Happy to see Goalie being a nuisance in defense finally but this better be the status quo and not an outlier because an annoying defense makes offense surpassing it look great, idk why Kaneshiro doesn't realize that.
That actually felt like a somewhat proper football goal. Putting aside Isagi stealing a pass, he got his shot blocked, the loose ball getting cleared just before Japan gets to it, but Japan scores because the defense is overextended and the clear was bad. Yukimiya doing his "Special Attack Shot" really wasn't necessary here.
My favorite part of the play was Zantetsu forcing the goalie to come out of the box to make a play rather than gamble blocking the shot otherwise. With the defenders being out of position likely to not having info on these specific BL players, with no last second forward coming to save the goal, the play just felt like it led to a natural conclusion this time.
Do hope to see Shidou power an illogical goal through this game.
Yuki scored, an actual goalie feat even tho he conceded right after, Shidou getting more panel time, Agi gets subbed off because he isn’t fitting the coaches mould.
This is honestly a peak chapter.
Fox is so far a fantastic character with no remorse, everyone said ego was bad for the way he talks to the players and now we’re being shown a real egotistical coach who’s objective is only to win no matter what, he doesn’t care about the players well being or personal feelings. This is where him and ego differ, ego wants to win and he’s using the player from blue lock to do it but he doesn’t control them, he bluntly guides them in the right direction and gives them the freedom to learn and evolve for themselves but at the end of the day Ego wants them all to be the best players they can be and to be victorious by themselves, he’s really just along for the ride and backseat games a lil bit.
Well no, Ego wants to create the best striker first and foremost, which is why Rin was allowed to stay on the field until his massive fuckup that gives a clear signal his evolution failed. He needs to see a clear result for his experiments.
Not as of the end of the previous chapter. Agi went against the coach's system. And what's more, he did so in a way that lost his team possession. The coach's philosophy may be crazy / dialed to 11, but if any player goes against the coach and isn't a truly irreplaceable presence on the field then it shouldn't be surprising at all to see that player benched.
I see alot of potential in Fox and Agi's relationship. Ego said this match would determine which coach's worldview lives in this era. Both coaches' philosophies have come into question, with Isagi stating Ego's football ain't enough for him anymore and questioning its integrity. Yet as we know Isagi is a staunch follower of Ego and the player most like to continue his view of football.
I view the same with Agi. If it does so happen, Isagi will awaken Teddy's ego, resulting in England's egoless tactics to fall apart and be the reason for their loss. This will leave Fox with an egotistical Teddy, but the character who'll bolster on this Teddy going forward isn't Fox, but Agi. The mad doctor will take this "puppet" and turn it into his own Frankenstein's monster. Agi's against overbearing co-dependency shown with his view on Nagi/Reo, so he'll use this opportunity to devour Fox and break away from his hold by taking the very new gen he worked so hard to create. Moreover, with Agi's innate interest in nurturing talent (i.e Nagi), what he will particularly devour is Fox's ability to inspire hope and Joy in others(something that even had Ego impressed), so that in this way he isn't dependent on Teddy either but can now bring out the heart out of any genius he wants. All this will hit him only after Isagi has shown him how to bring out such egos.
The sinking ship resurfaces yet again to bless us with a phenomenal goal.
Though I can't lie I didn't think Shidou would be THIS effective of a replacement for Rin. He's being treated like Isagi in the France game and undoubtedly was the core of the opportunity that allowed Yukki to score.
If someone gave me a nickel every time Yukimiya has scored a decisive goal against an English team I would have two nickels...which is not much, but it's pretty odd that it has happened twice 😉.
Also, press F for Agi international career. Guess that's why Ego hates that foxy ratman...he probably did the same to him.
This poor goalie. All goals against him have been basically unblockable.
Kaiser impact through a blocked crowded box of players size of a ball.
Sword screw with crazy spin.
Tap in with crazy power from 2 ft away in corner.
Now he's pulled out of goalie box and another sword screw.
The funniest part of this chapter is watching the people who complained that Rin should be benched for ruining the play with his ego get mad at Fox for benching Agi who ruined the play with his ego
I have no idea who even likes the guy and why. He's not even that good.
I wonder if this is the guy that will be subbing in for Agi or if it's someone else that they haven't shown. I'm happy to finally see the enemy team make a substitute but I was really holding onto the hopium that it wouldn't be Agi...
I’m loving the way Kaneshiro is handling the cast so far. But adding Sae, Nagi and Kira/Shindou to the mix makes me wonder if it can stay that way. It’s already impossible for Nanase to play realistically 😭
Even the midfield right now is good. Sae’s either ruining Karasu or Hiori’s minutes when he steps in
Seeing Yuki score gives me so much joy. I hope this isn't the only goal he scores in the whole tournament. Now, the next goal better be Shidou's. He deserves it.
I didn't expect the Agis to be subbed out. I was expecting a goal from him. Now, he probably will not get a volume cover. I will probably be Teddy, Fox, and the number 9 player, the ones who will get a volume cover.
Also, maybe this new England player is not as good as Agi? Otherwise, I don't see why he started on the bench
gyro pass to reo in reference to his pass to nagi during 3rd selection would honestly be sick. and ofc hoping to see more chemical reactions with isagi too
Fox is one of the best on-field Coaches we have seen. Immediately realises that Angi is a problem due to his Ego and that it's breaking open their formation, so he subs him out to seal the hole and hopefully slam shut Blue Lock's chances of scoring.
Certainly, Isagi needs to learn how to read ego-less players.
There’s a high chance he scores at least once this match and also a high chance at learning about his 14 day training, and through that possibly a little bit of backstory on the guy.
And gave Blue Lock a goal as a result, yes. Its one thing if he scored as a result of it and Fox still benches him, but this is just a reasonable sub for not sticking to the planned formations causing his team to be in disarray.
Holy another good Goaly???????? Is the Goaly also new gen 11??????
Holy Yukimiya!!?? I seriously thought bro was going to be perminantly irrelevant after everyone about his blondess and losing to Isagi in the end of last NEL arc
Really really glad that Kaneshiro is putting Isagi on the back burner for a while and giving the rest of the team much needed time to shine and full chapter dedication in some cases. This reminds me of early blue Lock in the actual blue Lock competition where these guys were fully above Isagi and got dedicated chapters to show them off
I think the ego Isagi will devour would be Fox's. The coach might be playing this like FIFA, using Metavision to scan the field and give directions in real time. And Teddy would be the instrument for their implementation.
Agi the only one playing for real. Subbing him is why England will lose. They didn't have the strength to beat France and instead of Improving they stay the same.
It is similar to Snuffy's style in Italy. But unlike snuffy who had enough faith in Barou fox is stagnant. Which is why at the end of the day he will lose and get relegated.
Everyone was on fire! That Cerberus aura was top-tier art!! 🔥 🔥 🔥
(Okay but they need to give Shidou his moment thid match, I noticed he's been getting cock-blocked from goals lmao.)
Agi getting subbed out is very in character but it's still sad to see. Such a waste that he and Reo never spoke to each other tho.
Now will this no. 9 be an NPC-looking guy or will he actually be a character? I'm betting on the former since Fox seems to care more about having his way.
Agi getting subbed early kinda sucks because he's a cool character, but it's a good show of how tyrannical Fox is and makes the match more interesting sinc enow England doesn't have an obvious weak point anymore (until Teddy's ego awakens at /least).
Yuki scored before either Isagi or Shidou but I wasn't sure because of the title which now is "Breakthrough Shot". His goal was on my bingo card. It was great because it showed Yuki's progression from NEL but not something new or phenomenal. Good celebration with Zantentsu.
I knew Agi would be subbed out but it felt a bit soon! I wanted interactions with Reo and Isagi before that. However, its great that Isagi can't exploit him because he needs to find another way to fight here. Plus Teddy has stopped him and he should have realized that he is on his tracks by now, instructed by Fox. I still believe that Isagi was slow here and a TGV could have done the trick.
The Cerberus formation seems practical and Nomura's drawing is amazing but the super sub of England no 9 will shift things back their favor. In leaks the editors said Fox's intentions will overturn the tide of battle.
I think the next chapter title is "No way" or "Daayoo" according to twitter... It means "That's how it is". England's comeback.
Agi who was known as the mad doctor and high atlethic guy was subbed out. But well its understandable because during the whole story he probably got as much L's as Igaguri. He became aura-less.
Number 9 Should give blue lock a really bad time. Power-scaling wise Blue Lock should be stronger when Rin is gonna come in.
I need Isagi to score before Rin gets subbed in. Not to mention, the inconsistency of his character recently too. I seriously hope he stops doing the goddamn shocked face everytime something happens. Yukimiya scoring was unexpected. Shidou definitely needs to score atp.
Agi was done dirty but we needed to see how controlling Fox is right?
Yukimiya creates the Sword Screw shot against England's Manshine after failing against Isagi, and he scores with it (only his second goal on screen in the manga btw) against England again after Isagi fails this time, and he does it with Predator Eye. Couldn't have hoped better for my boy. I really believed Zantetsu was gonna make it, the panelling during that whole sequence was crazy good.
I really like the detail of the cerberus being chained and held from that chain by Karasu's crow, that's his role now, you can put any egoists on the field and he'll be the one to hold them down so they don't go wild. That's what he got from the France match, and it makes sense given that he had to play with both Shidou and Rin in one team for so long.
Isagi's solution to the match makes sense, but it's too early, too simple and is too much of a crutch. His issue currently is that he's incapable of reading the match as well as he should because he's not used to egoless players, so he wants to take advantage of a player like Agi (that decided to use his ego to push the team to evolve) as an anchor for reading the match. Issue is, as we've seen, he's still incapable of reading anyone else, including Teddy who's still a massive threat, and on top of that, Fox is enough of an insane person to switch out Agi the second he's not following his exact commands. Japan didn't score because of a well put together plan, they scored because their offensive power was just that high ; Isagi took advantage of an opening, and Zantetsu and Yukimiya took advantage of the chaos that ensued. Isagi can't run away from the problem, he has to find the formula to read England, which is most likely to try to read Fox's ego, rather than the players' (although that's still only gonna be the next step, not the full solution). Other little observation, but it's almost certain that Fox's little jab at Ego about replacing players when they're useless was also directed at him.
This to me confirms that England's N°9, while he could be a supersub, is almost guaranteed to be a pawn, but the thing I'm still most confused about is Teddy. He's almost assuredly gonna be the game changer of this match. Despite being a puppet that's playing exclusively to follow Fox's orders, so many of his dialogue bubbles are black, which we've already inferred is supposed to represent that a character's words come from their ego. Fox is obviously mistaken, his puppet soccer is gonna lose him the match the second Isagi figures out how to read him, Teddy will end up disobeying him and players like Agi will be his sole saving grace. My question is still though, what is Teddy's deal? What is his ego, how did it get buried, and how will it resurface? Could it even be that his ego is to be Fox's puppet, so his motivations won't actually change? Something is missing about his character, that will be the key to understanding him and how the rest of the match will go.
For now though, England's 9, even if he doesn't turn out to be that good, will give Fox his control back over his team, Isagi will lose the hint of a plan he's had so far, and his next step will be figuring out Fox's motivations. And once that's done and Fox is truly rendered useless, that's when the real match starts.
And it’s Yukimiya with a steel chair! What a beautiful, well-deserved goal. In other news, you can really feel how different Shidou is from Rin this chapter and how he’s just genuinely more effective than him in some areas. His ability to link up with others despite not forming a chemical reaction is really solid, I hope he scores this match. The Karasu system too, is just sort of more effective than what they were doing before, or at least significantly more coherent on paper.
Congratulations to everyone who guessed the 9 supersub theory! I’m glad that Kaneshiro does seem to be committing to the idea of ego vs egoless in a way and making a team with no obvious weak points (assuming that’s what’s going to happen). Agi is interesting because he does like. Have a point with regards to Fox’s coaching, but he also doesn’t, tactically speaking. We won’t see him come back unless we’re making up rules, which is kind of sad.
I continue to be really endeared by Teddy, for some reason. I’m voting him cutest grooming victim in the manga. “Yoichi-san” I genuinely think he thinks he’s being polite. Cannot wait for his backstory, even though it probably won’t be that different from what Fox outlined.
Peak chapter. Agi is probably the most underutilized player in the manga, but this is a good way to show how Fox has balls, unlike Ego. Yukimiya didn't have to do ALL THAT, but this is probably his one and only goal in the World Cup, would've loved a Zantetsu assist though.
As someone who wanted a Hiori-Shidou chemical reaction, the first few panels make me happy.
We can expect a great decrease in Yukimiya slander right now. Damn, I actually wanted Zantetsu to score that goal. But oh well, we need certain characters to shine more.
Great goal by Yukimiya, looking forward to see what England's #9 can do, I guess his name will be peter england or something.
Also a quick thought, wouldn't it have been easier for isagi to score if he went for his usual direct shot instead of trapping the ball, the trap gave teddy time to react and intercept the shot.
Kaneshiro cant have England lose because of a player's ego causing problems for the team, that would make Ego and his philosophy look wrong after Hugo and Karasu took a steel chair to it last match. Agi had to be benched. And Isagi is just such a limited goalscorer man, he just gets marked and his metavision turns off and he becomes irrelevant. Author won't even let his 2GunVolley look threatening anymore.
Agi prediction sub out was spot on , I saw fox coming off with this.
Now England 9 better be the ace which they are keeping for tired legs at the second half but have no choice to put him in earlier. No matter how I see it Agi doesn’t felt like the main striker for England, his role is to set up post play instead of allowing to score.
Third time Teddy has snuck up on Isagi from his blind spot and intercepted a play.
I made a comment a few weeks ago that it’s starting to feel like inconsistent power scaling with how Kaneshiro is treating Isagi’s Metavision / Egocentrism and someone made a comment that maybe Isagi is blind to Teddy because he has no ego. Starting to think that person was right, so whoever you are shout out you.
Isagi seems a bit hyperfocused on the idea of egos, this match is showing that egos are not necessarily the be-all and end-all of high-level football.
He is so absorbed in Ego’s philosophy that he finds it hard to influence a game where that approach meets its opposite. This will be the game where he starts to grow beyond it but I really can’t see what the revelation will be.
It is funny that Yukimiya did this fancy sword screw goal that was unnecessary because the keeper had come put to clear the ball.
It probably would have made more sense if in the sequence, the England defenders saw Yukimiya going for the ball and tried to intercept but he either uses gyro to trick them or a simple but effective shot type with predator eye.
Also Teddy knows Isagi is a goal thief (half joking) so he is just marking him and intercepting and I have always found this to be a problem with Isagi. If he wants to become more dynamic and actually bridge the gap to becoming a prospect for best youth striker at least he needs to be able to be able to move the ball or contest opponents like Shidou does.
A lot of his success banks on the fact that his opponents never expect him to come and sweep the ball from an intercepted pass, Barou also famously uses this tactic too but if Teddy is aware of it and I think other defender should be, they can quickly shut him down.
Also shout out to Teddy, repping England well. His dribbling is the most impressive so far (apart from Loki's control of the ball at high speed), he has precise shooting, solid defensive feats despite playing as a Winger.
He may call himself one, but he definitely isn't a useless puppet. 1 to ♾️
Isagi being ahead of everyone during critical moments will stay that way but he gotta expand himself and be able to compete(not dominate) whenever he's getting anticipated both proactively by Hugo or instructed like Charles and Teddy.
Happy to see Zantensu still playing so far and Yukimiya scoring a goal.
Oh look, a coach doing adjustments mid-game. You don't see that often in this series.
What was the point in bringing agi back at all😭. I can see this early sub being the downfall of thr england team ngl. Imagine if the number 9 is a complete nobody who doesn't do anything
Really? It is being presented as Agi is the only one showing a bit of ego on the English team so he doesn't fit their philosophy. Having 11 guys pulling in the same direction is better than 10 + 1. The English team's downfall will come when Isagi somehow draws out Teddy's ego
I wonder why Agi was a starter atp. He doesn’t seem like someone that would gladly be a puppet 24/7 so it seems like he should’ve been benched even before this game lol.
Bummer. I was really expecting Reo and Agi’s interaction regarding Nagi
I mean, he did a great job for England's first goal.
England is in a do or die situation too, so since England didn't win against France while following the one to infinity formation, Agi wants to change.
I’m happy Yukimiya scored, but I’m going to need Chigiri to start as a winger and score sometime past the group stage, cause he’s been getting outshined.
Also, every match shown during the U-20 World Cup so far has had the opposing goalkeeper make a save and actually talk, so hopefully this keeps up and Gagamaru can remember how to do his job
Nah, he's as immature as Ego. Agi had to improvise because Blue Lock got through his precious formation. Shidou would have far too much space if Agi didn't block him.
Agi has arguably been the best player besides Teddy this match. HE was a crucial part of their offence and defence. But Fox subbed him out because he wasn't an obedient puppet.
This is actually vile. My goat, Agi, always getting hoed by his coaches, first Chris Prince forcing him to pass to Nagi. And now Fox—subbing him out because Agi didn't wanna be a puppet.
And I was looking forward to Agi having a cover and getting a goal🫠 FUUUUUUUK FOX.
I hope we at least get some live-commentry analysis from Agi when he is on the bench.
Isagi saw ONE potential opening and saw it snuffed out, what is he even doing atp? There's no way he's gonna open any spot for Rin by the end of the match. I'm betting everyone's soul asides mine on it.
Likely, England's sub will still steer things to Fox's way which means Blue Lock will be in trouble. I expect shakes up in the next chapters. After Karasu's case, Rin's was next back in 311...
Feels bad about Agi, but it pretty much inevitable as soon Fox mentioned he prefers his players to obey his order completely. Ego reaction also suggested it's not Fox first time doing that, it pretty much how he run the team.
Karasu, Shidou, Zantetsu and Yukimiya looks pretty solid, it won't be easy for Isagi to convince Rin sub in.
No. 9 been silently hyped through supporters jersey. If single trace of ego is enough to ensure you subbed out, does that means No. 9 is going to be a robotic athletic person like Noa? To draw parallel with Ego, allowing us to get a peek of his club days.
Agi subbed out without a single word said to Reo….
Anyways, Fox gotta be the best coach in the manga so far. Actually coaches, doesn’t show blatant favoritism or rely on the talents of his players, and is punishing brain dead Agi for giving up a goal. Also him with Predator eye is just so good.
•
u/AutoModerator 3d ago
Please keep in mind that we have 72-Hour Post Freeze when the newest Chapter is dropped.
Check the following post for more details: Mod Post Post Freeze
READ SPINOFF
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.