Ian Wright has admitted that he is worried about Bukayo Saka, with the Arsenal star being targeted by other teams.
The Gunners currently sit top of the Premier League target, and have become one of the teams to beat in the division, and teams will do all they can to stop us. Even top teams like Chelsea, who resorted to getting extra physical in the second half as they tried to stop our free-flowing football.
Wright now admits that he is ‘nervous’ when watching Saka on the field, as he has been on the wrong end of a number of rough challenges this term.
‘We’ve got to talk about Bukayo Saka,” Ian said on his Wrighty’s Podcast. “People will say, “oh they’re just trying to protect him”. The man is getting kicked to bits man.
‘It’s horrible. I’m nervous when he’s playing. You know when you have your best player in the team and when it goes down you’re worried. I’m literally like that every time. It’s a worry.
‘There has only been one booking for the challenges there have been on Saka this season. Just one!’
Martinelli seems to have avoided getting clattered mostly, but it is those wide-men who usually feel the brunt of those tackles. Sitting top of the table also adds extra pressures, on both us and the teams coming up against us, and I have to agree with Wright that my heart jumps up into my throat when Saka really takes a knock.
Do you think that Saka is being personally targeted?
Patrick
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Watch Mo Elneny talking about Arteta…
Please enjoy, watch and subscribe to JustArsenalVids
Kicked to bits !
Go back 20-30 years then saka would know what that ment ,wrighty should know this .
Pet hate of mine when I see so called hard men get brushed and go down like they have been shot only to then get up like nothing as happened .
With respect to Wrighty ,players today are cosseted when compared to the physical challenges dished out in the sixties and seventies by the likes of Harris, Hunter,Styles etc.Referees come down hard on any malicious tackling today,which is as it should be and the suggestion that Saka is being “kicked to bits” is an overstatement imo.Delighted to see that Saka , Ramsdale and Ben White have made the World Cup squad and while I doubt if any of them are likely to start matches, it is recognition of their continued development with Arsenal.Personally, I feel White is a cut above the likes of Coady and Maguire and I cannot believe that Shaw is the only natural left back in the squad.Walker and Phillips are not match fit and I cannot understand why a Chelsea reserve has been included at the expense of Ward Prouse of Southampton.A topic for discussion on JA?
Players like Harris, Hunter, and Styles were thugs, nothing entertaining watching players kick lumps out of other players, even now when I watch some of those games, I think thank god it has changed
Grandad is right, England better hope that nothing happens to Shaw,because there is no other natural LB,Trippier could play there but wouldn’t be as effective.
I’m no expert but 7 weeks to fully recover from a shoulder surgery,is that near enough?I remember as a kid having my clavicle broken during a game,the opposition’s GK was a very big lad and I was just a little skinny one.anyway after surgery,I had to wear this brace which supports both shoulders for at least 2 months.
Every PL game we’ve struggled in this season has been refereed in a way that lets a lot of fould play go unpunished.
They call it “being physical”, but it’s basically cheating.
I don’t care what it used to be like – and I don’t have to care – it should never have been allowed to become that way. The only physical contact the rules allow between players is shoulder to shoulder, all the rest of it is just cheating which comes about due to poor/weak refereeing.
If they start refereeing properly, skilful sides like Arsenal will win things.
That wasn’t actually meant to be a direct reply to Grandad, although it does address some of the points he made, others said similar things so I meant to post it as a reply to the overall article.
Its a tricky one, yes Saka get fouled a lot, yes he needs protection but if he doesn’t want to get fouled so often he needs to change his game. He runs at opposition players not round them, drawing a foul. If he was to get fouled more running around or away from players, he would draw yellow cards but he invites the foul by the way he plays. He needs to change his style to put more pressure on defenders. He wont get fouled the same for England because he plays a different game, he gets the ball in space and runs into space, not at players. Plus playing combinations help you get fouled less. The right back needs to help him more and help protect him by drawing players off him. I worry more by the Jesus fouls because Jesus is battling with his markers and he gets battered because of. Saka just gets fouled, so rather than body shattering fouls, he get clipped. If either want to avoid injury they need to look how they draw the fouls and try to avoid them.