Quote Originally Posted by Mac76 View Post
I think Arteta just relies on Saka as someone who can just magic a goal from pretty much nothing, and tbh when he's on form, that's true, but when somone knows they're always going to be in the starting lineup i think they do two things, first they manage their minutes on the pitch, in other words find opportunities to take it easy, and second just essentially become complacent - there always needs to be a sense of competition for places, unless it's Messi
I actually think you're right here. I just don't understand why Arteta thinks this as Saka has never been a good goal scorer. His record must be about a goal every 4 or 5 games and he's never been a player who has really created his own goals.

Arteta has a complete blind spot when it comes to him, which is incredibly strange. To an extent, I understand why the media give him a free pass and why fans apply their favoritism but the manager....??

If anything, if I had to rely on someone doing something I'd be more comfortable with Martinelli being more likely.

That said, I do think Saka does exactly what is asked of him, from a tactical perspective, in terms of holding that wide position to create space for Odegaard...but that's hardly a complex deliverable and any player with a full set of chromosomes could do it.

The whole Saka thing is just bizarre. It really is.