Real Madrid: Analyzing Takefusa Kubo’s Performances vs Athletic Bilbao, Alaves

Not this again, Kubo. If you want to actually play for Real Madrid, you cannot play like this. You will need to improve by a mile to play for a top club. Let me reiterate: It’s not the talent, it’s the intent and the effort.

In these last two games, we witnessed Takefusa Kubo having the same problems playing for Getafe that he had when he played for Villarreal: a lack of involvement. In one game, it wasn’t really on him, although he could’ve tried a little harder to enforce himself into the scene. The second one was a snoozefest, and he wasn’t involved even though Getafe had the majority of the ball. Let’s break this down even further.

In the first game against Bilbao, Kubo started off really well: He was involved literally in the first minute, when Getafe took the ball to the attacking third, lost it, and Kubo won it back in a very dangerous area, which led to the goal. It was very quick and very good positioning from Kubo. It was one of the quickest goals in La Liga this season and seeing that made people wonder if Getafe might actually pull it off if they keep their composure.

Of course, that didn’t happen. It was actually the opposite. They were humiliated 5-1 by a ruthless Athletic Bilbao. After the first minute, Kubo didn’t really have a major contribution to the game. It was all just so, so bad but it wasn’t really Kubo’s fault. Bilbao were dominant from the second minute till the 90th. They had the majority of the ball. They had the majority of chances. They had the most goals, by far.

Real Madrid loanee Takefusa Kubo can be better than this

Kubo wasn’t to blame. Well, he did lose the ball a few times; he was defended very well by Bilbao’s defense and he wasn’t very effective with the ball. But no, he’s not to blame for the loss. He got the ball usually on the flanks, but sometimes his touch was too sloppy, or, the defense did a good job on him. It was a forgettable game, no two ways about it.

As for the statistics, He had 37 touches, but it didn’t really seem so. It’s because he didn’t do much with those touches. He had just one shot-creating action. He had one key pass, completed four out of his six dribbles. It was just a bad game in general.

In the second game, however, he was to blame for not performing well. Getafe had the majority of the ball, and they were the clear favorites. Kubo had a bad game overall. It was very similar to the majority of his starts in a Villarreal shirt earlier this season; almost invisible, not contributing anything to the game, stuff like that. And that’s what annoys me the most about Kubo. He can do better. He can be one of the best players on the team. He just doesn’t do it very often. I’ve seen so many players doing that, and it just annoys me so much.

He had 33 touches, one shot-creating action, one pass into the attacking third, four dribbles completed out of six. That’s it. Very similar to the game against Bilbao, but worse. Blander.

He needs to do a lot better, which is something I say after the majority of these articles. He can, he has the potential, but he doesn’t. If he seriously wants to play for a team like Real Madrid, he needs to change that. There’s no place for so much inconsistency at Real Madrid, no matter how talented you may be.