RocktheCasbah I didn't remember either, so had to check. Our first loss of the season came to Middlesbrough. Aliadiere got the penalty they scored from.
Saka
QuincyAbeyie bloody Aliadiere! Thanks for the reminder, he scored the opening goal for Boro in a 1-1 draw at our place too...
5 days later
“Honestly, I love him. I’d just love it if he was my child,” Luke Shaw said during Euro 2020 — and somehow it didn’t sound weird.
It is weird, but I think I said "If I had a daughter, I'd like him to marry her" the other day so I've got your back this once, Luke.
9 days later
Nice round-up from The Athletic about how Saka is world class, at what stage of his career a gaggle of sports writers figured that out with some good little memories, and about how he's England's favourite son.
Burnwinter wow. What a tribute. Some lovely stories.
some other people on twitter are saying 15 mil per year.
That'd make him the highest earner at the club.
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no issue with the salary being bandied about. it will probably seem like a bargain in a couple of years.
im finally seeing rival supporters accept that the hype is real (apart from the mancs, who are salty that hes better than their wingers and getting picked for england ahead of them). his talent was always more subtle than the typical English wide player. he the feel for space and time between the lines of an attackind mid, but also can morph into one of the most dangerous one-on-one dribbling wingers around. add his physical robustness and workrate, and his skillset puts him well ahead of guys like grealish, rashford and sancho
the salary mentioned includes bonuses. Typical journos trying to inflate stuff.
Anything like £250,000 per week plus performance clauses would be ideal for Saka at this stage, it'd constrain our wage bill if anything.
Quite hard for an incoming star to say he should earn more than Saka, and his influence is clearly beyond that of some in the squad as it stands who would want similar money. Be good too if he could sign this right as he is anointed "world class" by the press.
We've certainly paid worse players more to do less than Saka likely will on these sorts of terms.
Gazza M his talent was always more subtle than the typical English wide player. he the feel for space and time between the lines of an attackind mid, but also can morph into one of the most dangerous one-on-one dribbling wingers around. add his physical robustness and workrate, and his skillset puts him well ahead of guys like grealish, rashford and sancho
This is all true. Plus Saka's highly tactically sophisticated, and along with Ødegaard has been the main player responsible for patiently picking apart packed defences for us all season.
Could become our best since Henry if he were to find one more level over the course of his next contract. And he could be holding up the league trophy in a few weeks at 21. What a player.
Need to offer a competitive salary and when you see what the top wide players in the world are on.
His salary is probably like £200k + bonuses. Hopefully we structure our contracts like that, keep the base as low as can and then heavily incentivise it.
Gazza M great analysis.
Gazza M always ahead of all of them, Sancho at Dortmund the only one who could chat to him
Rashford has the physical tools but his technique isn't up there, also his typical Manc glory hogging attitude prevents him from going anywhere. I like Grealish but he's always been a hype beast, nowhere near the top level
Saka is the most in form RW in the world right now and his game intelligence is high enough that I wouldn't worry if we played him in CM. Levels
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I don't think we've seen anything yet. Once he picks up a bit of that arrogance and calm that you see from the likes of Thierry and Salah in the final third he'll be something else. You can see it coming each passing week.
Don't like the England related hype though.
Gazza M his talent was always more subtle than the typical English wide player.
Exactly. His dribbling isn't particularly flashy most of the time but its still devastating. His close control is unreal as is his balance. You compare him to someone like Grealish who's a good dribbler but he throws his body around more and it leaves him off balance so his final ball isn't as good as Saka. Our starboy never loses control of the situation, never looks like its a lot of effort. He's sublime.
Qwiss His dribbling isn't particularly flashy most of the time but its still devastating.
Yep, totally agree. I think he has dribbling qualities that are similar to Messi, I'm in no way saying his dribbling is as good as him.. but similar to Messi, he has that rare ability to make split second decision on the fly, while taking people on and execute on those decisions... that's why imo he doesn't need a bunch of flashy tricks when he can wrong foot / deceive the opponent so easily... His reading of the opponent is up there with the best... really smart player, excited to see how far he can raise his game.
Saka isn’t going to be earning 300k a week fwiw. I guarantee it. This is just The Mail latching onto the hype surrounding him and making a story.
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Let's do the same for April
Big day for Bukayo tomorrow. The number seven is going to be very much in focus given today was the anniversary of Rocky passing in 2001. Hoping for a Bobby Pires style tribute from Saka.
a month later
Last 6 weeks he’s looked very tired and predictable. Arteta taking him off with 20 mins to go was a message.
Think he shouldn’t start v Newcastle.
Agree, but only thing I'd say is he tore Burn to shreds at the Emirates.
Glad we're at least taking him off.
Reiss should start ahead of him for a game or two. Although he wasn't great in his cameo last night.
Sicario2 - Tier 1 the kid has literally been saying he’s exhausted for the past 2 months. Arteta’s response has been near irresponsible, along the lines of they have to be ready to play every day at this level, as if you can magic think fatigue away. We should have done a much better job with resting him in the earlier parts of the season. Hope it’s a lesson learned for next term.
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He's playing in the CL next season. He will have to adapt to playing twice a week, which is what all the top players do.
Protecting and resting him does not help Saka to play twice a week, it literally stops him from physically adapting to the demand.
Guy is a grown ass millionaire, not a baby boo who needs mollycoddling.
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daredevil Guy is a grown ass millionaire, not a baby boo who needs mollycoddling.
There's plenty of examples out there of footballers who've been overplayed at a younger age and burn out by their late 20s. It's basically what happened with Cesc in 07/08 who carried the team till March and then hit a wall in the title run in. Obviously Saka needs to and is paid to adapt but Arsenal fans should know it comes with a risk.
Look at Man City - Pep rotates his squad through out the season precisely so that they're peaking during the final stretch. Including resting the likes of De Bryune.
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For me it's not about protecting him or giving him a breather for the sake of it. His performances look tired whether it's mental or physical. Taking him out for a game to refocus the mind even wouldn't be a bad thing.
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I think Arteta wants him to feel exhaustion. Not just tiredness. He's playing him like a trainer making you do intervals. Maybe there's some theory that it'll make him more resilient in the long run, when he can be rotated properly without losing form and rhythm. Just wild speculation, but it feels intentional.
Coombs I think its more like the issue Wenger spoke about with Pires. He said he'd intend on a Sunday to rest him next week but as the weekend drew closer he'd start to feel he couldn't leave him out and by the match he'd be back in because he was just too important. And he had Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira, Ljungberg, etc
It's not wild speculation. It's exactly how physical adaptation occurs via progressive overload through a form of periodisation.
Saka has to develop physically to partake and excel in a 50 game season. Not playing obviously doesn't help him develop that physical capacity and robustness.
I'm sure he'd have played less if we had an alternative that was as good as him to warrant rotating like City do. Failing that, he's going to play every game when fit and available.
He is out of form and needs to be pulled. But we're in a title race and starting Nelson is a risk that Arteta understandably doesn't want to take. Especially, as Saka is just as likely to play himself back into form.
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daredevil 'm sure he'd have played less if we had an alternative that was as good as him to warrant rotating like City do. Failing that, he's going to play every game when fit and available.
He is out of form and needs to be pulled. But we're in a title race and starting Nelson is a risk that Arteta understandably doesn't want to take. Especially, as Saka is just as likely to play himself back into form.
I agree with this - Saka has played as many games because we have no other alternative. But that's different from the initial remark that he needs to just grin and bear it because that's what happens at other top clubs.