Saka (Arsenal)

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To think I thought he reminded me of Gomes in the OP. How their careers are going in different directions

We have all been fooled by Saka, everyone was surprised when he was fast-tracked to first team before Reiss Nelson who was supposed to be the next big thing for Arsenal.
His decision-making is his main asset, and it's hard to be amazed by it unless you see him doing it times and times again.
He just needs to add goals, he doesn't score a lot despite having all the tools to do it.

 

[Abraxas]

Really good player, impressive how you could feel reasonably confident of chucking him into any forward or wingback position. That's impressive awareness for a young player.

It will be interesting to see if he adds more goals to his game which he may need to as a wide forward, if that is his role. However, he is a manager's dream.

 

[Daydreamer]

He’s gonna be top drawer. I think he might end up as a 10 or 8 for us. He can progress the ball through both his dribbling and passing which is invaluable as both his teams (us and England) have struggled in this regard.

He’s also two-footed, though not approaching Greenwood’s frankly ridiculous levels of ambidextrousness.

 

[golden_blunder]

We have all been fooled by Saka, everyone was surprised when he was fast-tracked to first team before Reiss Nelson who was supposed to be the next big thing for Arsenal.
His decision-making is his main asset, and it's hard to be amazed by it unless you see him doing it times and times again.
He just needs to add goals, he doesn't score a lot despite having all the tools to do it.

Tbh I thought he was a good player from the minute I saw him. I think I overhyped Gomes though. Saka to date is having much more success in his career. By that I mean PL level experience and international experience

 

[shamans]

Tbh I thought he was a good player from the minute I saw him. I think I overhyped Gomes though. Saka to date is having much more success in his career. By that I mean PL level experience and international experience

Gomes height cost him.

 

[golden_blunder]

Gomes height cost him.

Do you think? Why? Scholes height didn’t hold him back. It seems to me that the only thing holding Gomes back was himself & whoever is advising him.

 

[shamans]

Do you think? Why? Scholes height didn’t hold him back. It seems to me that the only thing holding Gomes back was himself & whoever is advising him.

Scholes was not as short as Gomes. Gomes was a bit too short. You won't find many top level players at that height.

 

[DWelbz19]

Saka and Greenwood got exactly the same number of goals and assists in the league last year.

And while both had roughly 2/3 of their playing time on the wing, Greenwood spent the other 1/3 as a CF. Whereas Saka often played in our defence.

I’m clearly biased towards Saka as an Arsenal fan and I get why some United fans wanna see their transfer target Sancho start for England ahead of him. But I don’t get where this myth of Greenwood having monstrous end product comes from.

Saka was Arsenal's POTY, YPOTY all wrapped into one and Greenwood still beat his tally despite having a horrific start to the season with the media character assassination following the Iceland debacle, and then one of his close friends committing suicide. He got back into the form he showed in his first proper season at the end of the year with 8 goals and 2 assists in his last 13 matches.

They didn't get the exact same in the league, btw. Greenwood got 7 goals and 2 assists, Saka got 5 and 3, so that's one G/A fewer, in over 700 more minutes.

There's no myth here. Saka is a great prospect. Greenwood is just better.

 

[El Jefe]

He's pretty much a young Mata. The Valencia and Chelsea version that still had some speed. Just lacking the finishing ability.

 

[Nish115]

Saka was Arsenal's POTY, YPOTY all wrapped into one and Greenwood still beat his tally despite having a horrific start to the season with the media character assassination following the Iceland debacle, and then one of his close friends committing suicide. He got back into the form he showed in his first proper season at the end of the year with 8 goals and 2 assists in his last 13 matches.

They didn't get the exact same in the league, btw. Greenwood got 7 goals and 2 assists, Saka got 5 and 3, so that's one G/A fewer, in over 700 more minutes.

There's no myth here. Saka is a great prospect. Greenwood is just better.

Very narrow minded way to look at it.

Greenwood had a good last month or two. Saka was consistent throughout the season. Greenwood got 7 of his 9 goal contributions in the last 8 games of the season..

Anyone who says they're not in the same league is very biased imo. They're clearly in the same league for now. One could pull away, but for now there really isn't much in it. Sakas ability to impact games consistently through creating chances is as good a skill as Greenwoods finishing. Saka needs to improve his end product a bit, and Greenwood needs to improve his overall play.

 

[Daydreamer]

Saka was Arsenal's POTY, YPOTY all wrapped into one and Greenwood still beat his tally despite having a horrific start to the season with the media character assassination following the Iceland debacle, and then one of his close friends committing suicide. He got back into the form he showed in his first proper season at the end of the year with 8 goals and 2 assists in his last 13 matches.

They didn't get the exact same in the league, btw. Greenwood got 7 goals and 2 assists, Saka got 5 and 3, so that's one G/A fewer, in over 700 more minutes.

There's no myth here. Saka is a great prospect. Greenwood is just better.

I don’t know what the “Iceland debacle” is and I didn’t know he was dealing with trauma. Shows a lot of mental strength. I’m glad to hear he was able to recapture his form and use football as an outlet. I think a lot fans forget that players are just humans.

Transfermarkt has Saka down as 5G + 4A, but stats vary slightly from source to sources. Saka played more minutes, but he played nearly half his games (15/32) came in defence or centre mid. Whereas all of Greenwood’s minutes came as a forward.

Greenwood is clearly talented, he just doesn’t put up huge numbers yet (which is to be expected - he’s 19).

 

[RooneyLegend]

Do you think? Why? Scholes height didn’t hold him back. It seems to me that the only thing holding Gomes back was himself & whoever is advising him.

What makes you think Gomes' progress has stalled?

 

[cyberman]

Very narrow minded way to look at it.

Greenwood had a good last month or two. Saka was consistent throughout the season. Greenwood got 7 of his 9 goal contributions in the last 8 games of the season..

Anyone who says they're not in the same league is very biased imo. They're clearly in the same league for now. One could pull away, but for now there really isn't much in it. Sakas ability to impact games consistently through creating chances is as good a skill as Greenwoods finishing. Saka needs to improve his end product a bit, and Greenwood needs to improve his overall play.

I was going through Sakas goal contributions and the majority of his stats came from 8 goals and assists in 6 matches at the turn of the year.
Theres nothing wrong with Masons overall play, hes a striker playing from wide and is one of the most productive inside forwards in world football and he is only 19. I like Saka but they play in 2 very different leagues. Saka doesn't have to face the low blocks that Mason does because the opposition clowns on you so much, plus Arsenal always gives Saka the ball because thats all you have. If United gave Greenwood the ball everytime im sure his stats would be higher than they are but he has to share the ball with better teammates.
Its why mid table sides always have surprising names near the top of assist stats. Grob from Brighton has more assists than Mane, Sterling, Firminho and the same as Werner, for example and yet Brightons strikers miss sooooo many chances. He would be higher than KDB and Bruno if his strikers didnt miss so many sitters.
Sakas contribution in front of goal isnt good enough for the amount of play that goes through him imo.

 

[golden_blunder]

What makes you think Gomes' progress has stalled?

Stalled might be the wrong word but he’s not where Saka, Foden, Sancho, etc are. He’s at Boavista but only on loan from Lille.
had He had some patience he may have had some more first team experience at United

 

[MO_Football92]

Saka was Arsenal's POTY, YPOTY all wrapped into one and Greenwood still beat his tally despite having a horrific start to the season with the media character assassination following the Iceland debacle, and then one of his close friends committing suicide. He got back into the form he showed in his first proper season at the end of the year with 8 goals and 2 assists in his last 13 matches.

They didn't get the exact same in the league, btw. Greenwood got 7 goals and 2 assists, Saka got 5 and 3, so that's one G/A fewer, in over 700 more minutes.

There's no myth here. Saka is a great prospect. Greenwood is just better.

They are different players so it's difficult to compare. Greenwood is clearly playing in a more settled team under a better manager.

 

[hellhunter]

They are different players so it's difficult to compare. Greenwood is clearly playing in a more settled team under a better manager.

And in a more attacking role. I rate Mason quite a bit higher than Saka, but comparing their numerical output is pointless.

 

[Pickle85]

He looks a top prospect...seems to make good decisions, can dribble and links up with players around him well. The one question mark for me is whether he has the end product (ie can he put up the kinds of numbers, whether goals or assists, that you'd expect from someone that gets into the areas he does). Still so young though so am sure that will continue to improve. He already looks class. Seems a nice lad too.

 

[Daydreamer]

I was going through Sakas goal contributions and the majority of his stats came from 8 goals and assists in 6 matches at the turn of the year.
Theres nothing wrong with Masons overall play, hes a striker playing from wide and is one of the most productive inside forwards in world football and he is only 19. I like Saka but they play in 2 very different leagues. Saka doesn't have to face the low blocks that Mason does because the opposition clowns on you so much, plus Arsenal always gives Saka the ball because thats all you have. If United gave Greenwood the ball everytime im sure his stats would be higher than they are but he has to share the ball with better teammates.
Its why mid table sides always have surprising names near the top of assist stats. Grob from Brighton has more assists than Mane, Sterling, Firminho and the same as Werner, for example and yet Brightons strikers miss sooooo many chances. He would be higher than KDB and Bruno if his strikers didnt miss so many sitters.
Sakas contribution in front of goal isnt good enough for the amount of play that goes through him imo.

This is certainly an interesting take. Arsenal face plenty of low blocks. In fact, breaking them down was our primary problem leading to mostly uninspired horseshoe passing once we got to the final third. Our average possession last season was a whopping 2.4 below United’s.

Our play doesn’t especially go through Saka. He got our POTY because he’s highly efficient so when we do give him the ball he drives at the opposition and cause them problems.

I agree that there’s nothing wrong with Greenwood’s overall play. Strangely enough I think his general gameplay has been underrated while his end product is overrated due to recency bias stemming from his great form at the end of the season.

 

[horsechoker]

Wasn't great but he's a young lad and I feel sorry for him, he really shouldn't have come on nor should he have taken penalty no.5.

 

[Lay]

Wasn't great but he's a young lad and I feel sorry for him, he really shouldn't have come on nor should he have taken penalty no.5.

so bizarre he was the 5th choice let alone taking one after looking nervous all game

 

[Abraxas]

Was bright in his other showings but was so poor today, everything he did seemed to go wrong. The touches, misreading his own team mates, just couldn't retain the ball but wasn't helped by his teammates often isolating him.

Then the pen, which can happen but shouldn't have been a thing.

A big shame a promising tournament ended on such a sour note for him and now his club will have to pick him up, but he's got plenty ahead of him.

 

[2mufc0]

Poor kid, hope it doesn't effect him too much.

 

[VorZakone]

Southgate did him dirty.

 

[charlenefan]

Awful decision to bring him on full stop let alone giving him the 5th pen

He's a good player with a bright future but he's not good enough to have got the amount of minutes he's had in this tournament when you compare to someone like Grealish

 

[Desert Eagle]

Why would you give a young kid the last pen? Bad decision and feel.sorry for Saka.

 

[Eternitiy]

Southgate has possibly ruined his career. Feel very sorry for him.

 

[FootyGirl88]

He’s so cute, I hope he’ll be ok

 

[DWelbz19]

Absolutely out of his depth both today and in the Semi’s, but I really do hope he pulls back from this. The torrent of abuse already his way is not on

 

[hp88]

Which dumb fecker decided to give him the last penalty

 

[NieThePiet]

How you can sub off an 31 year old captain from Liverpool for the penalties and at the same time you are giving the most important pen for England since years to a 19 year old???

Hopefully all three get a lot of support from club and friends.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

I hope the idiots on social media don't abuse the shit out of him.

 

[Berbaclass]

I imagine the abuse he’s about to get will be horrendous. Poor kid. Hope he comes back from this he’s got some real talent.

 

[unplayable]

Takes someone balls to take that penalty at 19 years old when some of the more experienced players didn't have the courage. Can't blame him.

 

[Harry190]

Criminal that he was picked 5th. As soon as I saw him step up, I knew it was over. Now he has to live with this.

 

[awop]

There should be bigger uproar than for the ESL if the FA renew Southgate's contract.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

I despise Arsenal but this lad deserves nothing but plaudits; in a squad of league winners he’s down to take the 5th penalty in an international tournament final.

Outstanding talent.

 

[horsechoker]

Southgate has possibly ruined his career. Feel very sorry for him.

Bit extreme but now Arteta has to pick up the pieces.

Ferguson did it with Beckham in 98 and now Arteta and Ole need to do the same.

 

[PoTMS]

Should not have played before some of the other names on the bench. Feel really sorry for him.

 

[R'hllor]

Imagine if everyone else backed out and kid was forced into that position, feel sorry for a kid.

 

[Giggs86]

Southgate wanted for someone to feel worse than he felt at 1996. Found the perfect candidate for that.