Saka: Page 29 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Saka

Claudius

USArsenal yeah. It probably doesn’t help that all our attacking players except Trossard were clustered around Odegaard. So would’ve made it easier to concentrate defensive resources as well.

On Saka, we must also give credit to the experienced Wendell who just knew how to guard him.

USArsenal

Claudius
Yeah, to be fair to Wendell, he played a blinder for sure. He knocked Saka off his game as much as he could, and did a great job at it. Even Saka, during the game, just had to smile and get up a couple times because he knew Wendell was defending him so well.

JazzG

Good, get him rested up properly.

Big Willie

JazzG Good, get him rested up properly.

Hopefully we're being smart for once and getting all our players some time back at HQ where we can gear up towards the final stretch instead of wasting time away on friendly international duty.

RocktheCasbah

JazzG

As a precaution against Gareth Southgate?

JazzG

Saka came in, handed out some of his Nandos sauce and dipped.

Claudius

If Southgate doesn’t already know that he will start Saka every game this summer, then he’s thicker than he looks. This is a good move for both Arteta and Southgate.

Coombs

I wouldn't be surprised if this is for an Achilles issue that he's been carrying all season, maybe even longer. Southgate, the prick, shouldn't have even forced him to turn up. Especially for these meaningless garbage games nobody cares about to begin with.

Burnwinter

Coombs I wouldn't be surprised if this is for an Achilles issue that he's been carrying all season, maybe even longer.

Pretty much every time he leaves the pitch before the final whistle it looks like the same issue, again and again. It's a bit painful to observe.

Sicario2

Great player but still a bit to go to be world class as the last two games showed.

Claudius

Sicario2 he was injured yesterday. You can tell when Saka isn’t fully fit. It’s a gigantic drop.

Sicario2

Claudius

Maybe but he wasn’t injured v Porto. Think in general a lot of excuses are made when Saka doesn’t perform well, we are over protective of him which is understandable.

Mirth

Sicario2 probably fair. It’s possible that Saka is carrying an injury and has been over-utilised but at the same time we need him (or frankly anyone in our front three) to carry the same level of threat that a Salah or Vinicius does and he’s not quite there. But - hey - the QF against Bayern is another opportunity to show what he can do because he does have the talent

Claudius

Burnwinter not getting a winger in was a big miss. Obviously we are lucky in that we didn’t complete Mudryk and Neto transfers given the challenges both players are having. But we need another speedy winger to come in and spell Martinelli and Saka. This is more important than a number 9.

Clrnc

I do agree to a certain extent. It does seem way too easy to nullify Saka sometimes. Like how Wendell whos a shakey defender did, then see him get torn apart by Yamal makes you wonder. Is he really struggling with injuries or...

Think there's still part of Saka game to work on to make him less markable

Burnwinter

Claudius Yes ... another option we can use to create width would give terrific variation. A player like that would make life much better for Trossard when he's on the left, as well as allowing Ødegaard and White to mix up their play.

Sicario2

Claudius

Needs to utilise Reiss more. What was the point of given the guy a new contract?

Clrnc

Claudius mudryk is getting better and better. Was excellent for Ukraine and Chelsea lately. Have no doubts Arteta would have made him a world class winger already by now

Panda

Claudius Agree 100%, after missing out on Mudryk and Neto, think we will finally get the winger this summer.

I personally would be happy with Jesus/Havertz/Trossard as our 9 options for another season if we signed a winger to rotate with Martinelli and Saka.

(Plus a DLP and ahem Musiala ahem).

Claudius

Clrnc I think we had to pull back because Mudryk is not a £100m buy. At the earlier prices of £40-60m, definitely interesting. But once that price went stratospheric, not a good use of funds. But he is coming along nicely

Clrnc

Claudius We didn't pull back though. We literally bidded 100m for him but Shakthar chose to sell to Chelsea as they had a higher value up front.

Meatwad

Claudius
what you're trying to act like we didn't go higher than 60m? anything over 40m was overpaying and we more than doubled that. it's a good thing chelsea were dumber, but don't try to pretend like we were the smart ones.

Claudius

Clrnc that’s pulling back. Time value of money. I have to work with clients on deal structuring and timing of payments is a massive issue due to the value of a dollar today versus a dollar tomorrow. Given how unpredictable everything is in football (will you be in champs league or not, will players pan out or not), the value of a dollar tomorrow is worth significantly less than a dollar today. So as a buying club, you are reluctant to pay up front if you can. So that timing of payments in a football context could easily be worth double figures to the seller.

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