He came on after 40 min for the injured Berggreen and scored the equalizer 4 min later (nice goal too).
If injury-free he's one of the best Japanese strikers there is. Should be a shoe-in for the World Cup imho. Get rid of Haraguchi and Kurata, and leave place for this guy and Inui.
Not true. Within that month, Mainz only played 4 matches, and Muto only started 3 of them. 1 was vs Bayern, and the 2 others were tough away-matches vs Leverkusen and Hoffenheim. Sure, maybe he should have scored in one of those matches, but you can't possible fault a player for going 2,5 matches without scoring in one of the toughest leagues in the world. Then you are just being critical for the sake of being critical. And prior to that he scored in 2 matches in a row (3 goals). so already there your argument that it went 4 months between then and his previous goals is shattered. And that is 4 months have absolutely nothing to do with the situation here. As you may know, they have a 1-month winterbreak in Germany so already there 25% of your timeline is vanished. Also, Muto only played 5(!) league matches between his last goal (in end of September) and the winter-break, so again, you are looking at only a handful of matches where he didnt score. So what it is you have against Muto I don't know, but why do you have to throw around meaningless accusations with no credibility? FACT is that Muto have started 44 Bundesliga 1-matches. And he have scored 19 goals. Tell me ANY Japanese striker that even come close to those goalscoring numbers and ratio and I'll shut up. And then I don't mean in a C-level tournament like the Swiss league etc. Shinji Okazaki have played 156 matches in Bundesliga and Premier League combined, and he's scored 52 goals. Or perhaps you are referring to "God" himself Yuya Osako? Who's stunning numbers of 13 goals in 73 matches for a better club than what Muto is playing for is your definition of "reliable"?
Muto is a superb Striker, one of the best in Europe. He scored 22 goals + 9 assists in 65 games. That's geat, even more, when you recognize he was injured over a year of the last 3 years. He is class. Reason why he didnt score some games is the horrible form of Mainz cause the Middlefield has no ideas or creativity at the moment and Muto didnt get much balls.
I wouldn't go that far ,but he's definitely the best Japanese striker in Europe in terms of goalscoring talent. I still think he could benefit from being even more lethal and selfish in front of goal though. And although he got great positioning skills , his shot isn't always the best. Like look at his goal last weekend: I doubt that was what he was trying to do. Ever since Malli left they haven't had anyone to open up the opponent's defences, so it's true that they lack some creativity in midfield. Would love to see Muto play for a team like Schalke or Dortmund instead.
For me every Striker who produces every 1-3 games a scorerpoint is one of the best striker in Europe. Petersen, Füllkrug or Burgstaller are one of the best too. Like Okazaki in Mainz.
Not sure why the coach waited so long to bring him on after they went down 1-0. Definitely brought a spark in his brief cameo; should have been on sooner.
Won a penalty that De Blasis scored. From what I’ve seen of Mainz this season they seem to play better (and get better results) when Muto’s in. He plays with a lot of spirit and he has some skill too.
super play by Muto on the PK https://streamja.com/waM3 And nice assist too. https://streamja.com/OnEO Watching it, I still don't really get why he couldn't have been tried as lone striker in the NT...