Saka: Page 26 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Saka

Qwiss

Sicario2 the team Cesc won the FA cup with had Vieira, Bergkamp, Pires, Henry, Ljungberg, Campbell, Cole, etc How can you say Saka isn't world class but we currently have a better team? Saka is our best player. If he's not world class no one on our team is.

Sicario2

Qwiss
Talking 2005/2006 onwards

You saying 2005/2006 that was hovering around 5th-8th most of the season is better than our current title challenging team of 2023/2024?

Qwiss

Sicario2 England also have an unreal team mate with some ‘once in a generation’ players.

Yeah and Saka and Bellingham are the shining lights and the best of those "once in a generation" players.

Qwiss

Sicario2 if you are talking 2006 onwards he won nothing for us. You are contradicting yourself left, right and centre here. Its getting boring.

Coombs

Sicario is horribly wrong about almost everything. You can't win an argument against someone with that kind of experience. He's WC.

Sicario2

Coombs
Like how wrong you were about Jorginho?

Coombs

Sicario2 just like that

RocktheCasbah

I mean, I have to say where Cesc is concerned, despite being down to ten men for 75 minutes of the CL final, we really lost control of that game when he was substituted. It was a phenomenal performance from him at the age of 18 to boss it the way he did.

I agree with Sicario that he probably was world class by 22, Barcelona certainly seemed to think so (until they signed him), but the criteria for excluding Saka from this category seems... well, a bit arbitrary.

I think we can all agree that we're glad to have him, right?

The great thing about Saka, I think, is he looked incredible in a shit team and still looks incredible in our much, much better side now. As well as being integral to the national team.

QuincyAbeyie

RocktheCasbah nobody's trying to talk down Cesc. It's just another example of Sicario's "not using trophies to measure WC would be too subjective" hitting him in the face, because Fabregas didn't have any more trophies than Saka does.

Qwiss

RocktheCasbah I agree with Sicario that he probably was world class by 22

Nobody made the argument Cesc wasn't world class by 22. He was, but so is Saka. There is just a weird double standard from Sicario when comparing them.

RocktheCasbah

Just occurred to me, Bukayo and Cesc have actually travelled opposite journeys in terms of the quality of players they played, or are playing, with at Arsenal. The team got worse around Cesc, whilst it has improved beyond measure around Saka.

RocktheCasbah

QuincyAbeyie I didn't think anyone was doing that, I was just thinking about the CL final really and how freakishly impressive that performance was. 😊

Sicario2

QuincyAbeyie

Missed Euro 2008?

Anyway I think we are downplaying Cesc in general. His career is second to none. Went to Chelsea and won titles whilst being instrumental. If Saka can have a similar trajectory that would b great.

Coombs

Sicario2 wait, we now want Saka to leave and win titles with Chelsea just so you can anoint him "world class", a term that is literally, figuratively, and practically useless to everyone but internet trolls like Rio Ferdinand?

Daz

Sicario2 Anyway I think we are downplaying Cesc in general. His career is second to none.

Second to none? You sure about that mate?

Sicario2

Coombs

Don’t be a wally. I meant with us of course.

RocktheCasbah

Qwiss as the rest of my sentence said... ☺️👍

Mirth

Sicario2 The age cut off is another arbitrary bad faith argument. What did Modric achieve by 22? Despite that he's gone on to have a better career than Fabregas or Rooney.

You've seen enough football to know this, your just doubling down on an outlandish statement on the Porto game. Of course Saka needs to step up in the Porto game and it'll be a black mark if he doesn't but it's not solely deterministic of his future potential or current ability. Maybe if he fails to perform consistently in knock out tournaments then you'd have a point.

flobaba

I'm sorry, I know we are not supposed to be so dismissive on here but this is such a daft "debate" to me.

Anyway, I very much agree with Arseblog's take on this a few days ago:
https://arseblog.com/2024/02/bukayo-saka-float-like-a-butterfly-sting-like-a-bee/

banduan

that's well put

Firstly, there is very little about his game that is neon. He collects the ball, drives at opponents and makes angles for shots, crosses and passes, all of which he executes incredibly well but without fanfare. Few of his goals are absolutely spectacular. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of great strikes in his catalogue but few genuine Goal of the Month contenders.

Countering this part is how I describe how good Saka is to anyone asking. He's not a 10/10 in any metric, but he's a 9/10 in literally everything. He can do everything well. He has the brawn and the brains. He has the power and the guile. He has great technique and good pace. He can attack and defend. The one "weakness" people mention, his finishing, is really only a case of it not being 10/10. The moment that reaches Salah levels, Saka would not only be world class, he'd be a Ballon d'Or contender.

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