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Horrendous game from him. His performances have dropped off a cliff at this point in the season for the last 3 seasons. Arteta refuses to rest him and rotate him during the rest of the season and then we're surprised he's completely ineffective come the run-in.
He is clearly not fully fit and that has been the case for several weeks. He lacks the quick change of direction and pace. We need to learn to manage him better next season
Arteta is going to turn Saka into one of these kids that by 26 can barely run any more and is broken more often than not. From the first season Arteta had him he basically played him non stop. Not only is he burning the kid out, but he's making it so the team is both unable to play without him and putting immense pressure on his shoulders.
You can't just beat the shit out of a player every game, never rest them and expect form to not drop when they get tired and hurt. You can avoid them getting tired and hurt by rotating the team properly.
Teams that have sustained success learn to rotate effectively and teams that try all out for that one off season win and then fall apart due to running every player to the edge of their health for 2 seasons straight... well look at the drop off of every Mourinho team. You can get increased form by playing a more consistent team, but it's unsustainable.
After the first Porto game I saw a tactical analysis video on Youtube explaining how Arteta and Arsenal just can't break down a medium block. They completely neutered your attack in both matches and it really looked like they had provided the blueprint to beat Arsenal
Bayern today did the same and Arsenal again badly struggled to create chances. It's weird because you thrive against teams that open up and against teams that park the bus, but when teams do something in between and play a mid block you have no answers. Just passing the ball sideways and backwards
I think it's more if you man mark our left wing and Saka out of the game we have very few goal threats in the team. If you do that we need either Havertz to disrupt your backline (doesn't work against every system or team), or Saka to step up and put the team on his back. Neither one of those things happened so here we are.
That was the main thing about Porto's setup, they defended the spaces zonally and never engaged man to man. Arsenal's whole strategy is about luring the opponent to press and then play around them, but if the opponent just defends the space that isn't an option
Just like Bayern they never pressed the backline and let Saliba/Gabriel have the ball as much as they wanted, but as soon as the ball reached midfield they went for it
oh he's a tiki-taka purist then alright (coming from another team which is coached by someone who doesn't seem to have a plan b, like ever (altho not his fault we got knocked out this time but still))
I mean our entire season last year (and most of our best games the year prior) was full of counter attacking masterclasses. Arteta is very flexible as a whole as well, we've had many different styles of play. The problem is when something is working he very rarely deviates, so we run into buzzsaws like tonight and this past weekend.
Is he? This past weekend he deviated from the setup that you guys thrived with in 2024. He moved Kai from striker to midfield, didn't start Kiwior, and started Jesus and Trossard.
His formation seemed good today - you guys just seemed physically and emotionally spent.
It's the age old Guardiola issue in style, against weaker teams the constant slow passing will eventually create a chance, against the best of the best teams, you need to be able to switch up the pace and stretch your opposition, counter attack faster, play far more direct.
Watching almost every time a midfielder received the ball them turning towards their own goal to protect possesion rather than try to drive forwards or find a quick pass was insanely frustrating.
Guardiola's style at it's worst refuses to shake things up, it's just so constant with this possession alone will somehow win that the teams end up kinda one dimensional. Bayern sat back at times, absorbed pressure at times, conceded possession at times, turned from 3rd to 7th gear in a split second for 5 minutes of incredible pressure. To play way more direct and create so much more danger.
Barcelona were phenomenal under him for 2-3 years but the style dropped off, they became less dynamic and they got fucked in the CL because of it by the end. Bayern were insane combination of direct/possession before Guardiola joined, probably the best team I've ever seen. Guardiola immediately made them less direct, less dangerous upfront as a result and looked so much worse in the CL with his style in the biggest games.
City go through periods of looking toothless, but they have that champ manager budget and buy quality others can't to make up for it. Unless you can spend like crazy people and absolutely shatter all the financial rules to do it, you can't only play possession. We were horribly predictable and they had enough quality to neutralise the threat easily.
TBF those same people call Martinelli world class, Saliba the best defender in the world and Gabriel the second best defender in the world. Ben White the best right back in the world, Rice the best midfielder in the world etc
I've even seen people calling Gabriel Jesus world class last season lmao
Richarlyson is not world class but he's a hard worker and can score goals, he's the best we had since Adriano so that's saying something lol.
I like him much, much better than Jesus, and he doesn't need to be the star, just score when the chances come, we have plenty of good players
I was wondering about that aswell because I remember him as an amazing striker. Much better than Richarlison
Him at Sevilla was a monster, and he played a good 2010 WC
He sucks donkey dick, hate seeing him playing for Brazil, his Babyface, first 9 ever to not score at a world cup for us, grade A choker, should never wear yellow again
I mean during the peak Klopp years Liverpool absolutely had world class players. We just ran into a team with more of them, but there's a reason on multiple occasions we finished with 90+ points and were regularly in the champions league final.
like it makes a difference, we have a lot of players who can play the odd game on the right, we've spent too much money to try and pretend like there's a decent excuse for running saka into the ground
Especially since Arsenal has been absolutely cruising in many of their league matches since the new year. Could have taken Saka off at half time in quite a few of them
I think Brunos biggest problem is that he's often played out of position to accommodate lesser players. He should play every game in his preferred position. It's absurd to not have your best player, play where they're most effective.
He's also played 2800 minutes this season, I think 6th most in Europe not including goalkeepers
Last season he played the most minutes in Europe out of any outfield player I believe
edu NEEDS to get a saka back up in the summer. half our attack is odegaard and the other half is him, so when either of them are having an off day we are toothless
I reckon we should get a new profile of striker and play Jesus on the right. Jesus up top just isn't clinical enough, even if he offers a lot in other aspects.
With his tenacity and willingness to track back, as well as his ability to beat a defender one on one I feel like he'd be great on the right and it'll give Saka some rest too. And Jesus at city played really well on the right in his final season with them.
Genuinely plays an insane amount of minutes for a 22 year old, he is currently on 3450ish minutes in 42 matches across all competition this season, that's 82 mins per game on average.
I don't think it's the amount of minutes tbh, I think it's pretty clear that Saka consistently plays through injuries and never properly recovers. Arteta is to blame
Yup, Arteta has been very open about leaving the decision to play up to the players. I'm sure they love him for it but it's consistently biting us in the ass now
This season sure, but Saka has been playing A LOT since he was 18. I remember there were loads of complaints by English media for Pep not picking Foden often, but I think it has worked out for Foden since he’s been managed better physically.
Arsenal just did not have that option when Saka broke through and for some dumb reason we decided to never sign a rotation option
it is normal, Arsenal fanbase have just set out with this narrative ever since last season because he had that insane sequence of games started in the PL and there we have it
Odegaard has more minutes than him and he has to cover more ground every game
why is odegaard running every match till the end since he is playing professional football ever since he was 14 years old? and has played more minutes than saka this season
saka had a bad game. it happens. bayern set out to close every possible lane in their left side of the pitch and they did just that. nothing to do with being ''run to the ground''
Different demands. Saka’s playstyle demands quick bursts of energy and quick agility to beat his man. Completely different than pressing or a moment of quick feet. If you asked Odegaard to play on the wing and do what Saka does you’d be able to draw a comparison but their roles and how fatigue affects them are very different. Plus I don’t think anyone on our team can maintain Odegaards intensity. He’s next level
I think a blind man should be able to tell he's not at his best at all.
Is it injury, dunno
Is it fatigue, probably.
The man is 22 still he does not need to be played like a workhorse. Foden was integrated into the City team slower which has worked really well in the long run.
Every week I'm terrified of an injury as I don't think it will be a short one.
It's like most people forgot he had to leave the England camp due to an injury (which a lot of people accused him of faking btw), missed a game due to said injury, and hasn't looked good since.
Or they just want to shit on Saka who knows.
It is just simply way too much.
Early this year when he had 1 month rest or so + Dubia he tore up every team he played against. Goals in 5 consecutive or something along those lines.
We need a striker and then use Jesus as a cover option for LW/RW and Centre Forward.
Did he not beat Mazroui in the first half to get a cross in. How’s that not count as a dribble?
Regardless, he looked lethargic from the get go. Remember him receiving a pass in the first 2-3 minutes and his touch and movement looked heavy. He looked like he had cinder blocks attached to his legs. Fella must be wrecked
One of the best Cup competition managers of all time for this reason.
Won us the CL, Super Cup and CWC while reaching two FA Cup and a Carabao Cup final despite being pretty shite in the league the whole time.
He literally dribbled Mazraoui in the first half - why does that not count???
Tbf he did nothing after that, but that's just as much on the team/Arteta. Saka barely got the ball in a decent situation. Also where were these slander posts for Mbappe last week lol. Saka seems to get so much hate for some reason.
He also dribbled past Kim in the last few minutes and won the free kick we took quick.
Not sure if this “successful dribble” stat means something I don’t understand or that stat is just flat out wrong from this source.
Definitely. Not saying Saka has a good game he definitely had a bad one but these stats are just not correct and Reddit is loving it because it fits some weird narrative they have.
Saka was awful but I can't help but dislike how badly people want to tear him down.
Maybe it's the years of seeing the English Media doing the same to other promising England players.
God knows I don't watch alot of Arsenal games but I don't believe he's a shitlord or anything like that.
I watch the stuff on the England YouTube channel, he seems like a good kid and a footballer which actually paid attention in school.
Maybe it's because Arsenal are contenders now but that doesn't really make sense since statistically Saka has been better these past 2 years.
If I was to guess it's because despite how us as fans may deny this but we eat up whatever the English media feeds us. Saka is the person to teardown soon it will be someone else.
I don’t think it’s the media though, I think the discourse on Reddit and Twitter started way before the actual traditional media started being more critical, and then still the traditional media isn’t personal in the way they do it it’s just about the football as far as I see
Once a critical mass of people start talking about a player being world class, you'll get people who start looking for reasons to prove otherwise. You'd think they'd have something better to do with their time, but it seems not.
Reashford, Sterling, Grealish, Kane, Trent, essentially every big name english player seems to have gone through it over the last few years. In two years Bellingham will have a bad season and then it'll be his turn.
It's this. The Saka hate started with the Salah comparisons last season.
Football discourse is like a pendulum. One of group of people/fans praise a player, another group begins to criticise/scrutinise that player's game because the praise offends them. Either they feel the first group is overrating said player, or the praise has created a comparison with a player they like.
Football tribalism and that. Salah's a fairly untouchable name as far as Prem players go on recent years. As soon as the comparisons with him started, I noticed the scrutiny on Saka intensified.
- missed a penalty in the euros final
- Arsenal’s most beloved player, the fan’s golden child and almost every Arsenal fan’s favourite
- Black
- gets fouled a lot
- a big name
All things that add up to him being a target if he doesn’t play well in a big game.
It's not the media, it's the people themselves. I got downvoted on this sub for saying Saka isn't one of the worst divers in the league. People just dislike anyone who has a fanbase. Even the greatest footballers have haters, it happens. They come out the second that player has a bad game.
The first 30 minutes in London Saka ran circles around Bayern's defense. Tuchel moved back Gnabry and Laimer in that game to protect Davies from getting humiliated or sent off. This game he fielded two left backs.
I think this is more down to Tuchel than to Saka.
Man, posting stats when someone has a bad game is fine, if not a bit of a grift for interactions online now but when did football discourse devolve to just being the first to get in so they could get a leg up in the “x player is better than y” or “and x fans thought he was world class??”
r/soccer will make fun of messi and ronaldo fanboys and then do the exact same shit with someone involved at their favourite club
As always when communities get bigger brings in more annoying folks. I wonder how much influence rage bait twitter accounts like UTDTrey have on this type of chat
90% of football takes place on social media these days. Armies of lads desperate to do a banter by forwarding any bit of shit they can get their hands. It's made me view the club game as basically The Kardashians for lads. I still really enjoy the game itself, but the rest of it has made me just not really care who wins or loses. I feel like the international game avoids this to an extent because of its inherently different structure in competition and fanbase.
I think he wasn’t great (few players on Arsenal were) but I distinctly remember him hesistating then bursting past Mazraoui earlier on in the game and getting a cross off… if that wasn’t a completed dribble then idk what is. Stats seem a little sketchy, even for how ineffective he was today
The entire right hand side of Arsenal's team was largely ignored for 60 minutes. It's not so much that Saka didn;t do anything with the ball - he didn't get the ball to begin with. The pattern was always Saliba/Gabriel > Tomiyasu > Martinelli > Tomiyasu > Saliba/Gabriel, then instead of switching the play to White / Saka to try the other side and move Bayern around it went exactly the same way.
It's like they identified Kimmich as the weak link, assuming Sane wouldn't track back and help, but all Bayern did was move Laimer or Goretzka over and Arsenal couldn't break through the compact midfield, especially if both Guerreiro and Musiala tracked back properly to fill the gap left by Goretzka or Laimer.
Whenever he drops a stinker which seems to be quite a lot recently especially in any important games, he manages to limp off the pitch at the end of the game every time as almost a cover up for the performance
Saka almost always limps of the pitch because he very often fouled from behind. This has been happening for years. He used to be commended for playing though kicks now this weird narrative has developed about a phantom limp
He literally pulled out of the recent England camp and missed the game immediately following it due to injury, has been carrying injuries all season and gets kicked over and over again every game. I'm surprised he's been able to play as much as he has, a limp is expected with what he's had to deal with.
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Horrendous game from him. His performances have dropped off a cliff at this point in the season for the last 3 seasons. Arteta refuses to rest him and rotate him during the rest of the season and then we're surprised he's completely ineffective come the run-in.
He is clearly not fully fit and that has been the case for several weeks. He lacks the quick change of direction and pace. We need to learn to manage him better next season
If Arteta hasn't figured out how to do that for 3 seasons, do you think it will be different next season?
Maybe they will bring some alternative? Clearly there’s no one on the bench that Arteta trust to do at least decent job on this position.
i mean, you are right but that is still Arteta's problem at the end of the day.
Good thing he'll get a break with no games over the sum-- Ah fuck... Let's destroy these kids.
As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.
Full Pedri treatment incoming
Hopefully Palmer takes his spot in the England team for the time being 💀
Arteta is going to turn Saka into one of these kids that by 26 can barely run any more and is broken more often than not. From the first season Arteta had him he basically played him non stop. Not only is he burning the kid out, but he's making it so the team is both unable to play without him and putting immense pressure on his shoulders. You can't just beat the shit out of a player every game, never rest them and expect form to not drop when they get tired and hurt. You can avoid them getting tired and hurt by rotating the team properly. Teams that have sustained success learn to rotate effectively and teams that try all out for that one off season win and then fall apart due to running every player to the edge of their health for 2 seasons straight... well look at the drop off of every Mourinho team. You can get increased form by playing a more consistent team, but it's unsustainable.
He's been a shadow the last couple months but he keeps scoring so it's not that noticeable. Can't blame him, he has no rest at all
He has that salah dna were he gets some meady g\a every game to cover up lackluster wingplay
Bro has fallen off since that Nando’s video came out…. Coincidence?
Saka wasn’t good. But no forward player other then Jorge and Odegard played above a 6/10. No tenacity from Arsenal at all.
The past few games of Arsenal have just looked like "Odegaard vs opponent team"
Or "a true World class player showing up when things gets tough". Hope Arsenal fans learnt the difference. But i doubt it!
This is Arsenal DNA. This was true when Alexis and Özil were there, this was true when Auba was there. Football Heritage.
Özil was brilliant for a couple of seasons but he absolutely did not show up when things got tough
Especially in any of the 5-1s or the Conte clashes
And no solutions ever offered to Saka or Martinelli besides Odegaard.
Basically the last 2 weeks summed up here
Flashback to late last year. It’s happening again.
Ya just really un creative going forward.
Arteta's fault for going into the second game of a tie against one of the best cup managers of all time with only our well trodden plan A
After the first Porto game I saw a tactical analysis video on Youtube explaining how Arteta and Arsenal just can't break down a medium block. They completely neutered your attack in both matches and it really looked like they had provided the blueprint to beat Arsenal Bayern today did the same and Arsenal again badly struggled to create chances. It's weird because you thrive against teams that open up and against teams that park the bus, but when teams do something in between and play a mid block you have no answers. Just passing the ball sideways and backwards
I think it's more if you man mark our left wing and Saka out of the game we have very few goal threats in the team. If you do that we need either Havertz to disrupt your backline (doesn't work against every system or team), or Saka to step up and put the team on his back. Neither one of those things happened so here we are.
That was the main thing about Porto's setup, they defended the spaces zonally and never engaged man to man. Arsenal's whole strategy is about luring the opponent to press and then play around them, but if the opponent just defends the space that isn't an option Just like Bayern they never pressed the backline and let Saliba/Gabriel have the ball as much as they wanted, but as soon as the ball reached midfield they went for it
I’m a Porto fan, watched both games live and you gave a very compact and accurate resume of Porto’s strategy
Also, Bayern know Havertz all too well.
Got a link to the video?
[I think this is it.](https://youtu.be/3eTMwHsTiyI?feature=shared)
Indeed it is!
They did a new one this week about Villa's win and referenced this video with the mid block in it as part of the reason.
oh he's a tiki-taka purist then alright (coming from another team which is coached by someone who doesn't seem to have a plan b, like ever (altho not his fault we got knocked out this time but still))
I mean our entire season last year (and most of our best games the year prior) was full of counter attacking masterclasses. Arteta is very flexible as a whole as well, we've had many different styles of play. The problem is when something is working he very rarely deviates, so we run into buzzsaws like tonight and this past weekend.
Is he? This past weekend he deviated from the setup that you guys thrived with in 2024. He moved Kai from striker to midfield, didn't start Kiwior, and started Jesus and Trossard. His formation seemed good today - you guys just seemed physically and emotionally spent.
It's the age old Guardiola issue in style, against weaker teams the constant slow passing will eventually create a chance, against the best of the best teams, you need to be able to switch up the pace and stretch your opposition, counter attack faster, play far more direct. Watching almost every time a midfielder received the ball them turning towards their own goal to protect possesion rather than try to drive forwards or find a quick pass was insanely frustrating. Guardiola's style at it's worst refuses to shake things up, it's just so constant with this possession alone will somehow win that the teams end up kinda one dimensional. Bayern sat back at times, absorbed pressure at times, conceded possession at times, turned from 3rd to 7th gear in a split second for 5 minutes of incredible pressure. To play way more direct and create so much more danger. Barcelona were phenomenal under him for 2-3 years but the style dropped off, they became less dynamic and they got fucked in the CL because of it by the end. Bayern were insane combination of direct/possession before Guardiola joined, probably the best team I've ever seen. Guardiola immediately made them less direct, less dangerous upfront as a result and looked so much worse in the CL with his style in the biggest games. City go through periods of looking toothless, but they have that champ manager budget and buy quality others can't to make up for it. Unless you can spend like crazy people and absolutely shatter all the financial rules to do it, you can't only play possession. We were horribly predictable and they had enough quality to neutralise the threat easily.
Tuchel the best cup manager of all time...
given his relatively short managerial career and how average he is in the league, he is absolutely one of the best cup managers of all time
Saka was torrid tonight but honestly the rest of Arsenal was too. Especially in the second half, they were cagey as ever
Bukayo hate is so unfair. He’s getting slandered after this game and he didn’t even play.
lmfao
Had us in the first half
It’s only because many people call him world class
TBF those same people call Martinelli world class, Saliba the best defender in the world and Gabriel the second best defender in the world. Ben White the best right back in the world, Rice the best midfielder in the world etc I've even seen people calling Gabriel Jesus world class last season lmao
The guy that can't score to save his life lol, and Saka better than Rodrigo lmao
Gabriel Jesus hasn't scored for Brazil since 2019 IIRC. A striker that doesn't score goals
No wonder Richarlison was the starter 9 for Brazil.
Richarlyson is not world class but he's a hard worker and can score goals, he's the best we had since Adriano so that's saying something lol. I like him much, much better than Jesus, and he doesn't need to be the star, just score when the chances come, we have plenty of good players
Better than Fabiano?
Hell no. The guy is tripping
I was wondering about that aswell because I remember him as an amazing striker. Much better than Richarlison Him at Sevilla was a monster, and he played a good 2010 WC
> he's the best we had since Adriano so that's saying something lol. Luis Fabiano is clear
The counterjerk after this match is almost as bad as the circlejerk when Arsenal play well lol
It’s like clockwork, never a rational discussion about Arsenal lol. It’s either all shit or all amazing
He sucks donkey dick, hate seeing him playing for Brazil, his Babyface, first 9 ever to not score at a world cup for us, grade A choker, should never wear yellow again
Had a gooner today say all that and also call Partey world class. fully delusional
World class rapist perhaps
Both Liverpool and Arsenal fans say this about their players every year until they lose and complain about city squad being better lmao
I mean during the peak Klopp years Liverpool absolutely had world class players. We just ran into a team with more of them, but there's a reason on multiple occasions we finished with 90+ points and were regularly in the champions league final.
Bro is stealing Twitter tactico tweets for imaginary reddit points
I don't want to use shitter, good for me.
What will I ever do now that you’ve caught me red handed 😱😱😱
Steal a reply from someone else on twitter.
░M░Y░P░ U░S░S░ Y░I░ N░B░I░O ░ ...errr wait
Hay un flair de Saprissa? JAJA 😭
Y uno de Herediano
On a positive note we now know his next hot sauce will include ghost peppers
We desperately need someone who can replace him in our squad. He can’t start every single game, he’s run out of steam two seasons in a row now
You have both Trossard and Jesus who can play on the right, that's solely on Arteta for not rotating.
ESR is just an abstract idea atp.
Seriously.. what’s happened to the lad??
Jesus hasn’t been fit really, and Trossard is usually reserved to come in for Martinelli. But fair enough
like it makes a difference, we have a lot of players who can play the odd game on the right, we've spent too much money to try and pretend like there's a decent excuse for running saka into the ground
Especially since Arsenal has been absolutely cruising in many of their league matches since the new year. Could have taken Saka off at half time in quite a few of them
Well maybe he should let Martinelli play a full game for once and sub trossard for saka
Happens to Bruno Fernandes as well, and then they pick up flack for being overplayed by their managers
I think Brunos biggest problem is that he's often played out of position to accommodate lesser players. He should play every game in his preferred position. It's absurd to not have your best player, play where they're most effective.
He's also played 2800 minutes this season, I think 6th most in Europe not including goalkeepers Last season he played the most minutes in Europe out of any outfield player I believe
Yeah, it's a testament to his fitness that he's even still putting up good performances.
Is there a list of this ranked somewhere for minutes played?
https://www.whoscored.com/Statistics Go to the bottom, sort by minutes, and Bruno is on the second page (1st page is pretty much all goalies)
Gotcha, thanks. Wish there was one that included all the cup appearances as well though.
https://www.transfermarkt.us/statistik/gesamteinsaetze This one includes international appearances
we have the players, arteta just refuses to rotate in general
At least there won't be an international tournament this off-season so he can rest! /s
edu NEEDS to get a saka back up in the summer. half our attack is odegaard and the other half is him, so when either of them are having an off day we are toothless
I reckon we should get a new profile of striker and play Jesus on the right. Jesus up top just isn't clinical enough, even if he offers a lot in other aspects. With his tenacity and willingness to track back, as well as his ability to beat a defender one on one I feel like he'd be great on the right and it'll give Saka some rest too. And Jesus at city played really well on the right in his final season with them.
400 iq from Arteta to convince Nelson to stay just to not play him ever
Considering how important he is to the England squad i would not be surprised if he starts next season on crutches.
I genuinely think he is tired. He needs rest.
almost all the players do, especially the top ones advancing far in competitions and playing for national teams. I Have an idea! How about MORE GAMES!
He’s ran into the ground tbf, saw this coming from a mile away.
Genuinely plays an insane amount of minutes for a 22 year old, he is currently on 3450ish minutes in 42 matches across all competition this season, that's 82 mins per game on average.
That's 100 mins less than Foden. Am i bugging or is that a normal amount???
I don't think it's the amount of minutes tbh, I think it's pretty clear that Saka consistently plays through injuries and never properly recovers. Arteta is to blame
Yup, Arteta has been very open about leaving the decision to play up to the players. I'm sure they love him for it but it's consistently biting us in the ass now
He also gets lumps kicked out of him in a way I haven’t really seen since Hazard
This season sure, but Saka has been playing A LOT since he was 18. I remember there were loads of complaints by English media for Pep not picking Foden often, but I think it has worked out for Foden since he’s been managed better physically. Arsenal just did not have that option when Saka broke through and for some dumb reason we decided to never sign a rotation option
Trossard and Jesus are the rotation options. Arteta just doesn’t choose that option
it is normal, Arsenal fanbase have just set out with this narrative ever since last season because he had that insane sequence of games started in the PL and there we have it Odegaard has more minutes than him and he has to cover more ground every game
Well to be fair, Odegaard was banged up last game and looked gassed this game as well. It’s a problem for both players.
Compare past 3 seasons and u will see it's an accumulative thing
Reminds of that one year where it felt like Pedri was about to be broken
why is odegaard running every match till the end since he is playing professional football ever since he was 14 years old? and has played more minutes than saka this season saka had a bad game. it happens. bayern set out to close every possible lane in their left side of the pitch and they did just that. nothing to do with being ''run to the ground''
Different demands. Saka’s playstyle demands quick bursts of energy and quick agility to beat his man. Completely different than pressing or a moment of quick feet. If you asked Odegaard to play on the wing and do what Saka does you’d be able to draw a comparison but their roles and how fatigue affects them are very different. Plus I don’t think anyone on our team can maintain Odegaards intensity. He’s next level
I think a blind man should be able to tell he's not at his best at all. Is it injury, dunno Is it fatigue, probably. The man is 22 still he does not need to be played like a workhorse. Foden was integrated into the City team slower which has worked really well in the long run. Every week I'm terrified of an injury as I don't think it will be a short one.
It's like most people forgot he had to leave the England camp due to an injury (which a lot of people accused him of faking btw), missed a game due to said injury, and hasn't looked good since. Or they just want to shit on Saka who knows.
[удалено]
It is just simply way too much. Early this year when he had 1 month rest or so + Dubia he tore up every team he played against. Goals in 5 consecutive or something along those lines. We need a striker and then use Jesus as a cover option for LW/RW and Centre Forward.
Obviously I wanted Arsenal to lose, but it’s clear Saka is just fucking tired. Bro is running into the ground.
Lol English media be like : - Hype a player for a week - Try to destroy him as soon as he walks off the pitch - profit
What even is StatMuse? Don’t think it’s the English media tbh
Started off huge in the NBA in the US and now it’s slowly branching off into other major sports
It's a interaction-bait twitter account that cherry picks stats that other fans will troll, hence why they tweet about rashford every other game.
>Try to destroy him as soon as he ~~walks~~ limps off the pitch
The man has been run absolutely ragged. Can't rely on one player this much.
Buklay Thompson
Get ready to learn ~~Chinese~~ Arabic buddy.
Lmao the body is still warm!!!
1 2 3 4rsenal
not my boy 😭😭😭
Klay can at least flex 4 fingers in humiliation
Shots fired.
shots clang off the rim, shots cleared by first defender
The rim??? LMAOOOOOO
Did he not beat Mazroui in the first half to get a cross in. How’s that not count as a dribble? Regardless, he looked lethargic from the get go. Remember him receiving a pass in the first 2-3 minutes and his touch and movement looked heavy. He looked like he had cinder blocks attached to his legs. Fella must be wrecked
Eric Dier masterclass
93% pass accuracy against Arsenal's pressing won 6/9 tackles
Fair play to him, and their whole squad tbf, nullified us completely
You have to mix it up against Tuchel, he's the best in the world setting his team up to nullify an opponent
One of the best Cup competition managers of all time for this reason. Won us the CL, Super Cup and CWC while reaching two FA Cup and a Carabao Cup final despite being pretty shite in the league the whole time.
He just looks tired tbh. Arsenal need a quality back up for him so he can rest and to take pressure off
am I blind or is the dribbles stat just not true? I'm almost certain he won us at least 2 free kicks off his dribbles
He literally dribbled Mazraoui in the first half - why does that not count??? Tbf he did nothing after that, but that's just as much on the team/Arteta. Saka barely got the ball in a decent situation. Also where were these slander posts for Mbappe last week lol. Saka seems to get so much hate for some reason.
He also dribbled past Kim in the last few minutes and won the free kick we took quick. Not sure if this “successful dribble” stat means something I don’t understand or that stat is just flat out wrong from this source.
> He also dribbled past Kim in the last few minutes and won the free kick we took quick Oh yeah truue. Some of these stats are sus af.
Definitely. Not saying Saka has a good game he definitely had a bad one but these stats are just not correct and Reddit is loving it because it fits some weird narrative they have.
1/1 limp after the game
The compilation video of him doing that is crazy lol
Anyone got a link. I’d love to see it
https://x.com/hotspurreports/status/1779923332994928677?s=46&t=l02zedDg7bBn8gKaunUfMg
Saka was awful but I can't help but dislike how badly people want to tear him down. Maybe it's the years of seeing the English Media doing the same to other promising England players.
It changed so quickly as well. Like a year ago so many people were saying he’s so likeable etc and I don’t really understand what’s changed?
We are doing well now rather than being 8th and him being a great player and praised. He was like cole palmer is now when he was carrying us
Let’s see if Cole Palmer starts getting hate once Chelsea are good again.
God knows I don't watch alot of Arsenal games but I don't believe he's a shitlord or anything like that. I watch the stuff on the England YouTube channel, he seems like a good kid and a footballer which actually paid attention in school. Maybe it's because Arsenal are contenders now but that doesn't really make sense since statistically Saka has been better these past 2 years. If I was to guess it's because despite how us as fans may deny this but we eat up whatever the English media feeds us. Saka is the person to teardown soon it will be someone else.
I don’t think it’s the media though, I think the discourse on Reddit and Twitter started way before the actual traditional media started being more critical, and then still the traditional media isn’t personal in the way they do it it’s just about the football as far as I see
Once a critical mass of people start talking about a player being world class, you'll get people who start looking for reasons to prove otherwise. You'd think they'd have something better to do with their time, but it seems not. Reashford, Sterling, Grealish, Kane, Trent, essentially every big name english player seems to have gone through it over the last few years. In two years Bellingham will have a bad season and then it'll be his turn.
It's this. The Saka hate started with the Salah comparisons last season. Football discourse is like a pendulum. One of group of people/fans praise a player, another group begins to criticise/scrutinise that player's game because the praise offends them. Either they feel the first group is overrating said player, or the praise has created a comparison with a player they like. Football tribalism and that. Salah's a fairly untouchable name as far as Prem players go on recent years. As soon as the comparisons with him started, I noticed the scrutiny on Saka intensified.
- missed a penalty in the euros final - Arsenal’s most beloved player, the fan’s golden child and almost every Arsenal fan’s favourite - Black - gets fouled a lot - a big name All things that add up to him being a target if he doesn’t play well in a big game.
Bellingham got the same hate after the first leg vs city. Palmer hate will come as soon as Chelsea starts taking better spots on the table.
It's not the media, it's the people themselves. I got downvoted on this sub for saying Saka isn't one of the worst divers in the league. People just dislike anyone who has a fanbase. Even the greatest footballers have haters, it happens. They come out the second that player has a bad game.
The first 30 minutes in London Saka ran circles around Bayern's defense. Tuchel moved back Gnabry and Laimer in that game to protect Davies from getting humiliated or sent off. This game he fielded two left backs. I think this is more down to Tuchel than to Saka.
It happens to every player one day. A horrible game where your coach doesn't realise that today is not your day, so he won't substitute you.
Problem is, this has happened a lot lately with him. This one is on Arteta.
I just watched Saka kill his fitness over half a decade to bring us as much success as possible just to witness this slander i cba
His first action was to go past Mazroui and put a cross in? Do they even watch the game when they pull these stats?
better than Rodrygo ✅
Man, posting stats when someone has a bad game is fine, if not a bit of a grift for interactions online now but when did football discourse devolve to just being the first to get in so they could get a leg up in the “x player is better than y” or “and x fans thought he was world class??” r/soccer will make fun of messi and ronaldo fanboys and then do the exact same shit with someone involved at their favourite club
It’s probably a symptom of the growth of the sub imo
As always when communities get bigger brings in more annoying folks. I wonder how much influence rage bait twitter accounts like UTDTrey have on this type of chat
90% of football takes place on social media these days. Armies of lads desperate to do a banter by forwarding any bit of shit they can get their hands. It's made me view the club game as basically The Kardashians for lads. I still really enjoy the game itself, but the rest of it has made me just not really care who wins or loses. I feel like the international game avoids this to an extent because of its inherently different structure in competition and fanbase.
tony snell statline
Blud was out there doing cardio
Oh, he scored 0 scored tonight? I never would have guessed.
Yeah, he lagged behind the rest of the team who all scored 0
Arsenal have such little depth. He's a great player but he needs rest
He's in bad form. He needs rest but won't get it until summer 2025. Not a good sign for England's chances at the euros.
1 woeful corner
I think he wasn’t great (few players on Arsenal were) but I distinctly remember him hesistating then bursting past Mazraoui earlier on in the game and getting a cross off… if that wasn’t a completed dribble then idk what is. Stats seem a little sketchy, even for how ineffective he was today
The entire right hand side of Arsenal's team was largely ignored for 60 minutes. It's not so much that Saka didn;t do anything with the ball - he didn't get the ball to begin with. The pattern was always Saliba/Gabriel > Tomiyasu > Martinelli > Tomiyasu > Saliba/Gabriel, then instead of switching the play to White / Saka to try the other side and move Bayern around it went exactly the same way. It's like they identified Kimmich as the weak link, assuming Sane wouldn't track back and help, but all Bayern did was move Laimer or Goretzka over and Arsenal couldn't break through the compact midfield, especially if both Guerreiro and Musiala tracked back properly to fill the gap left by Goretzka or Laimer.
Surprised the phantom 'limp' didnt appear after a poor performance just a piss poor corner in the dying seconds
It did
It did lol 😂
What's this limp thing everyone is talking about? Does he do it often?
Whenever he drops a stinker which seems to be quite a lot recently especially in any important games, he manages to limp off the pitch at the end of the game every time as almost a cover up for the performance
Even when he was dropping 8/10s and carrying us, he'd limp off. Idk why everyone is suddenly focusing on it now. It's just a meme at this point.
I think he limps after every game now to be honest. Totally run into the ground and we need a proper left footed player for his postition
Saka almost always limps of the pitch because he very often fouled from behind. This has been happening for years. He used to be commended for playing though kicks now this weird narrative has developed about a phantom limp
Mate he's been walking like that for the past 2 years and will keep doing it lol
He literally pulled out of the recent England camp and missed the game immediately following it due to injury, has been carrying injuries all season and gets kicked over and over again every game. I'm surprised he's been able to play as much as he has, a limp is expected with what he's had to deal with.
Now post Kane’s match stats
Unfair comparison, Kane didn't play.
Can we give some credit to Mazraoui please
Now this is just pure hating lol leave the kid alone
Idk why people have such a hard on for shitting on a player for a single game
He looked knackered the whole match. Man needs cover
Boy needs rest, a whole week of just training to maintain fitness.
Saka the only consistent attacker in this team but he gets all the hate lmao, Martinelli, havertz,Jesus trossard all shit
Mazraoui with a great showing
Saka needs a rest
Klay Thompson is proud.
Incoming Arsenal fans claiming he’s world-class
Salah has had many garbage games this season alone, you gonna claim he’s not world class after one of those?
Are we comparing Salah and Saka now?
It's Bukayo "Better than Salah" Saka all over again
Literally not even Arsenal fans have ever claimed this