Was surprised to see him off at HT. He looked really keen to continue at the end of the first half.
Wonder if he’s planned to start against Wolves, and Madueke gets the Spurs game.
Liked him in the 10 today. Need a big performance from him against Wolves!
Madueke off on the 60th minute suggests that he will be starting the next game. I guess Saka starts as 10 again vs Wolves.
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Over Eze?
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I think I’d start Eze at 10 against Wolves and Saka on the RW. Trossard LW. Madueke and Martinelli on the bench as impact subs.
thought he was very good in the middle today.
I don’t think he’s a natural creator like a traditional CAM, but then again, we don’t really have one and haven’t had one since Ozil.
Madueke is arguably the best 1v1 at the club on that RW and should probably stay there. He’s still very young and could improve if he 2-3x’s his end product (it has already improved massively so far in the last few weeks).
If we could convert Saka into a CAM-pivot with Eze, maybe we can be a lot more free flowing in midfield.
First 2 goals came through Eze centrally… I know it’s only Wigan… but I much prefer central football over predictable horseshoe movements.
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Thing is, can’t say much since it was only against a poor Wigan side. But it was promising to see inter link play and vertical passing between him and Madueke/Eze.
Saka doesn’t have the same burst of pace he use to have during the Emery era; or maybe he does but doesn’t utilise it enough like he use to.
Understandable, he isn’t as lean as he use to be, and injuries haven’t helped him either. I still think he’s our best RW option against transitional teams (CL especially) but against low bloc sides, the advanced central position could be effective.
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Reasonable pun, there. 
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He’s a world class winger. This isn’t the time to experiment.
Good question
Any way, I think Saka still lacks match fitness
Why the hell are we thinking about converting (arguably) our best player into a new role?!!
I think we should do it when City turn Rodri into a support striker or Haaland as a DM. Im sure that both would have looked fantastic against Salford in those roles. Saka is our best winger.
The reason I’d do it is to get him and Noni into the team together. It’s not like our other players are firing in that position either and i think it gives them an opportunity to interchange too in a way that wouldn’t happen if you just stuck one of them of the left instead.
If Saka is fit enough try it against Wolves and go from there. We should have enough to win this one no matter what.
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Yeah I agree. Got a feeling Noni and Saka have a bit of chemistry going on too. We need chemistry, especially upfront. We’re really lacking in partnerships up there.
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I don’t disagree that Wolves should be a team we can experiment with a little but the idea of moving Saka to accommodate Madueke seems a bit wild. My counter would be Saka should destroy Wolves from the right. Madueke can play on the left if he has to play.
I wonder if Jesus and Gyokeres is a possibility as we saw moments of it in the game.
It’s a big brain move from Mikel and I see the thinking behind it. If Saka had been in red hot form this season on RW, then I would probably feel adverse to this, but he hasn’t been.
Saka is multifaceted as a player and can play these roles to a really high level. If we miss Ødegaard through injury, then rotating Saka in (the hole - Mick McCarthy.gif) and schmooze Madueke’s form a bit more, then this might ignite something for our attack.
@Truth_hurts you moan about our attack being dead and then squeal when Arteta wants to make a change that might produce a positive outcome. What gives?
Do you think that our attack has been fantastic? To call our attack misfiring seems reasonable, or do you not agree. I think moving our only world class forward out of position would be an odd move.
I have been very high on Havertz playing behind Gyokeres, so suggesting that I’m adverse to change is a false narrative.
I don’t want to accommodate Madueke. I want to see if this combination has any legs and if we don’t try it on Wednesday then we won’t really know anything. So it’s now or never imo and given we aren’t setting the world on fire as is, i vote for now.
Does this mean dropping Eze? For me, he keeps the shirt. We can probably assume that Rice, Zubi and Gyokeres start, so at least one of Trossard, Saka, Madueke and Eze miss out.
Drop him or play him on the left works for me.
Madueke’s form is better than Eze’s to be fair. Personally, with Saka not being 100% and not have been selected originally yesterday, he comes on a gets minutes before the Derby.