I know ppl didn't like the emotional bits of this arc, but to me it's was really touching and necessary for Ashito's grow.
Ashito has been surrounded by incredibly talented players who seem like they don't need anything in life except football (Kuribayashi, Akutsu) ashito really believed that he needed be just like them in order to become an excellent player, just focus on football, anything else is just useless, that things like family and friends are just an afterthought. And while IRL there's ppl who can do that, make their Passion their only driving motivation in life. There's also the rest of us mortals who need an emotional support built by ppl we love.
I can't call this arc lazy, it has had more than 30+ chapter of buildup just for this conclusion. Of course not everyone will like it XD