Profiling Kaoru Mitoma — A Scouting Report With Video Footage

After Kaoru Mitoma’s world cup and his recent performances at Brighton, he certainly caught my eye. In this piece, I will cover his strengths and weaknesses in the four corners of analysis (Technical, Tactical, Physical and Psychological), alongside his profile and how he is used at Brighton by De Zerbi.

Mitoma As A Dynamic Winger

To me, a dynamic winger is someone who has a heavy focus on beating his man 1v1, with the ability to go inside or out (hence, “dynamic”).

Well, Mitoma’s technical ability is one of his greatest strengths. Mitoma certainly has the technical ability to go inside or outside of his man, resulting in great unpredictability.

Alongside this, he can also work the ball in very tight spaces, making him more of a threat within the box. This can allow him to work his way through an ocean of defenders, reaching the byline and sending in a dangerous cross or taking a shot. This is further supported by his 6.12 touches per 90 in the oppositions penalty box, ranking him within the 88th percentile of all wingers.

Both of these attributes tend him towards a dynamic profile, with the unpredictability allowing him to beat his man 1v1, but his ability within tight and uncomfortable areas also aiding in his press resistance.

Mitoma has the ability to receive the ball on the touchline, whilst releasing it quickly or turning on the ball to evade pressure. This is also important as a winger receiving the ball on the touchline is often a pressing trigger for the opposing team, and so the winger being able to beat this press is important.

Mitoma’s strong technical ability also results in him being a “foul magnet”, consistently drawing fouls due to defenders not being able to read him. This is also aided by his physical attributes, more specifically his pace. His pace results in him beating his man, who then fouls him as a response.

One particular issue he faced against Liverpool was his tendency to dribble into trouble. However, I can safely say that this is not a trend in his game. He is actually a rather reserved player, who is good at retaining the ball and playing safe paces to maintain sustained pressure.

Mitoma As An Inverted Winger

I think it is important before I begin this section that I classify an inverted winger as a player that receives the ball in inverted positions, rather than a player starting on the touchline and cutting inside into the half-space. An inverted winger has a heavy focus on creativity within the half-space (i.e. Neymar).

When I first began watching Mitoma, I must admit I did not think he would be associated with this profile at all. However, after watching more Brighton games, he does often come inside into the left half-space as the LB overlaps.

Mitoma has a strong understanding of combination play, and he often plays lovely one-touch passing combinations not only on the touchline, but also within the half-space.

He often drops deeper to provide an option for the full-back on the left, providing a key option in ball progression.

He can combine and overlap back onto the touchline, but also send a lovely through ball into a player making a run in behind. This aspect of Mitoma is not necessarily common — his creativity is certainly not his biggest strength in comparison to his dribbling.

However, it is definitely worth mentioning as De Zerbi has implemented a fluid system at Brighton and Mitoma being able to come inside to the half-space and link up play can be an important factor in discussing a potential move to a similar system at a big club.

For example, here is a lovely display of his technical ability to play an outside-of-the-boot pass to a free man, creating a goal.

One criticism I have of Mitoma is his ability to connect cleanly with the ball when crossing. Mitoma uses his left foot often when he goes to the byline, but he frequently either overpowers the cross or strikes it poorly, so that it is off-target and weakly bounces toward a centre-back. However, he also has the ability to send in some beautiful low crosses back to a player within the box, and so I think that this is a problem more on the consistency of his deliveries rather than his ability to perform them in the first place.

Mitoma As A Direct Touchline Winger

In my opinion, this is the profile that Mitoma “fits into” the best. The “directness” in this profile comes from the pure intensity demonstrated by the player, in all phases of the game.

Mitoma is incredibly energetic, pressing from the first minute to the last. In the clip below, his press and combination play actually results in his goal later on in the passage of play, just 15 seconds later.

Alongside this, Mitoma has strong defensive responsibilities. He sprints back into his position as a LM in a 4–5–1 / 4–4–2 block, and his ability defensively is great — particularly 1v1.

This is further supported by his impressive defensive stats, provided by FBref:

However, this can sometimes be a weakness for Mitoma. Whilst his intensity certainly has a net benefit, he can sprint into challenges and either overcommit, resulting in the player turning and beating him, or he can just foul the opponent.

Mitoma also has the pace required for direct runs in behind, and is strong in transition. This is incredibly common in his game.

Another criticism I have of Mitoma is that he can sometimes attempt to play too quickly. He can sometimes play one-touch football when it is not required, losing the ball. Ironically, this is the opposite of the criticism I had in regards to the Liverpool game, in which he often held onto the ball too long. As I mentioned, this is a rare occurrence (it was not present in the other games I watched), but Mitoma releasing the ball too quickly is definitely an issue more prevalent in his game. I believe that this also relates to his issue of over-committing to challenges, in which his intensity can backfire. However, I believe that there is a net benefit in this regard, and these are small problems for an overall fantastic player.

Conclusion

As I have mentioned, Mitoma often is a player who presses intensely and has an important role in the mid / low block. He is very strong defensively for a winger and the energy he brings to the side is very important. He has the ability to hold the width on the left in a front five, with the ability to beat his man 1v1, but can also rotate and combine in the half-space. Mitoma is very versatile, which is why although I believe he is primarily a direct winger, there is strong overlap within the other profiles. He is very dynamic in his dribbling, and also shows signs of creativity, especially his ability to combine with his teammates. I also believe it is important to comment on the psychological aspect of Mitoma. Mitoma is incredibly calm and collected at all times, rarely complaining to the ref or to his teammates. He seems to be a player that is very healthy in the dressing room, and I believe that this is very important in regard to dealing with the pressure of moving to a top club. Mitoma has all the ability required to play for a top positional side, and I believe it is only a matter of time until he makes a move.