Bukayo Saka was moved to midfield for the first time in his Arsenal career against Wigan. In this video, we analyse why it worked well. But why Arsenal must keep using it as this NEW position will elevate the club to a bigger level. Let me know what you think in the comments!
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33 Comments
He created zero chances in there
Saka de bruyne
Play noorgard more, he creates more chances and always giving forward passes while zubi is more diagonal passing also, against a low block we don’t need a double pivot
Saka at false 9 could be the next Messi
Saka has good football iq and decision making,he sort of has a lot of work in the rw role in artetas system having to track back all match and cross a lot,him at 10 would be interesting against mid and low blocks
imagine having a player like saka and the most utilisation your team can do is to use him to only create space
It's a shame we didn't get to see MLS in the midfield because of calafiori's unlucky injury during the warm up before the game
Arteta is the only level headed view so far. They played WIGAN. Midfield role has physicality demands. Saka can play there against Wigan and can fail there playing against Wolves
Convert Dowman to false 9.
F9: Jesus/ Dowman
11: Trossard/ Martinelli
7: Nwanieri/ Madueke
10: Saka/ Merino
8: Zubimendi/ Eze
6: Rice/ Norgaard
3: Califiori/ Skelly
5: Gabriel/ Hincapié
6: Saliba/ Mosquera
2: Timber/ White
1: Raya/ Kepa
Norgard should be given more opportunities in no.6 then Zubimendi moved up either no.8 or no.10 at times but Lewis Skelly is also a good candidate for no.8 so that Rice rests at times
Saka's strength and dribbling skills complemented Madueke's right-wing play nicely. Saka will have to transition into a central midfield role once he reaches 30 years old, as Messi did when the Argentinian lost his pace
This is all well and good but let's not lie Arteta isnt gonna do this. He's gonna go back to default of Rice and Zubimendi and we go back to a rigid/stiff midfield with hardly any creativity.
I've seen enough, buy a new winger so Saka can terrorise through the middle.
Against Wigan ? Cmon
Too talky talky, go straight to the point! And put in more illustrations too~!
We used to play: Timber inside, Saka out wide, RCM stay back
but it would be much better if we had: Timber stay back, Saka inside and Madueke out wide
I think we should play Saka as an attacking midfielder, this is because he could create more chances and score more and this would leave Madueke to get more minutes, so it would be very benificial for our club. COYG
What about Eze,he is one who created 2 assists and you are taking about saka who has been excellent for us at right wing
JAYsus bubba.
You. Are. Saying. It. Wrong.
We keep talking about a certain player that will "revolutionary" change the midfield i think we're missing the point that midfield has fundamental problem
Arteta seem to not know how to use these players. Too many experiments 😢
Saka was even supposed to play nevermind start in midfield
I would like to see him play there but I dont think arteta will actually play him in midfield
MLS Is a midfielder too….Saka should be able drift play both wings…..and why are we so rigid slow and predictable going forward
2:37, 2:46, 2:52, look how close Odegaard is to the touch line. 😂
3:06, look how Saka is a lot more central.
I'm glad you are talking about this because I have been saying this. Saka is always getting quadruple teamed on the wing, so move that to the center of the pitch and watch it cause problems and open up spaces on the wings. I would have preferred they kept Nwaneri and took advantage from the form he had last season and played him on the wing and Saka in the CM position. Those are two players I think would benefit playing each others roles.
Mikel 🎉
fr
I just don’t see mls in the midfield or even a cdm. He’s not anywhere near secure as Zuni or norgaard or rice. To me he needs to embrace his new position as a left back bulk up and perfect his defense side. Things like this happen all the time where an athlete changes positions after playing another position his whole life. He more suited and more effective going forward on the left defensive end.
First, we have to understand that our system is all about playing low risk low reward football.
So unlike ManCity, which they would try to attack through the centre, we would attack close to the touch line and close to the corner flag. Because if the opponent gets the ball from us, they would have to start their attack not from central areas, which is less dangerous. But the downside is, our attacks would also be less dangerous.
When ManCity are inverting their fullbacks, they are so central, as if they are central midfielders and attacking midfielders to create overloads in the centre. Whereas even when our fullbacks are inverted, they are still very close to the touch line. And you can also see that Odegaard is pulled very wide to the right, and Rice is very wide to the left.
When was the last time you see Rice, Odegaard, and our striker are combining, playing passes in the centre? Almost never.
After you understand this, then you would see that our aim is not about having Odegaard or Rice playing through passes to our striker, and it’s not about having them combining to create chances in the centre.
The ball is instructed to always go wide, and the aim is to have our wide players cut inside to shoot or to cross the ball. If that’s the case, then there is no use for having even a prime Iniesta there as the right side attacking midfielder, as all you ask him to do is to play a simple pass to the wide player.
In that case, then you might as well have an extra dribbler there. Because if the attacking midfielder and the winger rotate position, you would still get a dribbler dribbling the ball into the box. When you have Madueke and Saka swapping positions, Madueke would become our attacking midfielder, either way you would still have a winger dribbling into the box, and it does not matter if Madueke can play passes like a proper attacking midfielder, because all you ask our attacking midfielders to do is to play simple passes to the winger. Whereas when Odegaard and Saka are swapping positions, Odegaard can’t operate like a winger.
What you tell your barber? Put a blindfold on and cut away
I had a Sunday league game at the same time and, its such an inconclusive game for our league campaign. The ability of our players and pace of our attack was too much for Wigan. Not trying to be demeaning at all to analyze it for a video, but the issue is if Arteta wants to switch out one of the best pivot duos in Europe and make it more of a basketball game– we know thats not what he is. What is great though is that ability to switch game states in UCL
I really think Saka can pull of a great partnership with Eze I can see some really good cambinations and some unpredictability .I think Eze should do better at winning the ball back though.
Interesting ideas, Id almost say the same thing could work on the left flank Martinelli has shown multiple times this season that he is very effective with straight through balls either from deep over the top or short from the 9 position inside the box….so perhaps it would work with Eze or Trossard on the outside and Marti in the middle 9…only problem is that would mean dropping Rice back to DM and losing Zubimendi at the base of midfield….
I think it would be very interesting to see it happen on both sides with Havertz upfront dropping in for the link ups/1-2 triangles on either side with Saka and Martinelli, and the other wingers on the deep overlaps and back posts for second balls.
P.s. im obviously a big fan of Martinelli and think he is hugely under rated and overly critiqued considering he is still only 24, professional players generally aren't (or weren't up until about 5 years ago) considered to be in their absolute peak prime until around 26 years old and I genuinely believe he has still a lot of potential in a more central position even as the out an out striker role.