I thought we were supposed to be shagged out? Or worse, chokers?

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Originally Posted by PSRB

Was a bit surprised to see Jackson get away from him. Looked very leggy

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I think, Saliba has played every minute of every PL game this season. So not surprising.

Declan has also played every game, but he must be some kind of Barcelona-esque, EPO-munching beast.

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Originally Posted by IUFG

I think, Saliba has played every minute of every PL game this season. So not surprising.

Declan has also played every game, but he must be some kind of Barcelona-esque, EPO-munching beast.

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True. I suppose we don't notice the little mistakes in midfield as much. He did make a big one for the first Bayern goal at the Emirates.

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Originally Posted by Sir C

I bow to no man in my admiration for Odegaard, and despite his man of the match performance he clearly didn't look quite right in the first half - a number of misplaced passes which is completely unlike him.

Saka is definitely running on fumes.

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Agreed on Saka, who looks a shell of the player we saw post the Dubai break.

If I'm honest, he's getting on my tits a bit. I know he gets kicked a lot, but at times he is making too much of it instead of getting on with it when we're in a good position and could use him, instead of having him whining at the ref.

Happened against Wolves and had me raging at him. :hide:

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Originally Posted by Peter

To be fair, you have to apply some context here. With Arteta you have coaching and structure that can get great performances from good players. With Chelsea it is precisely the opposite- a total mess that turns really good players into mush. They could **** up Maradona.

I think there is a good player in Mudryk. I know there is in Caicedo because I saw it at Brighton. But he has been appalling at Chelsea for the most part. Their defending last night was atrocious- you wouldn't get away with that playing for the Bricklayers Arms.

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Not sure Arteta would tolerate Maradona qua Maradona.

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Originally Posted by WES

Agreed on Saka, who looks a shell of the player we saw post the Dubai break.

If I'm honest, he's getting on my tits a bit. I know he gets kicked a lot, but at times he is making too much of it instead of getting on with it when we're in a good position and could use him, instead of having him whining at the ref.

Happened against Wolves and had me raging at him. :hide:

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Fair enough. I mean I trust our players and our manager but I guess some fans are going to have their opinions :-)

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Originally Posted by WES

Agreed on Saka, who looks a shell of the player we saw post the Dubai break.

If I'm honest, he's getting on my tits a bit. I know he gets kicked a lot, but at times he is making too much of it instead of getting on with it when we're in a good position and could use him, instead of having him whining at the ref.

Happened against Wolves and had me raging at him. :hide:

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He takes a lot of kicks through the back of him, they hurt.

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Originally Posted by PSRB

He takes a lot of kicks through the back of him, they hurt.

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He took the left back out in the first half. Loved it :-)

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Originally Posted by Peter

He took the left back out in the first half. Loved it :-)

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He was a properly irritating little pr1ck, wasn't he?

Their LB, not Saka :-)

I'd just like to see Saka get on with it a little more, but I understand him wanting to make a show of it at times given how often he is kicked.

But against Wolves we were in a great position and looked like scoring while he was rolling around whining at the ref instead of getting up and getting on with it. One needs to time one's gamesmanship properly imo.

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Originally Posted by WES

He was a properly irritating little pr1ck, wasn't he?

Their LB, not Saka :-)

I'd just like to see Saka get on with it a little more, but I understand him wanting to make a show of it at times given how often he is kicked.

But against Wolves we were in a great position and looked like scoring while he was rolling around whining at the ref instead of getting up and getting on with it. One needs to time one's gamesmanship properly imo.

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That left back is an utter clown, he always has been. Amazed Pep was ever interested in him.

The problem with Saka is that there isn't that much a ref can do about it. 99% of the time they are not bad fouls, just shoves or kicks or shirt pulls to stop him getting anywhere. It is never going to stop and refs can book the guy eventually but it takes 3 or 4 fouls before he can, realistically.

We've put a lot of miles on Saka's legs in the last couple of years so it isn't surprising to see him tired. We really do need to think about how we can offer him a break next season. I expect Arteta will be looking at options for that over the summer.

The next phase of our development is going to be maintaining consistent performance alongside limited but regular rotation. Every side has players they need to field pretty much every week but we have too many of them- White, Gabriel, Saliba, Rice, Odegaard, Saka and now Havertz. City arguably have only four- Dias, Rodri, De Bruyne and Haaland.

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Originally Posted by Peter

That left back is an utter clown, he always has been. Amazed Pep was ever interested in him.

The problem with Saka is that there isn't that much a ref can do about it. 99% of the time they are not bad fouls, just shoves or kicks or shirt pulls to stop him getting anywhere. It is never going to stop and refs can book the guy eventually but it takes 3 or 4 fouls before he can, realistically.

We've put a lot of miles on Saka's legs in the last couple of years so it isn't surprising to see him tired. We really do need to think about how we can offer him a break next season. I expect Arteta will be looking at options for that over the summer.

The next phase of our development is going to be maintaining consistent performance alongside limited but regular rotation. Every side has players they need to field pretty much every week but we have too many of them- White, Gabriel, Saliba, Rice, Odegaard, Saka and now Havertz. City arguably have only four- Dias, Rodri, De Bruyne and Haaland.

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I suspect MA thought Nelson would provide that cover but he's been either injured or crap.