Alan Smith has hailed Arsenal attacker Bukayo Saka after his fine performance for England against Denmark.
Saka was chosen to start England’s Euro 2020 semi-final against the Danes yesterday and delivered another top performance.
The attacker has been one of Gareth Southgate’s go-to men and he repaid the faith by forcing the own goal that helped England equalise yesterday.
Saka made a fine run through the Denmark defence and had his ball deflected into England’s opponent’s goal after they had taken a shock lead at Wembley.
Both teams couldn’t find another goal in the remaining minutes of normal time before Harry Kane scored a penalty rebound to help England finally beat their determined opponents in extra time.
Like most English fans, former Arsenal man, Smith was delighted with the contributions of Saka in the match and said the attacker has become “one of the jewels in the England crown”
Smith told Sky Sports: “We’ve spoken about him a few times, haven’t we? And he’s got ice in his veins, nothing affects him.
“I suppose inside when you come out, there is the national anthem, then you see those fans, you’re bound to have butterflies.
“But once that whistle goes, he just wants the ball all the time, and the stuffs he does with the ball is fantastic and the runs his makes off the ball for the equalizer is absolutely brilliant.
“So he’s become one of the jewels of the England crown, we’ve got a few in there. But for one so young, he defies belief at times”
All the people who suggested not to start Saka should keep their opinions to themselves because they do not know much about soccer.
While he has done extremely well for one so young we should not get carried away with all the hype spilling out from the deserved victory over Denmark.Southgate will almost certainly stick with the 4-2-3-1 system against Italy and if Emerson of Chelsea makes the Italian team at LB, Saka or Foden will give him a tough time on his weaker right side.Personally I would like us to match up with Italy’s 4-3-3 set up and would use Mount and Foden on either side of Rice at DM.Southgate is likely to be more cautious than an old guy like me and will probably start with Rice, Phillips and Mount in midfield.
Stopped reading at deserved victory
loved the comment, i watched the match, while england had good spells of possession, Denmark could easily have beaten them they were that good on the day, baffling substitutes from the Denmark coach when he subbed of damsgaard and dolberg esp dolberg, maybe because of fatigue..
and at the end it needed a rahim sterling dive, while harry kane tried to dive all over the place..
anyways good victory for england but I think Italy would be difficult to break for england, southgate hasnt been able to make things click on the attacking end if you consider the talent
So you disagree Chris? Did the wrong team win?Perhaps you could enlighten me.
England played better but the dive was disgraceful..
Yes, he got the talent. He deserves some accolades. Like seriously, if not for him, it would have been very difficult for Englang last night. But miraculously, he did it the very best he could. Ride on, dude!
One of the four jewels in the Arsenal crown, for sure; the others being ESR, Balogun and Saliba. Here I assume, we will save our future 100M rated French CB from the Arteta guillotine.
We?
A garrison of fit peeps marching against Arteta?
I’ll keep my powder dry thanks for the time being
If or when he stinks in early Autumn I’ll review but I’m not going to now
Saka deserves great credit for his efforts, wheras Sterling ruined the joy of victory. Sterling did cheat by diving. There was no penalty IMO. Higly respected Mark Clattenburg told as well, it was wrong and harsh to award England a penalty.
IMO a cheat win is not a real win.
Class player for being so young. His humilty is refreshing I must say, and doesn’t buy into his own hype.
Maybe that’s why Tierney and Saka are my 2 club favorites. Consistent, humble, hard working, and never complacent.
Testament to the character really, their parents deserve some sort of reward, or recognition at least.
Definitely one of the few club shirts worth having along with Tierney. For one so young Saka is given a lot of respect from the opposition. Hence defenders aiming to cut him down before he can get started. Expect more of the same if he starts against Italy. If there is one thing their aging defenders fear it is speed.
true that, denmark absolutely doubled and tripled up around saka forcing him to go backwards with his passing, as far as i think, mason mount did not have a good game , grealish could have been better , kyle walker behind saka was great though
Spot on.
Imagine Man-U wanted to still this young man of ours away!!! They are so heartless when it comes to doing business with us, Like A-Villa.