Tourbillion
Angry & Miserable
I think he said the best ones look at the ball all the way as they receive it (first touch), but when they take the defender on they focus on the centre of the defender's body... Or something.This extends to pretty much every position tbh, and it’s not so much about eye contact as it is about spatial awareness. You need to understand where you are in relation to others to do anything effectively, shoot, pass, take a touch, defend.
Watch any top level midfielder in the world, and see how many times they turn their heads to scan while moving on the pitch over a minute. They’re constantly checking where everything is around them. This makes you both more likely to receive the ball, and more likely to do something useful with it when you do.
Mitoma (who’s popular on this forum) - studied dribbling in uni (lol) - and found that the most successful dribblers were the ones that didn’t have to look at the ball when receiving it, or something to that effect. This is because they knew where the defender was as they were receiving the ball, not after they had received it.