THE JAPANESE VIEW ON HONDA
"The Japanese media are not being very judgemental as they are afraid of hurting the player's feelings and falling out with his management.
"It is clear, though, that after the very promising debut vs Sassuolo and the Coppa Italia game and goal, Honda is not performing up to expectations, and there is some embarrassment about it.
"The booing against Bologna and Juve was also something the local media here did not linger on much, but nobody blamed Italian supporters for being demanding, especially since other Japanese players have been treated very fairly in Italy.
"I believe his whole experience in Italy so far could be crystallised in the moment he tried to take on Tevez and ended up losing the ball and committing a foul. He needs to improve, Serie A is not the Russian league or the Dutch second division."