing to his season-opening goal tally and Man of the Match count, plenty of others criticized him for over-dribbling and slow decision-making.
<La Liga: Betis 1-0 Real Sociedad> ◇ Matchday 2 ◇ August 21 (August 22 JST) ◇ Seville
Japan international midfielder Kubo Takefusa (25) started in Real Sociedad’s season-opening match against Betis, but was substituted in the 58th minute without having scored.
Due to a quirk in the fixture schedule, this was Matchday 2 but still the first match of the new season for both clubs. Playing right midfield in a 4-2-3-1 on the road, Kubo flashed his sharp dribbling at times, beating multiple defenders. But he couldn’t create a real chance, and was replaced by Spain international forward Oyarzabal in the 58th minute, heading to the bench.
Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
Lee Kang-in scores the winner to lead Atletico to victory
Why the gap between Kubo and Lee Kang-in?
Lee Kang-in → 1 opening-day goal
Kubo → 3 opening-day goals
Lee Kang-in → can't recall him ever winning a La Liga MOM
Kubo → too many La Liga MOMs to keep count of
One opening-day goal isn't nearly enough ammo to troll with yet.
Probably been mashing refresh waiting for this thread to drop
Sure, Kubo was disappointing, but maybe put that passion into something else?
Maybe next year he can make his triumphant return to the J.League (lol) and be king
The same J.League (lol) where a washed-up guy like Kagawa can still shine
Kubo turns 25 this year
He's not really 'young' anymore
Once 'young' — his biggest weapon — was gone, Kubo really did become a player with nothing left.
The one who actually joined Atletico wasn't Kubo — it was Lee Kang-in.
And Lee Kang-in immediately scores the winning goal to lead Atletico to victory in the opener.
Meanwhile Kubo, with zero offers, is stuck at Sociedad, goes scoreless and assist-less in the opener, and relegation-candidate Sociedad loses.
Wonder how the Kubo stans who used to trash Lee Kang-in while hyping up Kubo are feeling right now.
Where exactly was he supposed to have played well?
Just transfer to Liverpool!
This summer there wasn't even a fake offer floating around
He's fallen so far that big clubs don't even bother pretending to be interested (an "air offer" is fan slang for a transfer rumor that never materializes).
Kubo really is getting worse and worse.
Kubo and Lee Kang-in
It's a waste since he speaks Spanish, but maybe he should move somewhere else.
Well, all the Spaniards speak it too
It's probably one of the most-spoken languages after English and Chinese.
I don't think I've ever actually seen this guy play well.
He's good at beating the one defender right in front of him, but then he holds the ball too long and it stops being effective
Must be frustrating for his teammates too.
Same story with the national team, honestly
Kubo should study how Sato plays — Sato's faster and sharper in his decision-making, and quicker to release the ball, and that's a level above Kubo.
Is he playing soccer, or just playing "dribbling"?
Then the moment Take gets subbed off, they concede and lose
Guess this winter transfer window is finally when he joins a mega-club, lol
Mega-club (FC Tokyo)
He only seems to see the defender right in front of him — no clear idea what he actually wants to do after beating them.
Despite the antis' wishes, Kubo still ends up getting rated highly.
He wasn't actually that disappointing >>74
People are just lying and bashing him as usual.
There's no real breakthrough happening
All that fiddling around with the ball just gives the defense time to reset
His dribbling only swaps positions with the defender for a moment, and then he runs straight into a defense that's already reorganized, and nothing happens
He keeps getting stopped by that exact kind of defending.
He's basically a living fossil, still playing the old-school No. 10 style that even Zidane said was already extinct.
He gets played out wide because he lacks pace, but he can never actually break through — it's kind of sad.
He's basically a dead ringer for Honda (Honda Keisuke, former Japan international).
If anything he's more like Kagawa — had a bit of success young and was expected to keep developing, but never grew at all, became washed up, and still kept getting defended anyway.
If you can't actually beat your man, you're not really "good" — that's a very Japanese-player thing.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisokusoku+) thread “[Soccer] Kubo Takefusa starts in season opener but fails to make an impact — Real Sociedad falls 0-1 to Betis.”
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