Bukayo Saka: Saka The Net

[IrishGooner93]

Sometimes players on similar level is separated by coaching and tactics. If both keep looking trash at some point the manager has to take some blame

Yeah both him and martinelli were exciting talents who seem to have had the attacking creativity and impetus drilled out of them.

 

[El Duderino]

Absolutely derisory behaviour from you lot blowing up this thread while Martinelli has been living rent free all season.

One player having a bad overall season does not excuse Saka being rightfully criticized for having a bad game in a decisive match.

 

[avenellroad]

The overreaction in here is something else. Disappointing performance, and he's not in good form at the moment, but it must be expected for a 22-year-old player. The "worldclass" discussion is totally irrelevant anyway

Compare him to Musiala who is younger than Saka. Musiala is a genuine world class talent. I am not sure Saka is. Just way too predictable.

If you offer me Yamal, 100% I’d be taking him over Saka, even if he is 16. There are levels to this game that you spot instantly,

Saka is a good player but just that at this moment …good.

 

[pireshenry]

Compare him to Musiala who is younger thank Saka. Musiala is a genuine world class talent. I am not sure Saka is.

If you offer me Yamal, 100% I’d be taking him over Saka. There are levels to this game.

Saka is a good player but just that at this moment …good.

I’d have to agree with this.

The main issue against Bayern was that he was ineffective and when he’s not on his game, it really impacts the rest of the team.

 

[teamsoutheast]

You seem to be confusing numbers with delivering. If you go back a few pages, you will see that I actually made the argument that his numbers prove he has added something to his game when someone was actually being over the top with their criticism and saying he hadn't improved from 2 years ago.

The distinction here however is not reciting some numbers, it's talking about what he has done when the team has needed him. First leg, scores a goal and then doesn't do much before not scoring the 1v1 against Neuer. It may well have been a penalty but he should have gotten a shot off before the contact. Against Villa, he has an ok first half and then disappears in the 2nd half. Today he was dreadful but 1 or 2 moments early in the game.

Delivering is not you reading me some stats across a season. Delivering is what you do when things are going poorly and the team needs the player you proclaimed the best forward to step up and make something happen. Tell me what he has done in the last 180 minutes of football, the most important 180 minutes of football of the season to deliver. You can't say he has done anything. He can be criticized for that just as Havertz is getting criticized and Rice and Gabriel and Raya etc.

He's a junior player and it's his debut season in the Champions League and he's actually done very well on that basis. Why are we expecting a 22 year old to carry us? Tonight was actually a very tight game as you would expect at this stage of the UCL. Bayern are not a rubbish team, they are probably one of the best performing teams in Europe and definitely the highest scoring team. We didn't look out of place against them in both ties and Saka was up against a top full back in Alphonso Davies in the home tie. No shame in the way we went out especially based on the hidings we took from Bayern in previous ties.

 

[Rasmi]

Compare him to Musiala who is younger than Saka. Musiala is a genuine world class talent. I am not sure Saka is. Just way too predictable.

If you offer me Yamal, 100% I’d be taking him over Saka, even if he is 16. There are levels to this game that you spot instantly,

Saka is a good player but just that at this moment …good.

No one is offering yamal so let’s be realistic. I’m convinced both saka and Martinelli are held back by Arteta

 

[Batman]

He's a junior player and it's his debut season in the Champions League and he's actually done very well on that basis. Why are we expecting a 22 year old to carry us? Tonight was actually a very tight game as you would expect at this stage of the UCL. Bayern are not a rubbish team, they are probably one of the best performing teams in Europe and definitely the highest scoring team. We didn't look out of place against them in both ties and Saka was up against a top full back in Alphonso Davies in the home tie. No shame in the way we went out especially based on the hidings we took from Bayern in previous ties.

Jude Bellingham is 2 years younger than he is carrying Real Madrid for an entire season. Stop this. Saka was carrying us when he was 19, 20 and 21 by the way, so yes, I do expect him to turn up in big matches at 22. Alphonso Davies was awful in the first leg and spent most of the match on a yellow. Saka did not trouble him after scoring. Today Mr. Davies was not on the pitch, was his ghost marking Saka out of the game?

 

[BaZZe]

Looool now we're saying a 16 year old in their debut season with 11 G/A in 43 games is levels above. This place really jumped the shark. You are all a bunch of clowns

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

As bad as I’ve seen him today. Really disappointed with him. Even before the tragic corner, the quick free kick attempt was stupid.

 

[teamsoutheast]

Jude Bellingham is 2 years younger than he is carrying Real Madrid for an entire season. Stop this. Saka was carrying us when he was 19, 20 and 21 by the way, so yes, I do expect him to turn up in big matches at 22. Alfonso Davies was awful in the first tie and spent most of the match on a yellow. Saka did not trouble him after scoring. Today Mr. Davies was not on the pitch, was his ghost marking Saka out of the game?

Again, this is Saka's debut season in the UCL. Jude Bellingham has played in the UCL for 4 years so naturally would be better at this level. There were tight margins in this game and we lost to a moment of quality.

 

[avenellroad]

Looool now we're saying a 16 year old in their debut season with 11 G/A in 43 games is levels above. This place really jumped the shark. You are all a bunch of clowns

Not too digress too much but Yamal has Ballon D’Or winner potential. Saka simply isn’t that calibre of player. The eye test is enough to confirm that.

Let’s not even mention he’s meant to be one of our key players and did absolutely nothing tonight.

 

[BaZZe]

Again, this is Saka's debut season in the UCL. Jude Bellingham has played in the UCL for 4 years so naturally would be better at this level. There were tight margins in this game and we lost to a moment of quality.

From what I heard Bellingham did f*ck all in the other QF, Foden as well.

 

[Batman]

Again, this is Saka's debut season in the UCL. Jude Bellingham has played in the UCL for 4 years so naturally would be better at this level. There were tight margins in this game and we lost to a moment of quality.

Do you believe that Saka needs another 3 years of CL football before he learns to beat the first man on a corner kick or not dive looking for a free kick instead of at least counter pressing if he can't get to the ball so that Bayern don't score on the counter attack that you just referred to as a moment of quality? You just said in one breath that he's done well in his first CL season but now you're making excuses for why he apparently can't make a difference at this level, none of which explains his 2nd half against Villa.

 

[Riou]

Do you think any of his friends had a word with him today?

"Yo, B... whatever happens today, don't limp!"

...what a bizarre thing he has to watch out for

 

[BaZZe]

Not too digress too much but Yamal has Ballon D’Or winner potential. Saka simply isn’t that calibre of player. The eye test is enough to confirm that.

Let’s not even mention he’s meant to be one of our key players and did absolutely nothing tonight.

Lmao, don't be surprised if he's playing for some midtable La Liga side in a couple of years.

 

[Rasmi]

Not too digress too much but Yamal has Ballon D’Or winner potential. Saka simply isn’t that calibre of player. The eye test is enough to confirm that.

Let’s not even mention he’s meant to be one of our key players and did absolutely nothing tonight.

He is absolutely not better player than saka right now though. But he is also 16, so it’s unfair comparison. He has 0 goals 2 assists in the CL this season. Saka has 4 goals 4 assists

 

[Batman]

Do you think any of his friends had a word with him today?

"Yo, B... whatever happens today, don't limp!"

...what a bizarre thing he has to watch out for

To be fair, it does look kinda bad. On my youth football team, the coach's short, fat son who had to play GK because he was too sh*t for every other position would always fake injury whenever we got down by 2 goals or more. You don't see this man limping when we win games. In fact, he was able to fly after the ref quicker than we've seen him run since Kim K turned up after he didn't get his penalty.

 

[Macho]

@Geofranco Combs you're going to be working overtime cleaning up this mess until the next Prem game.

Or do you only spring into action when I say something tame like Limpayo isn't world class or something?

 

[Alkesh]

I’m convinced both saka and Martinelli are held back by Arteta

Have to agree with this, and it's very clear when you see Saka's play compared to two or three years ago. The creativity in Saka's game is basically gone; every single time it's brief dribble, then cut inside for a roof the net shot or a curler. He doesn't really attack players the way he used to, and his crossing has severely degraded. I can buy that some of that is due to non-Arteta reasons like injury or fatigue, but I think Arteta also has an impact.

I think that was clearly shown tonight, You can see Martinelli checking his run against the opposition multiple times; it's hard to believe it wasn't an instruction from Arteta to play conservatively.

 

[Rasmi]

Have to agree with this, and it's very clear when you see Saka's play compared to two or three years ago. The creativity in Saka's game is basically gone; every single time it's brief dribble, then cut inside for a roof the net shot or a curler. He doesn't really attack players the way he used to, and his crossing has severely degraded. I can buy that some of that is due to non-Arteta reasons like injury or fatigue, but I think Arteta also has an impact.

I think that was clearly shown tonight, You can see Martinelli checking his run against the opposition multiple times; it's hard to believe it wasn't an instruction from Arteta to play conservatively.

Over two ties Martinelli not once just run at Kimmich. Every time he gets the ball it’s control and pass in field. He basically plays like you do in training when you have passing exercise and you put a guy on the line and use him as a method to keep the ball. You pass to him when nothing is on and get it back like a wall. People need to watch saka videos 2 years ago. He is not the same player