have to disagree. Certainly playing in 4-3-3 won't help him and in that situation yeah, I could see players like Okazaki, Muto, etc. being better options. Still one of the few who can score consistently in the team :/
It's not about tactics or scoring, he's just not very good anymore. Incredibly slow, not really decisive. I hope he can keep scoring for Milan because other than that ... damn. Really poor. He had absolutely 0 moment yesterday.
Disagree that his position doesn't influence, he was still one of the best players at the World Cup in the end. He is exactly decisive when he scores, and the best FK taker in the team too. He did nothing against Brazil, but he played one half when the team was pretty bad, apart from Muto and a chance for Kakitani not much happened.
Well we were already disagreeing at the time, I thought he was slow and ordinary at the World Cup. Not to mention he scores a free kick every blue moon nowadays. He's gonna keep his position in the team thanks to his aura and a goal once in a while but ... it's really bad.
If he's "really bad" what about the others? They must probably retire immediately cuz they score less than the really bad guy, they lose physical challenges more than the really bad guy and can't even score by fk/pk more then the really bad guy. Thanks to the heaven we have Honda that deserves more then a negative review after two meaningless friendlies (exactly meaningless like the positive ones before the WC).
Honda's been slow at decision making and at the feet, no killer passes, no vision, can hardly beat a defender one on one. He's really not good anymore.
Not only does he physically look diff but his illness definitely curbed his ability to fulfill his potential post South Africa. It's just too bad for honda.
On the other hand, he's been on fire for AC Milan recently. The position he's being asked to play for Japan doesn't suit him, unfortunately his position of CAM no longer exists in this formation. Perhaps a move to CM would work? His main qualities nowadays are that he holds the ball up well in congestion and rarely loses it. Also good for a goal quite regularly.