Later, Arsenal will hold a training session ahead of the Europa League match against FC Zurich tomorrow night. Typically, the first 15 minutes of these sessions are ‘open’ to the media, with the main point of interest being whether or not Bukayo Saka is involved.
He was sent off during the 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest, and the concerns are understandable. It gets kicked around all the time, but very, very rarely does it have to be replaced by it. He tends to grimace, get up, carry on, hurt the opposition, and then maybe get kicked again. He repeat to fade.
People have worried about Bukayo Saka and injuries because for the last 12-18 months we haven’t had a credible alternative to him in the team, and we risked potential burnout or playing him too much. It was obvious last season that Nicolás Pepe was very much a last-resort option for Mikel Arteta, while this season the options have been deeper, but still not ones the manager has had full confidence in. Fabio Vieira and Marquinhos are still finding their place in English football, and as good as Reiss Nelson was on Sunday, I don’t know if there were too many people expecting that kind of contribution from him.
However, for me, my main concern was much more that an injury could come from a bad start than the calendar. Let’s not forget, last season was free from Europe, and that meant, more or less, 90 minutes a week for most of the campaign. When you consider what we have on our schedule this season, it seems pretty funny that someone cares about playing too much.
Last season, Saka was the Arsenal player who committed the most fouls in the Premier League. Through fBref, he received 59 fouls. The next closest was Gabriel Magalhaes with 38, then Alexandre Lacazette with 29.
This season they have taken that first place away from him, and I don’t think anyone will be surprised to learn that Gabriel Jesús is the player who committed the most fouls this season with 32. Saka follows with 17, and Gabriel Martinelli with 16. Part of why that it’s obvious: Jesus is a relentless menace, the football version of Principal Skinner chasing a Bart Simpson who is not present. He’s not going to stop, and with 55 dribble attempts to his name this season, he’s top of that list and thus gets knocked out more often than anyone else.
However, Saka isn’t far behind with 43 dribbling attempts (Martinelli has 45), but I think part of the reason he doesn’t take as many fouls this season is because teams often double him. When he gets the ball, there are two guys around him because they know the threat he poses. Not always though, as we saw in the first minute of the Forest game when Saka received a pass from Ben White and left back Lodi speared him from behind.
To me, that’s a yellow card, but the referees are so reluctant to call fouls with yellow cards from the start, the players know they can get a free kick. That then sets the tone for the rest of the game, because another guy will think ‘Well, if he can do that, I can get away with it too.’
I think it was much more frequent last season. Saka gets kicked or fouled and the referees don’t give him the free throws he deserved. But we have also seen it this season. He was ridiculously booked at Southampton when they clearly got him. There was a moment in the same game when he was knocked to the ground and the ref played on (I guess on a ‘Let it go’ decision). And even in Europe, there was a moment in the PSV game where he tripped, he went flying and the referee kept playing.
I don’t know what it is exactly, but there are some players who can drop at a defender’s whisper and get a decision, and others who are routinely ignored despite much more substantial contact. Think this was just a yellow card last season:
saka marthur
Or when Tyrone Mings literally knocked him down in the box and we didn’t take a penalty. Or when Mings skewered him from behind at Villa Park, leaving him with a bloody ankle, after which Steven Gerrard basically said, “Force because I have a leg full of screws and that’s the way it is,” as if they let him. half crippled in retirement from him by brutality on the field is a right of way that everyone should pass.
I really think those comments haven’t helped, because foul play on Saka is routinely ignored compared to other players. It is a constant problem, and it is rare that one of the brightest and most important talents in the England team is treated in this way. I don’t think he should have special protection, I think he should just get the free throws he’s due, and the opponent should be properly penalized for card-deserving challenges. That is all.
I’ve seen people suggest that they like to dive, and I can’t agree with that at all. What I see is a player who knows he’s going to be kicked all day and sometimes anticipates that contact to protect himself. Evasive maneuvers aren’t dives, and if you’re glad Saka hasn’t been out of the game for any significant amount of time to date, be glad he’s learning to deal with the kind of physical attention he gets.
Still, it’s not the first time I’ve written something like this, and I’m afraid it won’t be the last. All we can do is hope that, in the absence of decent refereeing, Saka avoids the kind of challenge where serious injury feels almost inevitable. No one wants to say ‘I told you so’.
See you tomorrow.
