Special thanks to Adam Marriott for the awesome click for this article.
International breaks are always boring. When you are in for the title run, it can even turn out to be catastrophic if any of your important players picks up an injury. Odegaard almost picked one because Rodri decided to do some kung-fu stuff on him. Saka played another 90 against Ukraine, when all he needs is some rest. He is strong but I’m fearful we might break him some day. Thomas Partey was part of the Ghana’s playing XI, who went on to beat Angola. They better wrap him in some wool afterwards because we need him more than anything for next 2 months.
Xhaka scored against Belarus, Saka scored a beautiful goal from outside the box and assisted one. Tierney got some game time and played in a three-at-the-back system.
Anyways, lets come back to the important discussion. It’s time to accept that a 21-year old winger is one of the best in the world, because he is not only performing for the club but also for the country. Sometimes, a manager can get out the best of a player by building a system that suits the player and showing a constant belief in him. Saka has that belief from Mikel but when you see him performing for England, under a different manager with a different style of play, and still delivering a 9/10 every time, you must accept that he is brilliant. If you are Chelsea fan, you might think Mudryk is better, if you are a spud, you would believe Richarlison is better, but hey, there are people who believe earth is flat. Accept it and despise of what we got. If it don’t burn, remember that he is a hale-ender and is very happy at Arsenal.
Saka is one of those players whom no one wants to play against. He brings you to his territory and then beat you. If you remember him from couple of seasons back, he was trying to shoot very often but rarely converted. His shots weren’t taking a flight and even if they did, it was easier for the GK to handle it. He was 19, and though he is still a kid, he has improved vastly in his shooting ability. His decision making has improved, he is better in 1v1 and he is scoring goals from outside the box.
One things that bothers me is the doubling down on him by opposition players. He played almost every game for us, has scored 12 (6th overall in this season) and assisted 10 (only behind De Bruyne). He is kicked and fouled and challenged by every opposition, and it’s not good. Being Arsenal, we hardly get any support from the refs which further motivates others to create more fouls. This won’t stop but at least he is built strong and hopefully we get someone in the summer to rest him when needed. We are going to play in the Champions League next season and he would become important twice a week. We can’t risk that, we all have seen Wilshere and history shouldn’t repeat for a 200m+ player.
Apologies for the break, but I’m back. Hope you are having a good one!
there’s no doubt that Saka’s one of the premier emerging stars in world football, but one must be careful to not let his international appearances cloud one’s judgement, as such affairs typically afford him considerably more time and space on the ball than the PL…as we’ve seen in the past, on a myriad of occasions, those who’ve made a name for themselves on the international stage have failed to live up to the hype once they’ve landed on English soil
of course, Saka has proven thus far that he can handle the rigours of the PL, but if he wants to take things to the next logical level he needs to improve in a couple different capacities…firstly, he needs to continue to grow as a facilitator…although his numbers in this regards have already experienced an uptick this season, until he’s proven that he will make you pay dearly if you continue to send double-teams his way, he will be hard-pressed to become a Robben/Salah-like potent scorer…secondly, he needs to become far more clinical in front of goal…in the Ukraine match on the weekend he scored a beauty, but he likewise air-mailed two similar if not better opportunities…now this certainly isn’t the end of the world, except that the chances of him being given his left foot that often, at the top of the box, in the PL is substantially lower, so he must sharpen his boots if he wants to be included in those rarefied air conversations
that said, he does possess two qualities that should help him immeasurably in his pursuit of greatness, above and beyond the obvious, his seemingly genuine disposition and his willingness to be coached-up, as oftentimes a players’ ego can get in the way…onwards and upwards
TRVL – I echo your sentiments regarding Saka; he’s the most likely to go down in Arsenal folklore with other past Gunner legends.
Good piece Ambarish. I read this morning that we are offering Saka £300 per week (£15m annually) so I hope Arteta doesn’t do a Wenger/Wilshere and play Saka too much. I read yesterday that Saka has already played more games than Wilshere had at 26. I accept that medical thinking and sports science have moved on immeasurably since Jack’s time, and Jack did have that unnatural running style that put extra tonnage on his ankles over a period of time. That and Jack always held onto the ball too long leaving himself open to be clattered by troglodytes masquerading as defenders; Shawcross anyone?
Saka already is attracting far too much ugly and often brutal physical attention with little help from the referees. It’s only a matter of time before Saka is out with a serious injury. Granted it happens less these days, but as with Rodri ‘s thuggish tackle on Ode last week, career wrecking tackles still exist.
How does Saka avoid this?
Well, Arteta has to continually make refs aware before games articulately and intelligently. Also, keep the 4th official’s mind on Saka’s treatment during the game.
If anyone deserves a floating role, it’s Saka who can be devastating anywhere across the front line or playing 8 and 10. Partey, Ode or Rice (6?) or White can occupy Saka’s vacated position. I remember vividly the words, but not the defender in question, who said about defending against the Invincibles that we were impossible to mark with all the interchanging of the front line and 8 & 10 behind. The defender went on to say we never knew who to pick up, it was a nightmare every game.
Defenders today are far more athletic than their predecessors of yesterday, but they bar a few elite, are just modern day troglodytes who have the ability to verbally communicate these days, which was a vast improvement on Souness, Vinny Jones, Roy Keane et al. As mentioned Rodri exemplified the modern day thug and I hope he’s in refs’ minds now at the resumption of the PL on the 1st of April.
I’m guessing Saturday football hasn’t fallen on April Fools day often. I can imagine pranks and banter will be in full flow.
My best effort was many years ago with a mate who could win hands down any narcism contest. As I was going to the States on a music trip my mate thrust a 300+ page draft of his life story and asked me to pass it on to anyone who might be interested. Said call him if anyone was and he wanted Bruce Willis to play him as they had the same hair loss and were the same height, which was where the similarities ended.
While in LA a friend of a friend was always mimicking voices Leo Gets from Lethal Weapon, Jack Nicholson and others. I asked him if he could do Bruce Willis. He could brilliantly, so I got him to phone my friend as Bruce telling him how much he loved the draft and couldn’t wait to meet him.
My mate who I didn’t know was just coming round from wisdom teeth surgery and had been convinced he’d been talking to Bruce and that Bruce was going to play him.
He told everyone everyone who would listen in the private hospital and then when he got out he called me and asked me if he should contact the News Of The World or the Sun with the great news. I managed to calm him down and said wait until I got back with more news.
To put this into more perspective my mate once on April fools day sent a removals van and actor bailiffs telling his 35 admin staff the company had gone into liquidation. H e waited for desks to be brought out of the building before where his employees were less than impressed. Not to be outdone a few weeks later my mate was told by his brother 2 very nasty guys were coming from the east of London to meet out punishment for something or other.
20 minutes late my mate’s door to his ivory tower office was slipped open and a powder grenade tossed in by his brother that’s normally used in training. My mate hid under his desk fearing the worst as a hole was blown through his expensive Persian rug causing lights to fall from the ceiling below as well as caking his room in thick dust, so thick you couldn’t breath in there, so my mate burst out of his office to all his staff lined up along the corridor wetting themselves with laughter.
This now gives rise to debunking that you CAN con a conman. 🙂 Or at least a prankster con man.
Sorry I digress but football & April 1sh should give rise to a lot of fun.
Have a good one.
Anyone got any killer prank stories? 🙂
*before rolling up and telling them April fool*