Saka: Page 68 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One more in the Tolly

Saka

Gurgen

Meatwad sing it to the guy who played him in every game for 3 years straight

Qwiss

MistaT Is there any physical/conditioning reason to be playing him a full 90 mins?

Nope. Dowman and Eze were both on the bench too who could have come on. Watch him start again against Lille too. People will shit on Saka these days but Arteta knows he's our only top attacking player and thats why he will play him into the ground.

awooga83

He's our best player in terms of likelihood to make something happen but it's such a low bar as we have a dreadful attack for a team at the top end of the Prem. His finishing right now has really been poor and a lot of the deficiencies we've seen in our attack I think we were happy to tolerate because it looked like he was going to kick on with contributions.

So far he hasn't been able to maintain that trajectory and he's a good player but not a top quality player on his past few seasons and absolutely dipped from the level of a few seasons ago.

Dom

Saka should not be an automatic starter next season if we get our recruitment right in the summer (which would be buying two wingers at a minimum). In the last couple of seasons his dribbling statistics must make depressing reading because he can't seem to outpace any PL fullback.

The hamstring tear has permanently altered what he's capable of, athletically, on the football pitch. We saw it with Robert Pires - he had to adapt his game after his ACL injury and couldn't reach the heights of 2002. I'd like to see Saka release the ball quicker and become wilier in the box. The cross from Madueke was a great example of the type of chance he needs to be more alert to.

Qwiss

Dom Saka should not be an automatic starter next season if we get our recruitment right in the summer

We'd need to replace the entire front line to get to this point and a few others.

Saka had the most g/a in the team last year, he's already on 3 goals in 6 this season. Saka is far from needing to be replaced.

lorddulaarsenal

To me he looks to be improving physically. Slowly but surely. I think he’s evolving. It’s natural to lose some of that youthful burst he had.

USArsenal

lorddulaarsenal It’s natural to lose some of that youthful burst he had.

Dude, he's 25, not 30. This should be his prime years. Look at the difference between him and Kvara, who looks like he can go past people for fun, and they're the same age. Granted, Saka was played into the ground, but still.

Burnwinter

I agree, I think he's figuring out his new limits. I think we'll see him return to productivity if we protect him and the referees don't abandon him.

JazzG

USArsenal Injuries and being overplayed.

I do think he’ll get better as the season goes on, I think physically he will improve as the season goes on and hopefully get his burst back

Dom

Qwiss

FWIW, I'm not advocating selling Saka. He oozes class as a footballer.

But post-injury Saka continuing to be one of our more productive attackers is a sign of the lack of quality we have up front. For the last three seasons he's roughly matching Cody Gakpo's goalscoring output in the league (who most agree isn't a particularly special player), but lagging behind other wingers like Semenyo and Mbuemo.

est

I'm worried that his best is already behind him. An early bloomer that fell victim to overplaying, injuries and the resulting lack of confidence and or drop in motivation. Similar story to Jack Wilshere.

I really hope I'm wrong.

Irishgunner

We should consider playing saka in behind the striker - physically he just can’t hack it out wide

Meatwad

Irishgunner
reece james had the same surgery done by the same surgeon and it took him a while to get back to a top physical level and even still they had to move him centrally because he can't hack it out wide physically anymore.

Ray

With Saka you always got a consistent performance, not amazing but not bad either. Now he fluctuates between great moments but some terrible ones too. He needs to get back to ensuring he is doing the basics right. Physically he has changed, may not be suited to the wing which requires intense physical strain.

Meatwad

damn. professional pride has to kick in at some point. people who name themselves after losers are out there talking shit.

Claudius

As with most things, will give it a few weeks to settle.
This so includes where Madueke, Eze, and Gyokeres are

Gazza M

he's in the 2025 odegaard zone, which sucks for us. I think he can still play a hell of alot better than he is right now

Claudius

Gazza M he isn’t. He’s been 2nd in the league in getting shots off, after Haaland. Which is basically the most important stat for a forward after actual goals

Tam

Claudius The second most important stat for players in Saka's position after goals would be assists, and he's not registered even one this year.

Claudius

Tam I don't really count assists as one of the most important stats for several reasons.
1) they depend on finishing ability.
2) they ignore creativity earlier in the move. I could send a defense splitting pass to put a player through on goal and he wastes it (like Saka did Gyokeres' pass). Or I could do a simple layoff and a guy scores or provide the last pass to someone who does all the work and scores.

So they are volatile and flatten creativity. Bruno holds the Premier League assist record. That's all you need to know the measure is faulty. Rather look at all the advanced creativity metrics.

QuincyAbeyie

Claudius goals depend on creative ability as well.

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