Very curious to see how Saka and the other young guys work on their physicality. They’re part of a generation that’s got access to better sport science and nutrition at a younger age than ever before.
1 Like
We need to hit up the Rock to give us the finest juice on the planet.
2 Likes
Mikel should just ask Pep for the blood doping clinic he uses.
Love the passion of Saka and the players here, but I also always think: FFS, there is a pandemic going on, don’t celebrate like this with these guys you don’t know…
The Rock is all natty mate, just hard work and a good diet.
1 Like
Lad’s doing well tonight
3 Likes
We actually don’t deserve him. Kid is literally creating shit out of nowhere.
2 Likes
Is he actually injured do we think ? Or just fatigue after buzzing around all game ?
How many good games has he had in the last 13 months?
1 Like
Only Oddguard and possibly Martinelli look like they’d threaten getting in this Liverpool team and Martinelli wouldn’t once Mane and Salah are back.
Really depressing to see we’re still a mile from being a top team
2 Likes
I’m not overly convinced with Saka in all honesty.
2 Likes
Just last week he was our main threat v Liverpool.
1 Like
Loads? Confused
Had an off night tonight but won’t be the first to struggle against that Liverpool unit
Has he really? In all honesty how many games has Saka had since January 2021 where he’s performed at the level that we need from a starting winger?
I’m simply not convinced that he’s ready right now. He had a really bright spell recently when everything was clicking but he’s more ineffective in games than he is effective
1 Like
I’ve been with you on this all the way 100%
We’re allowing for Saka to be in the team and, dare I say it, stink up the place a lot of the time.
The horrid thing is, I don’t want to see him go to an even bigger club and become a Gnabry-like beast.
3 Likes
He’s arguably one of our top three performers this season
I’m not too sure about that. He had a great December period where he scored 3 or 4 goals and grabbed a couple of assists. But I think before that he was ineffective for a while and he’s reverted back to his early season form.
I want the kid to do well and get excited when he starts to put in performances that “prove me wrong” but the consistency isn’t there. He shouldn’t be playing 40 games a season for us as an undisputed starter right now in my eyes
The reality of the situation is that our attacking threat is carried almost entirely by Smith Rowe (21), Saka (20) and Odegaard (23). We’re going to see a lot of off days there. They’re all excellent young talents and merit significant minutes throughout a season, but you need at least one more player in the attacking mix to account for their age and current ability levels. Saka is incredibly talented and has shown it plenty, but he’s twenty years old and is an undisputed starter for like two seasons now, with a short summer in between them, most of which he spent starting for England and going deep in the World Cup. Smith Rowe’s goals are so key to us that he’s out for a few games and we’re all saying how much we want and need him back. Odegaard is performing well consistently atm but he’ll have bad runs of form too, I don’t doubt.
Smith Rowe and then Saka (tied with Auba) are our two top scorers this season. Relative to the whole squad, their production can’t be questioned really in my opinion. They also have two and four assists respectively, meaning their direct goal contributions are also unmatched by anyone else in the squad (both tied on 11).
It’s not their fault that we rely on them more than we should and that other players aren’t pulling their weight. Aubameyang, Lacazette and Nketiah are all wastes of space to varying degrees, and that leaves us utterly fucked for the rest of the season if unaddressed.
2 Likes
they’re supposed to be under the circumstances. Because that’s how we play, they are the positions that are supposed to bring the points and we have played like that for over a year now. But the circumstances are that our £60m attacker and our £70m attacker can’t outperform them in the style we play (mostly, afcon aside ofc).
Saka and the kids are young and inconsistent, the question is why they’re keeping some £130m on the bench (seen over the season), I’m sure the intention was for us to play Auba - Laca - Pepe, that’s how we spent our resources. Martinelli was crack today and I love his enthusiasm but his end product isn’t there yet either, same as with Saka for longer spells.
It is a massive failure that these u21 players bench our expensive marquee signings no matter the reason.
And I also maintain that in an ideal world I’d rather see Saka at RB but that’s another discussion 
1 Like