Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara has now offered some advice to Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka. Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has had to face new...
Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara has now offered some advice to Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka.
Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has had to face new challenges this season.
The 22-year-old attacker is a known quantity now. Opposition teams all respect his quality and any full-back knows he needs to be at his best to stand any chance of coping with the Hale End academy graduate.
Many teams are now going to great lengths to nullify the 32-cap England international’s impact on matches. Saka himself has spoken out publicly about how he is being doubled-up on in every game by opponents who are willing to commit extra manpower to the cause of marking him out of the game.
In recent weeks, Saka has struggled to deal with this extra attention. Whilst overall this season, across all competitions, he has racked up 8 goals and 12 assists in 25 appearances, he has not found the back of the net in his last 5 Premier League outings.
This issue has been exacerbated by the concurrent struggles of Saka’s fellow attackers. Gabriel Martinelli is in poor form, and Ian Wright believes he is being underserved by his teammates. Equally, Gabriel Jesus has netted just 3 times in the Premier League this season, and endured a dreadful time in front of goal against West Ham United last time out.
The profligacy of Jesus and Martinelli has added to the burden on Saka, who did all he could to make an impact against the Hammers. According to WhoScored statistics, he took 9 shots in that match, far more than any other player on the pitch.
Arsenal star Bukayo Saka tasked with evolving his game
The challenge for Saka now is to overcome the new approach opponents are taking to stopping him and find new solutions to beating them, which will allow him to get back to scoring and assisting goals regularly.
Jamie O’Hara is certainly convinced that Saka needs to change up his game. Speaking on talkSPORT (30/12/2023, 19:21), the pundit said, “I love Saka, world-class player, but we talk about him being brilliant, he has got to adapt his game because he is one now where teams are doubling up on him, showing him down the line and he is finding it hard, and I think he needs to figure out a way of doing something different.”
Given his talismanic status at the Emirates Stadium, it is easy to forget how young Saka still is. As he gets older and gains experience he will naturally find more ways to overcome his opponents and his skillset will broaden.
Equally, Mikel Arteta has to ensure that Saka isn’t overburdened. The Spanish coach needs to find a way of getting his other forwards firing on all cylinders. If he can do that, then opposition defences won’t be able to concentrate their efforts on Saka so abundantly, and the England man will then naturally find it easier to make an impact.