What makes Isagi Yoichi such a good striker?

Key things

• Isagi's Metavision gives him an all-powerful view of the field, allowing him to take advantage of opportunities that others cannot see.
• Isagi's spatial awareness, like Messi's, helps him prevent scoring by understanding tactical weaknesses.
• Isagi's state of flow, combined with deft off-the-ball movements and underrated skills, make him almost unstoppable.

Blue lock Isagi Yoichi is a hungry young soccer player who aspires to become the best striker in the world. However, the path to greatness is paved with countless obstacles as he is tested and pushed to prove himself at every turn. But driven by his seemingly impossible dreams, Isagi always finds a way to rise to the top and stay in contention to reach his goal. Becoming the best striker in the world requires a unique skill set that is rarely mastered by a player.

Despite his young age, Isagi has already shown flashes of greatness to show that he has a great future as a striker. In this article, we'll take a look at Isagi Yoichi's skills to understand what makes him such an effective striker.

Isagi's omnipotent field of vision

Legendary footballers such as Cruyff, Zidane, Xavi, Pirlo and Xavi are gifted with an incredibly developed view of the pitch that allows them to analyze all parts of the game to accurately understand the flow of the game. In Blue Lock, this ability is described as Metavision, which gives players a near-omnipotent view of the field and allows them to take advantage of opportunities other players can't even see.

Bastard München's Michael Kaiser has beautifully incorporated this skill into his game to play football that is not only refined but also ruthlessly effective. Kaiser's transcendent vision inspires Isagi to develop his all-powerful field of vision by relying on central and peripheral vision. With skills pushed to the extreme, Yoichi is able to accurately predict the spatial positioning of opponents and thwart scoring opportunities.

If I don't change, I'll still be the same person. I came to change my life. I came here to become the best in the world. Unless I beat someone stronger than me, nothing will change.

Perhaps Metavision's best asset is the use of developed transcendent vision to create scoring chances. Great footballers like Zidane and Cruyff do it beautifully and Isagi is slowly learning it. With the help of Metavision, he even learns to steal the ball from the opposition at key moments, dramatically changing the course of the game and shifting control in favor of his team.

Messi-like spatial awareness

Yoichi's natural gift

Soccer players who sense a goal and turn these premonitions into reality have written down the history of the sport. Perhaps the greatest example is the Argentine forward Lionel Messi, who closely follows the game with an almost supernatural intuition and, thanks to his unique spatial perception, allows him to fully materialize the gaps in the defense. Once these vulnerabilities in the defense are fully understood, he pounces on them to exploit them before the opposition can even begin to understand their tactical oversights.

In a similar way, Isagi's intuition for the flow of the game, opposing teams' strategies and understanding of the players' weapons create visions for potential scoring paths that others cannot foresee. These goal premonitions are heavily dependent on his extraordinary spatial awareness, which takes into account every player and movement on the pitch.

With my eyes and brain I can see the field into the future.

Like Messi, Isagi seamlessly turns these visions into action, exploiting the enemy's tactical weakness to his advantage. Yoichi's premonitions are not only accurate, but they also materialize remarkably quickly. If it weren't for his uncanny spatial awareness, Isagi wouldn't be able to smell a goal, taking away one of his most effective weapons as a striker.

An almost unbeatable flow state

Isagi's greatest weapon

The state of flow, described by Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as the state of optimal experience, is achieved when one is fully absorbed in an activity. The experience can be so powerful that some people even lose track of time and ignore all distractions. As Jinpachi Ego explains this concept to his charges, he describes it as a state of zoning out. Energy focus allows players to use their weapons simultaneously, making it an incredibly difficult task to stop them.

Imagining the game and thinking is too slow. This thought pattern is outdated. Just feel it and move. Believe. Believe in my abilities. All my nerve fibers. All my senses. Pour it all into this moment and react!

In his flow state, Yoichi Isagi uses Metavision to gain an all-powerful view of the field, which then allows him to create a vision of the target. With a hunch as a plan, Isagi uses a combination of different skills such as direct shots, positioning and off-ball movements to turn the vision into reality and score a goal. When overwhelmed by this state of pure focus, it is almost impossible to stop Yoichi as his opposition struggles to read his movements. Because of this, flow state is probably Isagi's greatest weapon.

Incredible Off-the-ball moves

Yoichi's unglamorous recipe for mastering positioning

While ball control and possession is an important part of the game, off-ball movements are rarely appreciated. Some of the most legendary players who have played football and reached the pinnacle of the sport rely heavily on it to read the play and gain a split second advantage over their opponents. Christiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Son Heung-min and Kylian Mbappé are known to position themselves well for scoring opportunities by breaking through defensive lines.

Realizing the importance of off-ball moves, Isagi resurfaces to adapt to the skills in his arsenal by improving on them. He watches how good forwards take advantage of blind spots to get into better positions and create scoring opportunities. Despite not being trained to do so, Yoichi shows incredible adaptability and the ability to learn to evolve by instilling strategic positioning into his game. Off-the-ball movement later becomes one of Isagi's most useful weapons, helping him score many goals.

Underrated field skills

Aside from Metavision, flow state, spatial awareness, and off-ball movement, Isagi Yoichi has several other skills that make him a dangerous opponent. His direct shots don't match the best players in the world, but they are still powerful and accurate enough to score clean sheets, even from unconventional positions. Isagi's technique is almost flawless when it comes to striking the ball, which coupled with his control makes him difficult to defend.

Isagi is also gifted with incredible reflexes. He cleverly used it for both defensive and offensive purposes. Interestingly, some of his most beautiful direct shots were made possible by his exceptional reflexes. Yoichi's positioning is another of his most underrated skills. He has proven time and time again that he knows exactly where to be to maximize his scoring opportunities. An ideal striker, he understands many aspects of the game and combines his various skills to develop an effective and well-balanced attacking style that helps him compete with the best of the best.