Bukayo Saka came off the bench yesterday to deliver his 10th assist of the season, a wicked cross from which Eddie Nketiah equalised in the 3-2 win over Everton.
His attacking prowess should come as no surprise to anyone who has been watching Arsenal closely this season, but during the second half there were difficult moments for the 18 year old from a defensive point of view.
Some indifferent passes and questionable decisions might have been more harshly punished, and it was just a reminder that he’s still a young man with plenty to learn.
Defensively he has been very solid, so this was something of an aberration, but it drew comments from manager Mikel Arteta about the need to continue his development as a player.
Suggesting there were some physical issues for Saka to deal with, the manager said, “Bukayo had some issues as well before the game but then he started to play after a few minutes.
“It was a great contribution offensively but as well there are other moments when he showed today that there is still a lot of margin for him for improvement, and he needs to keep his feet on the ground and we have to help him to do that.”
It’s natural for a player of his relative inexperience to suffer some inconsistencies, it’s about how he learns from them that really counts.
Yesterday will be another excellent step in his progression – more attacking end product, but a little reminder the concentration and focus required to play at this level can’t be taken for granted.
Good luck keeping my feet on the ground with Saka around!
Great choice of photo to go with the headline
I had the impression that these errors were purely down to his fatigue, they weren’t the mental lapses you have seen in Mustafi’s choices over the last two seasons. Having said that, he obviously has a lot of room for improvemnt, but let’s not forget we’re playing him out of his natural position and he’s been our first pick there over a man who has been chosen a Bundesliga LB of the season.
Agreed, those were mistakes that Saka simply hasn’t looked like making during any of his appearances for us so far. Seemed quite clear that he was completely shot after the last week (I doubt he’d have been on the bench to start with were it not for fatigue)
My thoughts exactly. He’s been playing to the ground, having cramps every game. Just hope he’s given some rest and not be overplayed his way to a stress injury like Jack.
I find it ironic that blogs picks up on the defensive mistakes from an 18 year old winger playing in a position he’s not that experienced in and errors that looked more down to physical levels dropping rather than awareness or technical. Sure he got plenty to learn but he’s already a better defender in my opinion than Bellerin who really has learnt hardly anything in his years in the first team. A total blind spot for blogs I think as Bellerin really is a great personality and the kind of person anyone would want to succeed and do well.
He’s doing sensationally for an 18 year old playing out of position.
Another assist again yesterday too, that’s stunning!
Feet on the ground?
Doesn’t he mean ‘hand on the contract (holding a pen)’?
You are right about that. Arsenal need to get his contract sorted out rapid. There must be so many teams sniffing around him right now we need to at least bring him up to first team status.
Will be very interesting to see how this story develops. Hopefully he’ll sign da
ting.
He’d probably prefer to play at LW, but with Kolasinac’s potential injury blow, he might be rotating at LB with Tierney right until the end of this season. Then it will be up to what Arteta’s plans are, as well as Aubameyang’s future.
Wouldn’t be at all surprised if top clubs were very interested in him, and that in my mind includes Liverpool…
Hopefully everybody realises the need to be patient with him and don’t expect him to deliver every time he’s on the pitch. He’s not a defender, so will make mistakes defensively. If he were to cost us a goal, the crowd shouldn’t get on his back over it. He’s already done better than we could have imagined since filling in.
Hopefully him and Tierney can be our Cole and Pires for the next 8/9/10 years.
He did cost us a goal recently but it’s fair to say we’ve forgotten about that!
Which goal was that? Even if it was true the positives certainly far outweigh any negatives
See, I had to look it up. 1-1 Away at Bournemouth. It was a real collective fuck-up but he had the best chance to prevent it.
I hadn’t forgotten..and that was naivety on his part.
I’m happy to ride this train. Does anyone else remember how proud and up ourselves we used to be about “Arsenal don’t sign stars we make them”, I loved those years and I honestly believe this current crop of Arsenal youth are our golden goose (geese?).
Saka, Nelson, Martinelli, Nketiah, Willock, Saliba to come, we’ve been plenty patient with much less exciting players in the past, I’ll happily give this group and manager their time.
Smith-Rowe…
Picture Perfect
That Bambi-esque pic is just adorable.
Seriously though, we’ve got such a huge talent on our hands. Hopefully we can convince him to sign da ting. Fingers crossed our execs don’t eff this up.
Absolutely right. Too easy to get carried away with young players. Also too convenient to forget other young players making their mark as well. Martinelli has been also excellent this season. BUT as can be seen, these young players will face issues of consistency common with their development through to age 22-23yrs. Also lest we forget, all this rennaisance in younger players did not start with Arteta. Unai had (thanks to one of Mslintat’s more inspired signing) the benefit of blooding Guendouzi last season which was a catalyst for the younger players building on the belief that they can have… Read more »
He’s 18…..
In the 0-0 against Everton in-December, he had a shocker with his crossing, and some people were saying he wasn’t good enough, because his delivery was so poor.
I think he’s already put that theory to bed.
Hopefully we get Tierney back soon so we can rotate, taking a bit of pressure off Saka.
3 games in a week for an 18yr old, was always going to take its toll.
It’s actually his bum “on the ground” in that photo.
Amen to that Blogs….
Good observation ??