Burnwinter This is in some part because Ødegaard's been out injured. Why do I say that? Because Saka and Ødegaard have had the most prolific long-term player relationship in the league in terms of passes exchanged for several seasons now, and because Ødegaard's been, along with the likes of White, and the heavy tactical emphasis Arteta has placed on our XI's right side for many seasons, key to Saka's history of producing the numbers that you've noted have declined.
Agreed and goals/assists support that view. But this speaks to my point about patterns. Of course you’re going to play through Odegaard when he’s available, he’s the creative hub of the team. But when he’s out I can’t say I’ve recognised any successful attempts at tactical changes which aim to keep Saka performing near the same level of productivity. I know it’s not going to be the same, it can’t be, but there weren’t any real tweaks to create Saka more space, to alleviate the burden of being double teamed, to vary our game in a way which means teams can’t just mark Saka as our main danger out of the game.
This year is better in the sense that Gyokeres is creating him more space but we’ve yet to see any real dividend from it in terms of Saka’s productivity.
Burnwinter This year's issues have involved an ongoing changing of the guard all round Saka in the XI. Sounds like a reasonable excuse to me. Why is it not reasonable? That's the "team patterns" issue, or part of it.
That depends on whether you find it reasonable that we need an ongoing changing of the guard 6 years into the project and after 3 consecutive second place league finishes. My view is that whilst the transfer business in terms of volume and profile was impressive in the summer, it’s a result of poor squad planning decisions necessitating a need for that level of change at this point in time and in one go.
But take those around him. Odegaard and his obvious impact on Saka’s game we’ve covered and agree on. Gyokeres should in theory be a boon for Saka. Occupies defenders. Gives him someone to play off. But they look like strangers at times; Saka putting balls across the front of the box with Gyokeres nowhere near whilst waiting on crosses like the ones that led to Wolves own goal winner or any number that Merino has converted. I’m not clear on what the interplay is supposed to look like with Saka and Gyokeres and it looks like the don’t either.
Timber is a fantastic player and no doubt a better all rounder than White. You touched on how important White is to Saka’s game. He’s not the same player without the support of White as he just doesn’t have that understanding with Timber. Timber is Arteta’s preferred choice, clearly valuing the defensive balance he brings over the more defined attacking partnership with White that lets Saka thrive going forward. An absolutely valid choice, but not one which is consistently getting the best out of Saka.
Burnwinter I don't think that's cut and dried either. For what it's worth, my preferred speculative history would've been that Madueke started the match in place of Saka, and scored a brace before half-time.
Your actual speculative history was presented as a factual account of the game - it evidently wouldn’t have made a difference - you said.
I agree with most of what you say past that point. I don’t disagree with your characterisation of Arteta’s dilemma and I’m not ignorant to the challenge he faces. I feel the difference between us is summed up in my (genuine) question to your initial post about not blaming Arteta for not having figured it out by now. I think he’s had ample time to figure out how to use his squad better and extract the most we can from Saka, you don’t.
I’m comfortable with my view and I’m comfortable with yours being different. I asked a question of when you think would be an appropriate length of time to have figured these issues out, especially considering many going into this season were of the view it might be Arteta’s last stand given the outcome of recent seasons and level of backing he’s had. I also don’t think you need to have an answer of how to fix things to be of the view that it’s not great Arteta still hasn’t figured out the dilemma of overplaying Saka.
