It was like a draw with 2 extra points for winning :unsure:
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It was like a draw with 2 extra points for winning :unsure:
Saka with another assist, but he had a reallll dodgy 20 minutes or so in the second half. Surprised I didn't see Xhaka screaming at him / giving him one of his now trademark pep talks. I thought Xhaka was brilliant today though......Mustafi too, what the hell is going on.
With some focused coaching on Hector and Pepe, we could be getting way more out of the right hand side.
I was starting to think to myself, what is Eddie giving us that Laca can't....but then he scored and almost scored again late on. Much better for him today. No need to say anything about Auba really. We know he's mustard.
i was disappointed to see Eddie on the team sheet instead of Martinelle but fair play he did very well and could have had a second goal
we (sort of) had a bit of luck with the kola injury though it does leave saka playing a lot of minutes and you could see the effect of it in the second half
ceballos is doing really well in that DM position and if he carries on like this i think we should pitch in for him in the summer
another good result. think Saka is a shoo-in for left back permanently now. Ceballos offers a lot more than Guendo.
it was also good to concede first and still win. that builds confidence.
I was convinced about Ceballos after the first game. He might have underwhelmed after that but I'd have signed him at any point this season...I think the kid's mustard.
I’d like to see Saka get his chance on LW, but I’m also glad he’s getting a thorough grounding as a LB (and doing it willingly) - the two roles work in tandem, and we certainly need all the options we can get there! Having a full appreciation of both roles will make him a better player down that flank, whichever role he ends up with.
No point making too many plans for him until we know what’s happening with Auba and Laca, though - if either / both leave this summer then that LW spot will be up for grabs, and he’ll immediately be the strongest contender for it...
Saka was clearly knackered in the 2nd half, he wasn't even meant to be playing.
Regarding his position, I basically fall into the camp of "he's doing well enough where he is, why move him?"
well the player hiimself comes into it, at the moment he's willing to play there, he's probably seen what happened to AMN who's sidelined himself by saying he doesn't want to play RB (which is dumb on his part IMO but so be it)
Saka probably has more leverage though as he's already attracting interest so we need to think about keeping him happy
Tierney is a very good player too. He's been very unlucky with injury which has given Saka a much bigger chance to make an impression, which the kid has taken brilliantly. I'd like to see both these guys on the pitch. The both get up and down the pitch, they can both defend and they are both excellent crossers off the ball (gold dust in the modern game). Both are genuine threats from that side and, working together, could form a stable and naturally interchangeable partnership. That would make Pepe £72mill cover. We're spoiled on the left.
On the right, that's where we have problems. Bellerin is going backwards faster than he used to be able to run forwards. If he was on form we'd have the pieces to be Liverpoolesque in terms of wide attacking play and - assuming we finally play Auba in the middle - goal threat.
Slowly things are taking shape, albeit with huge problems still to address in certain key positions. It's painful to watch in match day, like a baby learning first steps and always on the verge of falling down. But there's purpose in the effort and, for the first time in over a decade, there's an end goal in sight. Still think it will take a couple of hundred mill to fix the key problems though. Hope Stan is up for that.