flobaba More take ons, more passes, more shots, more duels won, more corners won, more touches, more touches in opponents box, more fouls won, more tackles, more ball recoveries, shall I go on? Not even close.
Sure, but these numbers are substantially because all the play goes through Saka. Martinelli does a frankly deranged and thankless amount of off the ball running, and he's been doing it for years. He's a fit bastard and he's always gassed after 70 minutes.
I'm very far from saying Saka doesn't put in a shift, he works like a demon, but he's got an entirely different role due to his attributes. We constantly drop the ball on his feet way out on the right, then he's licensed to run at any number of defenders, because he can.
But you're not seeing Saka always running to the byline to draw heat away from Martinelli, or to provide a speculative cutback option.
If you compare Saka and Martinelli you'll always strike these contrasts because our "game model" is highly asymmetric.
