Really excited about this signing. Hopefully not another player wasted under the helm of Allegri.

Keisuke Honda assures he is not affected by criticism, but is progressing at Milan despite “different philosophies” with Clarence Seedorf.

The Japan international spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport in a wide-ranging interview on his Serie A experience since arriving from CSKA Moscow on a free transfer in January.

“Criticism doesn’t please me, of course, but you are all free to write what you want. I feel that soon my first Serie A goal will arrive and it is going to be an important moment.

“I am very determined. I came here in order to become a champion with Milan. It’s a long road, but there is a great project here and the Japanese are patient people.”

Honda has been dropped occasionally by Coach Seedorf, who said he still needs to get to grips with his tactics.

“I often speak to Seedorf, as his English is excellent, so it is easy to understand each other. Above all at the beginning I didn’t understand a lot of things, so I went to his room to get into more detail.

“At the start I didn’t feel at ease on the right, but Kaka is already in the centre and he’s playing well, so I need to find my space.

“Things are going a little better compared to the first few games. Of course the centre is my home, as I love to play behind the striker, but Seedorf said I have the qualities to play on the right and players do need to adapt at times.

“We have different philosophies, but the important thing is to have a dialogue. We talk every day.”

Honda brushed off suggestions he felt there wasn’t enough enthusiasm from the fans around his arrival.

“I wasn’t the Number One in Japan or Moscow either. Football is a team sport. I like pressure and big expectations. That is my personality.

“I didn’t expect the fans to have patience: I chose the Number 10 jersey and was given a big presentation. I know people expect a lot from me, but I have faith in myself and criticism never gets me down.

“I cannot judge the atmosphere at San Siro, but I hope that if we play better then more people will come. Playing beautiful football and calling the fans to the stadium are among my ambitions.

“As for the results, none of us are satisfied, but we are working to improve constantly. I knew that I’d run into difficulties at Milan, but I chose this club because I had always dreamed of being here.”

He came on a free, and brings in dough from a market we didn't have. He'd still be worth keeping if he sucked (he doesn't).

Word. As long as he's good enough, he's worth keeping for that special Far East touch that he brings. I wanted us to sign this guy since, what 2007 round abouts, because I was aware what he meant for marketing. For the time being I am yet to be totally impressed, but he's carried himself rather well.

I can only imagine how hard it muse be for Honda to communicate with the other players on the pitch. Unless he's got some super secret Italian language skills that we are unaware of.

Well he speaks great English from what I can tell and I do think that most of the non-Italian players in the team plus Balo do speak English as well

Well he speaks great English from what I can tell and I do think that most of the non-Italian players in the team plus Balo do speak English as well

I admit I was off-the-mark with this guy. When we signed him I thought he could really offer that much needed quality, passing and vision we lacked, but I've seen enough of him to say that he offers nothing of the such. His passing and field of vision are very limited. He can pull the simple pass or the obvious long ball, but in terms of creativity he's very, very average.

He totally reminds me of Montolivo. I thought Monto would become the brains of our midfield, but the guy is just an average CM more suited for dirty work than organizing play and making the smart pass. I suppose that's what you get from players you paid nothing for.

Do you play FIFA on 'amateur'?

Semi pro. I gave Professional a shot but got destroyed by Porto in my mock-Champions League

I thought that was the case when you said that about Honda, I can't stand him in FIFA! So slow and bulky!

So far I'm up to World Class, haven't tried legendary

Btw, I think you guys are jumping the gun, as usual with this one, so first we all dismiss him, then he's the second coming after a couple of good games, now he's sh!t again.

The problem is that he's stuck on his wing, and there's not much he can do in terms of vision and passing when he's stuck wide and his only options are usually to pass back to Abate or cross himself.

I personally feel like he's been trying to make the best out of a bad situation through sheer hard work, but Serie A sides figure these types of players out easily, all you have to do is close him down quickly and he's out of the game on that right side, same thing with SES on the opposite side.

I'll reserve my judgment about his skill set until we see him in a position where he can utilise them, a position where he's being properly used.

Btw, I think you guys are jumping the gun, as usual with this one, so first we all dismiss him, then he's the second coming after a couple of good games, now he's sh!t again.

The problem is that he's stuck on his wing, and there's not much he can do in terms of vision and passing when he's stuck wide and his only options are usually to pass back to Abate or cross himself.

I thought that was the case when you said that about Honda, I can't stand him in FIFA! So slow and bulky!

So far I'm up to World Class, haven't tried legendary

PS forgot to ask this: YOU PLAY FIFA?!

You've literally never been in the video games thread ever.

Off Topic is forbidden grounds for Han.

No, no, no, no. Where he plays has got nothing to do with his passing and vision. I've seen him plenty of times in the centre during a game when other players were free, but he didn't have neither the intelligence nor capability to spot them and make the clever pass. He's very limited in that regard. He's a creator, but very average, like Montolivo. And the fact that they're our two most gifted midfielders says A LOT about how far we've fallen from the Pirlo and Seedorf days.

One match? Really?

Well, he isn't completely useless with us on the right as well. I really don't know, did he play ACM in Holland as well or was a winger back there?

Anyhow, I trust Clarence and his choices. He does understand how a midfield works and surely wouldn't play him out of his soft spot.

Honda: "I expect that it will be a difficult game vs. Roma. I want to play better than I did vs. Napoli, so I need to train well this week."

source: milanello/twitter

Not really watching this Asia Cup, but from the posts Honda gets, he's playing terrible, yes?