Saka has had at least one direct goal involvement in every game he’s played for us this season except for the 1-0 win at Palace.
He’s had a total of 12 direct goal involvements which represents 52% of the goals Arsenal have scored in games featuring Saka and 57% of the goals Arsenal have scored while Saka was on the pitch (2 goals - against PSV and Bournemouth - were scored after Saka had been subbed off with Arsenal already leading 3-0).
The two games he didn’t play were both 1-0 wins (Brentford in the League Cup and Man City), so Saka has been directly involved in 48% of Arsenal’s total goals this season, including those scored in games he didn’t play.
Personally, I don’t think this is because of anything Saka is doing. He’s been playing very well, as usual, but the fact Arsenal are depending on him so heavily for goal contributions reflects the fact that our other attacking players have been much less dangerous than we would like.
What needs to be done to remove this burden from Saka and ensure we don’t become a one-man attacking team?
You must log in or register to comment.
Cole Palmer would’ve been a good Saka backup, but City probably wouldn’t want to strengthen us more
Saka is easily going to get a couple of top 3 Ballon d’or finish. I don’t think he is winning it because he got unlucky with the viking and the turtle, but he is that good.
So it’s normal that we have a dependency on him. Our best player by a mile
Others need to step up. Odegaard has gone missing offensively lately, pretty much since signing a new deal. Havertz as LCM doesn’t really know what to do while ESR and Vieira are unable to do enough to get more chances. Our STs are starved of chances and aren’t clinical enough for the few we do create.
I think once you address these sorts of things you’ll see a drastic change. I don’t think we’re miles away from doing enough, we just need a couple things to click in our attacking unit.
I think a big problem with Ode is how teams currently set up. All play through the middle is completely clogged. Games where teams don’t have essentially a 4 man box midfield he absolutely destroys teams. We just need Arteta (or Pep lol) to figure out the next tactical tweak to overcome this. It’s why lots of games this season seem stodgier against us and city.
Other players also need to step up.
jesus coming deep all the time also doesn’t help, with martinelli and saka hugging the touchlines there’s never anyone in the box
Maybe he comes because ode cannot sort it out?
He is our Salah
My feeling is that we’re more dependent of the late Xhaka/Partey relationship in midfield.
We’ve been struggling to find back the same stability/efficiency since both left/lost place.
When our midfield is running, everything ticks.
Under rated comment, but we always looked bad without Partey on the pitch.
The issue wasnt loosing xhaka, its that we are nitnplaying the best midfiled.
Ode lost his form and should be benched. Why keep Viera, esr and Kai around if you wont play them?
I feel like we there has been a concerted shift to be more deliberate with our play to break down the low blocks we face so often.
But I think the issue is we are too slow getting the ball from defence to midfield (or from our third or our half of the middle third of the pitch to their half). That gives opponents too much time to set their defences and get organised with me behind the ball. Too often we have Saliba and Gabriel passing it around on the edge of our box, I just feel last year they were passing the ball a lot closer to the middle of the pitch. Our deliberate play should be occurring in the middle of the pitch or the opponents third to really stretch them, feels like we’re too slow in crafting our attacks from way too deep which gives our front 5 absolutely no room to work which is why they’ve all struggled
See the second half vs Chelsea.
With Rice as the deep cm he was a little brave to step past people and push passes forward.
Didn’t have any of that in the first place. Jorginho is a safe bet but doesn’t push us forward sadly.
Jorge makes some incredible line breaking passes. Was one of stats I recall him excelling in. But I agree he’s not a safe bet anymore with age / fitness. A great third choice
No one batted an eye lid when Messi was doing it week in week out. Now, I’m not comparing him to Messi, but I think we should start normalising how good some of our players actually are.
If he were as good as Messi and could regularly put up 40+ goal contributions a season then I wouldn’t have any concerns about Arsenal relying on him heavily. But that’s a big “if”
What do you mean by “I don’t think this is because of anything Saka is doing” part? It all has to do with what Saka is doing. I also don’t understand it being a burden on Saka…it’s his job to be involved in attack to score/contribute to goals…players wish they were having the prime/career he was having.
If you were to say you were worried about hit minutes that’s one thing. Every team is typically over reliant on their best player, especially if they are in attack. Do you think the invincibles were to reliant ok Henry?
They probably were, but he was one of the greatest players of all time so it doesn’t matter. Like I’ve said to people trying to compare to Haaland: if Saka can score 30+ goals or make 40+ goal contributions this season then I won’t have any problem.
Saka isn’t Henry.
Saka is our Haaland and Henry though. I’m saying teams have to rely on their best player. Especially when Martinelli and Jesus are injured, and the new midfield is taking time to gel (and teams are playing ode tighter). Not to mention we beat Man City while Saka was on the bench.
He’s been the only one of our first choice front 3 to be consistently playing so far this season. Gabi and Gabi gave both missed chunks. Makes sense that the “second string”, even if they’re good, aren’t contributing as much as the first choice in each position
Yeah that’s the problem I’m raising. We only have one serious attacking threat at the moment.
Hasn’t been a full season yet, let’s look at the numbers when we’re 30+ games in
Agreed, I’m just commenting on what we’ve seen so far
Thing is, Saka could blank for 4/5 games, Martinelli gets a couple, Ode gets a couple and all of a sudden it’s a very different outlook.
Plus the Chelsea game was the first time we have seen Saka, Jesus and Martinelli start together this season and you’ve got to remember that’s the combination that got us so many goals last season.
Team has been disjointed so far and there are many different reasons for it but one of them has been availability.
This is why there’s no point in comparing 9 games in the PL to a full season. Give it time.
I see our problem as having a poor conversion rate. We are missing too many chances, whether it is Kai misfiring, Martinelli crossing with no one in the box, Jesus kicking it over. None of them are sitters but we simply are not scoring as many as we should and that is killing us.
We’re slightly outperforming our xG, which would suggest that shot conversion isn’t the problem. Although I agree, we have quite a few attacking players who struggle to be clinical
I don’t think XG includes the issues we are having. We have not had a real striker that was prolific in a long time and while it is great that Mø, Gabbi and Saka had so many goals and assists last year, it clearly wasn’t enough.
I feel it’s more reflective of the lack of depth of talent in other positions. Like yes, Saka is world class and deserves time on the pitch. But if he has an off day, then the team struggle to get a result. I feel like the really strong, successful teams have the quality to secure games even when their main player isn’t producing.
In fairness Gabby had a a great game as RW.
But we have very few choices for the #9 role.
We’re totally reliant on him and will continue to be until we get a striker who can stick the ball in the back of the net.
We weren’t so reliant on him last season and we had exactly the same strikers then as we do now. The problem is more in the midfield I think.
Our two strikers got the same amount of goals combined as Martinelli (if my maths are correct) - 15. Perhaps we aren’t totally just reliant on Saka, but we are completely reliant on midfielders/wingers having to score because we have striker options who don’t do their job.
Also, don’t forget that Martinelli and Jesus have both been injured and he has stepped up in their absence.