Definitely think they can thrive in the same team together, Saka especially looks super comfortable wherever he plays.
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I liked Pepe on the left when he played there. Would only make Tierney even more dangerous. If those two are attacking u down the left flank that’s a handful. It’s easy for me to fit both Sska and Pepe in the same team.
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The other thing is Saka is also very influential in games even when he isn’t providing assists or goals, where it seems Pepe can often just be a non entity.
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When playing as a right-winger under Arteta.
Saka - 15 games - 6 goals - 7 assists - 1191 minutes
Pepe - 41 games - 10 goals - 7 assists - 2756 minutes
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Comparable stats for Bale:
6 rounds - 35 pars - 18 birdies - 1 eagle
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Saka has been absolutely immense. I’m a little scared though cuz there’s a possibility this is just a purple patch, wanna see these same type of numbers in a large sample size.
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It’s always a possibility but I’m rather optimistic, how often do 19 year olds put up those sorts of numbers at the top level ?
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I think it happens quite often tbh. There will be a highly rated youngster who has a great year and then has a lot of growing pains. Anthony Martial and Leon Bailey both come to mind, kind of hit or miss on their consistency.
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Yeah those are fair points, the 2 you mention are still pretty good players though all in all.
It’s true we really need Saka to be elite though, not just a fairly good player.
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They are both very good but have both had seasons where ur like, what happened to them? Draxler is another one that had a monster first season and then was kind of just average slightly better than average afterwards. I just hope Saka is consistently good.
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The other thing to consider which is skewing those stats is the amount of times they’re subbed on which are counted as games.
Per transfermarkt in 20/21 of the 31 games Saka played this season, he played more than 45 mins in 28 of them.
Of the 30 games Pepe played, he only played more than 45 mins in 20 of them.
Makes quite a big difference…
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Gervinho-esque miss. Was on his left foot, too.
It feels like I’ve seen him do that like 10 times now, usually with a faster paced ball but still. He has a shocking number of total whiffs in front of the goal.
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Who said we should play him up top again? :pepe1:
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At the end of the day, he play well and suddenly finds himself benched again and again. So the lack of consistency is not surprising.
I’m not saying he shouldn’t be finishing chances like that but Jesus Christ give the guy a proper run of games and stop putting him in and out of the team all the fucking time.
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The speed with which Arteta yanks him out of the XI is wild considering all the chances he gave Willian.
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He has started six of the last eight league games, the same as Saka, more than Auba. He is getting a proper run and he is just a maddeningly inconsistent player.
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Yeah agree with this, apart from the appalling finish he was attacking Burnley and making things happen. He put in a MOTM performance last game then gets dropped this game.
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He was the best player against Leicester and gets dropped in the subsequent fixture. Anytime he plays himself into form he’s dropped by Arteta.
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We have to rotate, he’ll probably start against Olympiacos.
If he’s playing as much as any other forward in the team, you can’t say he isn’t getting a proper run.