2. Minutes played
Last season, Bukayo Saka played 3,353 minutes for Arsenal and looked shattered at the end of the season. This season he has played 3,684 plus England minutes in the World Cup and Euro Qualifiers, taking him to 4,248 minutes in total.
At Man City, only Rodri has played more minutes for club and country, with the likes of Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez all coming in with significantly fewer minutes played, particularly in the Premier League and World Cup.
Those minutes need to be looked at by both Mikel Arteta and Gareth Southgate next season. Yes, top players need to be able to play 60 games a season, but that doesn’t mean they need to play 90 minutes every time they step on the pitch.
There have been many games this season where Saka could have come off, but Arteta has played him for 90 minutes, even when games were won due to a lack of depth. This is an area where Arteta needs to improve next season, as another season like this won’t be sustainable.
After Wolves, England play North Macedonia and Malta, two games they have more than enough quality to win without Saka. Southgate needs to do the responsible thing and give the boy a rest.
Continued on the next slide…
Takehiro Tomiyasu</a> suffered an injury in the same game which ruled him out for the season, and the timing has had a catastrophic effect on Arsenal’s season.</p>
<p>Tomiyasu had played 21 league games before the injury and was regularly used in the last 20 minutes of games to give Ben White a breather and sure up the defence.</p>
<p>Since then, White has had to play more minutes and hasn’t looked as fresh, which has impacted his link-up with Saka, and the loss of Saliba has significantly reduced the speed at which the ball is played out from the back.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">🗣️ “I learned this season when you play against [Bukayo] Saka, Vinícius [Júnior], these type of wingers, [Gabriel] Martinelli or [Mohamed] Salah or [Sadio] Mané in the past that you need proper defenders to win duels 1 against 1.”</p>
<p>Pep Guardiola on changing his defensive system <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://t.co/t2p0aH509m">pic.twitter.com/t2p0aH509m
<p>— Football Daily (@footballdaily) <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://twitter.com/footballdaily/status/1660570267515604994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>May 22, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Thomas Partey has also endured a massive drop-off, and those bypassing whipped passes we saw to Saka all season have stopped. Overall, the build-up on that side has become a lot more mechanical.</p>
<p>With such a refined system, the loss of players and the reduction of energy plays a significant role in the creative side of the game, and Saka has suffered as a result.</p>
<p><em>Continued on the next slide…</em></p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> #2 Minutes played </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-134666" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1067,w_1600/https%3A%2F%2Fpaininthearsenal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1254878044.jpeg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067" srcset="https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1254878044.jpeg 1600w, https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1254878044-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1254878044-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"></p>
<h2><strong>2. Minutes played</strong></h2>
<p>Last season, Bukayo Saka played <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/bukayo-saka/leistungsdaten/spieler/433177/plus/0?saison=2022%22>3,353 minutes for Arsenal and looked shattered at the end of the season. This season he has played 3,684 plus England minutes in the World Cup and Euro Qualifiers, taking him to 4,248 minutes in total.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Bukayo Saka’s minutes this season:</p>
<p>⚽️Premier League: 3,134(94% of minutes available)<br>
⚽️Europa League: 401<br>
⚽️FA Cup: 149<br>
⚽️World Cup: 293<br>
⚽️Qualifiers: 271</p>
<p>4,248 minutes played for <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Arsenal?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>#Arsenal</a> and England at 21.</p>
<p>All intense minutes. There’s a reason for the drop off. <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://twitter.com/hashtag/afc?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>#afc</a> <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://t.co/GOfhmwSe82">pic.twitter.com/GOfhmwSe82
<p>— Adam Keys (@adamkeys_) <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://twitter.com/adamkeys_/status/1660224097979097088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>May 21, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>At Man City, only <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/rodri/nationalmannschaft/spieler/357565">Rodri has played more minutes for club and country, with the likes of Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez all coming in with significantly fewer minutes played, particularly in the Premier League and World Cup.</p>
<p>Those minutes need to be looked at by both Mikel Arteta and Gareth Southgate next season. Yes, top players need to be able to play 60 games a season, but that doesn’t mean they need to play 90 minutes every time they step on the pitch.</p>
<p>There have been many games this season where Saka could have come off, but Arteta has played him for 90 minutes, even when games were won due to a lack of <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/16/5-key-features-of-the-sum-up-the-title-charge-for-arsenal/5/">depth. This is an area where Arteta needs to improve next season, as another season like this won’t be sustainable.</p>
<p>After Wolves, England play North Macedonia and Malta, two games they have more than enough quality to win without Saka. Southgate needs to do the responsible thing and give the boy a rest.</p>
<p><em>Continued on the next slide…</em></p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> #3 Physical treatment </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-134610" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1706,w_2560/https%3A%2F%2Fpaininthearsenal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1256500152-scaled.jpeg" alt="" width="2560" height="1706" srcset="https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1256500152-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1256500152-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1256500152-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://paininthearsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/1256500152-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px"></p>
<h2><strong>3. Physical treatment</strong></h2>
<p>Not only has Saka played a huge number of minutes this season for club and country in the Premier League, Europa League and World Cup, but he has also been kicked up and down the pitch every week.</p>
<p>Saka is the ninth most fouled player in the league this season, winning <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"http://up.https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/most-fouled-players-premier-league-22-23-saka-zaha-grealish/">40 free kicks</a>, but only four yellows have been shown to players for those 40 fouls and many overly aggressive tackles have been overlooked by referees.</p>
<p><span style="color: #818181">At some point, officials are going to have to discuss whether they are prepared to protect players like Bukayo Saka.</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://twitter.com/henrywinter/status/1657785335974166529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>May 14, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/05/22/3-reasons-saka-form/2/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Arteta has been reluctant to call this out, and has said that it is on the club and Saka to get used to it: “But we have to train that and he needs to learn when to take certain balls, what to do with that ball, how to use his body, when to jump. There are a lot of things we can train, but obviously, it is very difficult to understand what the opponent is going to do.”</p>
<div class="embed ">
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<p>Saka will have to train to handle it as referees refuse to protect him, however, there is no doubt that being kicked to the level he has been this season eventually takes the spring out of your step, and further enhances fatigue come the final stages of the season.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">
