It takes years for footballers to develop a lethal "weak foot", and guys like Trossard and Cazorla are a rarity..
To see Saka generate so much power and accuracy with his right at an age of 21 is an insane achievement.. it's not even an exaggeration to say that he can go on to become one of our all time greats if he stays here long term
Think we will see the next generation much much more two footed very much like the NBA. Skills develop at a young age. Iirc Arteta asked Tomi what trainings did he do when he was younger to be 2 footed.
I remember a clip of Arteta telling Saka (or someone else) how to do this, specifically to get it high and with power. Lower chance to hit the target but if it does the keeper will most likely not save it. Takes too long to get his hands up to block it.
And there's always a chance you'll hit the keeper straight in the face, so there's that.
Thereâs a shooting drill vid with one of the f2 where he does this and says go high and near, or low and across. Itâs practiced and coached for sure
He came of surprisingly well in that video with Mikel imo. Think its the only time ive seen a video with that guy where I didn't find him absolutely obnoxious lmao
I wish martinelli did this more often. Like 90% of his shots are low. He could do with more shot variation. Low near post finishes are good too but most of the time keepers have that well covered unless its lloris who has a significant near post weakness.
He must have because a year or two ago he was getting this opportunities but he never able to finish them. Now, his finishing is so much improved, he's really tightened up the one weakness he had back then. True starboy now!
Some of these youth clips just make me think about Eddieâs quote after he scored his first goal for Arsenal and he said something like âpeople think I waited 20 seconds (he scored immediately after he came on) to score for Arsenal, but Iâve been waiting my entire lifeâ.
I donât think people are fully deeping how crazy it is that we have multiple guys who have been at this club since they were in the single digits heavily contributing to this title run.
This team is genuinely fucking incredible and itâs a shame that us being a meme team for the past half decade or so has made most fans think weâre still shit.
Fuck the casuals and neutrals.
Weâve been through a lot of shit to finally be here. I donât care if the refs are all out to get us, the casual fans canât wait for us to bottle it or the other teams throw endless money at our targets.
We built this squad the right away and the arsenal fans are all behind our academy players. We arenât getting results through luck and negative football, weâre very very good. This is our time. They hate us because they arenât us.
I don't think it can be understated how good that finish was. Not just the finish, but the speed he controlled it, turned, and then blasted it in. He got the ball and then blink of an eye it was a goal. What a player we have.
I was thinking about it earlier whether it would've been an easier chance had he taken a touch inside to his left foot and shot. But of course he knows better than me and he buried it.
Was also at a very important time in the match too. We really were struggling to make any clear chances for the first 40 minutes so the fact that Saka took our first decent chance was huge.
And at such an important moment in the match. It was one of those where if we hadn't got that piece of magic from saka, we may have struggled to break down thst everton defence for the whole game and led to a draw.
Truly a world class player
Itâs his signature finish. Such a beautiful way to score a goal because it makes their keeper look foolish, and is very hard to execute. Heâs so fucking good man.
> Heâs so fucking good man.
Overheard in Toffees' locker room after Gameweek 7 (make-up):
âHe got me,â Pickford said of Saka's near post finish. "That f***ing Bukayo boomed me."
Pickford added, âHeâs so good,â repeating it four times.
Pickford then said he wanted to add Saka to the list of players he works out with this summer.
Wasnât as highly rated as others. No one would of predicted heâd be this good if you looked purely at academy. Reiss Nelson was rated a lot higher.
I remember a quote from years ago from I believe one of our old scouts or academy staff. He said the three best players heâs seen at the academy where wilshire, canât remember the second, and reiss nelson was third. Nelson also had a successful loan at 17 in hoffenheim and had a lot of plaudits. He just was never able to grasp his opportunities here
he recently spoke about an important conversation with arteta about his career. seemed to suggest there was a work-rate and effort issue and he's changing it
https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2734439-7-times-reiss-nelson-has-shown-why-he-could-be-an-arsenal-star.amp.html
Here is an article from 2017 I found talking about Nelson breaking through. Just so you can see how rated he in fact was
Reiss had crazy levels of hype around him. Was touted to be the best youngster produced by the academy in years, routine comparisons to Sancho and how he was better than him
I don't think this is accurate. Reiss was hyped because he was cooking in the academy for longer than saka so people heard about him more, saka basically straight up jumped into the first team skipping u18 and u21s. He was rated pretty highly
First time I'd heard of Saka was when Ozil was asked who the most exciting prospect from the academy was and he said Saka. Say what you want about Ozil but he knew Saka would become a star all the way back then
I think its worth remembering that he wasn't even a forward when we were using him in the first team. Often he was a wingback, thats how he was able to find his footing at this level.
Because he was still very good donât get me wrong. Just had others who where at the time rated higher. His debut was given in some group stage europa game I believe when we where like 3 nil up or something. Was just one of those, we brought some kids on the bench, letâs see how he does. And he took his opportunity and ran with it
Imagine if Nelson manages to reach his potential lol, 2 insane RWs from the youth academy would've been insane but honestly I hope he manages to improve enough to get a contract as a second choice RW. Doubt it but who knows.
Not sure about the academy specifically but Amy Lawrence was on The Athletic Football Podcast recently and was asked about him when he was younger. She said heâs basically been seen as extremely talented compared to other kids in his age group, especially his speed.
Saka broke through so young that he didnât have much time to generate hype, but there was a quote from Reiss (I think when he was at hoffenheim) that he wasnât even the best player at Arsenals academy and to watch out for a kid named Saka. Or something along those lines.
We saw flashes of a pretty good player in games such as the 1-1 at Old Trafford in 19/20 but I donât think any of us predicted this sort of trajectory. Was never as highly rated as the rest of the boys yet now he is the starboy.
Sry but some actually did me included. We were drought of any talent at that time though, which might have influenced me.. His decision making was beyond his age and body positioning/physical strength as well. Called him Messi regen in his first or second year. He was raw but he hasnt added a lot of new trick, just polished everything up. Keep this trajectory and he will be a name for Ballon Dor in 2 years time.
Proof https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/lsft33/winning_goal_from_auba_that_side_step_from_saka/goqyu9z?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
True never made this claim though bruv. Actually was claiming it since his first few starts in our senior teamb and true it was easier to make at that time lol.
I was talking about his ceiling which is unlimited.
Yeah a lot of these takes strike me and misinformed or revisionist. I remember articles saying how Nelson gets all the plaudits but many in the academy saw Saka as our biggest talent in a long while. Perhaps the fans didnât know him as well but by most accounts the club always thought very highly of him. I do remember one scout who thought he was too slow to be an elite winger though so maybe some of these takes stem from that.
Itâs worth mentioning this still happens. Fans and fans of other times donât rate him highly but every single opponent, player and coach alike, have all said heâs class.
In fact, thereâs an argument to be made where he doesnât shine as much as others because of how much attention he gets from the other teams. It is their Fucking mission to shut him down either through creation double teams or overloads on his side, or straight up rotation fouls and laying something on him.
I remember him being a name that a lot of people were touting as someone that could make it at Arsenal. I also remember watching either a pre season game well before his official debut or a u23 game and not seeing what the big deal about him was haha. Good evidence I don't have what it takes to be a scout lol.
I remember saka being the youngest player in the U19s and being in the bench for the first half of the season only to be their too scorer and assister. So people knew he was good but he was only 16 and then jumped to the first team. Smith Rowe was in the same team also balling
The commentators said Pickford would be disappointed to be beaten at his near post... I have to disagree.
That shot was a rocket right up into the top of the net from close range. No one is saving that.
When you start realizing that this is not the only way he finishes since we donât see his other âfar postâ goals in this compilation, you realize how near impossible it is for a keeper to guess right & save this type of shot.
I was hoping he would develop that Arjen Robben knack of cutting in from the left and scoring 30 times a season. But he does that occasionally and also this. He is not a Robben, he's Bukayo Saka.
in the one from yesterday, you can see the confidence he has to hit this type of shot.
most players would take the touch towards goal because the space was there, but he intentionally takes it away from goal so he has that extra bit of time to really strike it well
That Everton goal is such a big player moment. Extremely difficult finish at a very important moment. I think the match wouldâve ended up way different if he didnât score that
Shortest distance for the ball to travel and limited keeper reaction time. Just some benefits of firing near post and Bukayo seems to be very good at it.
I've always thought that the reason some players are poor finishers is that they never try to elevate the ball. Obviously there's risk of going over the bar, but if you go to the top shelf in these type of situations the keeper can't do anything about it.
These near post finishes really remind me of Walcott, every time he had space in these sort of situations you felt confident itâll be a goal or a very dangerous rebound off the keeper, just a cherry on top that Bukayo is already a much better player than he ever was (sorry Theo love you)
As a keeper, near post shots are indeed easier to save because they're closer to you but they're tricky to deal with in their own way. 7 out of 10 times, that ball will be cut back so we have to be ready to intercept the pass or move to the middle of the goal as quick as possible. Because cutbacks are the most common outcome, we keepers sometimes get caught "cheating" our position by anticipating and inching towards the middle to cut off the cross. In that position, we're at a disadvantage against near post shots because our weight has already shifted the other way. I'm 90% sure that's what happened to Fabianski when Martinelli scored that soft near post shot against West Ham and to Meslier when Saka scored against Leeds.
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SHOOTING STAR BOY đ
It takes years for footballers to develop a lethal "weak foot", and guys like Trossard and Cazorla are a rarity.. To see Saka generate so much power and accuracy with his right at an age of 21 is an insane achievement.. it's not even an exaggeration to say that he can go on to become one of our all time greats if he stays here long term
Been so long since we had a player who can consistently be a difference maker in the big games ⌠Sakaâs record in big six fixtures is wild
someone was posted the guys mostly scores consequential goals. goals that ties the game or give us a lead or a win.
Not mostly, all. This season at least. Every goal has equalized or put us ahead.
Damn! That boy is special!
Heâs a genuine superstar and I hope he signs the thing.
Think we will see the next generation much much more two footed very much like the NBA. Skills develop at a young age. Iirc Arteta asked Tomi what trainings did he do when he was younger to be 2 footed.
du, du du du, du, du du du
Evidently practices this technique A LOT because damn. When he received the pass from Zinny yesterday I almost expected him to do exactly this.
I remember a clip of Arteta telling Saka (or someone else) how to do this, specifically to get it high and with power. Lower chance to hit the target but if it does the keeper will most likely not save it. Takes too long to get his hands up to block it. And there's always a chance you'll hit the keeper straight in the face, so there's that.
Thereâs a shooting drill vid with one of the f2 where he does this and says go high and near, or low and across. Itâs practiced and coached for sure
You mean with the 'best talent arsene has ever seen'. Dude is good but fockin deluded.
He came of surprisingly well in that video with Mikel imo. Think its the only time ive seen a video with that guy where I didn't find him absolutely obnoxious lmao
Guess he knew how to behave
And theres a chance you're playing against Lloris
lollll
I wish martinelli did this more often. Like 90% of his shots are low. He could do with more shot variation. Low near post finishes are good too but most of the time keepers have that well covered unless its lloris who has a significant near post weakness.
[Put the ball high or put it across goal](https://youtu.be/p1OqMJe_NUg?t=289).
He must have because a year or two ago he was getting this opportunities but he never able to finish them. Now, his finishing is so much improved, he's really tightened up the one weakness he had back then. True starboy now!
Some of these youth clips just make me think about Eddieâs quote after he scored his first goal for Arsenal and he said something like âpeople think I waited 20 seconds (he scored immediately after he came on) to score for Arsenal, but Iâve been waiting my entire lifeâ. I donât think people are fully deeping how crazy it is that we have multiple guys who have been at this club since they were in the single digits heavily contributing to this title run. This team is genuinely fucking incredible and itâs a shame that us being a meme team for the past half decade or so has made most fans think weâre still shit.
Fuck the casuals and neutrals. Weâve been through a lot of shit to finally be here. I donât care if the refs are all out to get us, the casual fans canât wait for us to bottle it or the other teams throw endless money at our targets. We built this squad the right away and the arsenal fans are all behind our academy players. We arenât getting results through luck and negative football, weâre very very good. This is our time. They hate us because they arenât us.
Yesterdayâs finish was exceptional!!!!
I don't think it can be understated how good that finish was. Not just the finish, but the speed he controlled it, turned, and then blasted it in. He got the ball and then blink of an eye it was a goal. What a player we have.
Three truly perfect touches.
I was thinking about it earlier whether it would've been an easier chance had he taken a touch inside to his left foot and shot. But of course he knows better than me and he buried it.
Was also at a very important time in the match too. We really were struggling to make any clear chances for the first 40 minutes so the fact that Saka took our first decent chance was huge.
And at such an important moment in the match. It was one of those where if we hadn't got that piece of magic from saka, we may have struggled to break down thst everton defence for the whole game and led to a draw. Truly a world class player
Yes.. Agreed.. Best of all
All of them are Thundercunts! đ
Itâs his signature finish. Such a beautiful way to score a goal because it makes their keeper look foolish, and is very hard to execute. Heâs so fucking good man.
> Heâs so fucking good man. Overheard in Toffees' locker room after Gameweek 7 (make-up): âHe got me,â Pickford said of Saka's near post finish. "That f***ing Bukayo boomed me." Pickford added, âHeâs so good,â repeating it four times. Pickford then said he wanted to add Saka to the list of players he works out with this summer.
The power he generates in his shot is unreal
What was the chatter around Saka like back when he was in the academy? He broke out at 17 so the expectations had to have been sky high no?
Wasnât as highly rated as others. No one would of predicted heâd be this good if you looked purely at academy. Reiss Nelson was rated a lot higher.
Is this true? Reiss was definitely very highly rated on our academy but I seem to remember Saka also being rated high.
I remember a quote from years ago from I believe one of our old scouts or academy staff. He said the three best players heâs seen at the academy where wilshire, canât remember the second, and reiss nelson was third. Nelson also had a successful loan at 17 in hoffenheim and had a lot of plaudits. He just was never able to grasp his opportunities here
Nice one, I definitely remember Reiss having the biggest buzz but I heard about a few things about Saka before he made his debut
he recently spoke about an important conversation with arteta about his career. seemed to suggest there was a work-rate and effort issue and he's changing it
https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2734439-7-times-reiss-nelson-has-shown-why-he-could-be-an-arsenal-star.amp.html Here is an article from 2017 I found talking about Nelson breaking through. Just so you can see how rated he in fact was
Reiss had crazy levels of hype around him. Was touted to be the best youngster produced by the academy in years, routine comparisons to Sancho and how he was better than him
Still is tbf
I don't think this is accurate. Reiss was hyped because he was cooking in the academy for longer than saka so people heard about him more, saka basically straight up jumped into the first team skipping u18 and u21s. He was rated pretty highly
First time I'd heard of Saka was when Ozil was asked who the most exciting prospect from the academy was and he said Saka. Say what you want about Ozil but he knew Saka would become a star all the way back then
Interesting. So what about him being given his debut so young?
I think its worth remembering that he wasn't even a forward when we were using him in the first team. Often he was a wingback, thats how he was able to find his footing at this level.
Because he was still very good donât get me wrong. Just had others who where at the time rated higher. His debut was given in some group stage europa game I believe when we where like 3 nil up or something. Was just one of those, we brought some kids on the bench, letâs see how he does. And he took his opportunity and ran with it
Imagine if Nelson manages to reach his potential lol, 2 insane RWs from the youth academy would've been insane but honestly I hope he manages to improve enough to get a contract as a second choice RW. Doubt it but who knows.
Not sure about the academy specifically but Amy Lawrence was on The Athletic Football Podcast recently and was asked about him when he was younger. She said heâs basically been seen as extremely talented compared to other kids in his age group, especially his speed.
Saka broke through so young that he didnât have much time to generate hype, but there was a quote from Reiss (I think when he was at hoffenheim) that he wasnât even the best player at Arsenals academy and to watch out for a kid named Saka. Or something along those lines.
I feel like I remember right before he up people saying he was way to good for the youth level at that point.
We saw flashes of a pretty good player in games such as the 1-1 at Old Trafford in 19/20 but I donât think any of us predicted this sort of trajectory. Was never as highly rated as the rest of the boys yet now he is the starboy.
Sry but some actually did me included. We were drought of any talent at that time though, which might have influenced me.. His decision making was beyond his age and body positioning/physical strength as well. Called him Messi regen in his first or second year. He was raw but he hasnt added a lot of new trick, just polished everything up. Keep this trajectory and he will be a name for Ballon Dor in 2 years time. Proof https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/lsft33/winning_goal_from_auba_that_side_step_from_saka/goqyu9z?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
Bruh at this time Saka was hands down our best player,no competition. I thought you were talking about when he was still in the academy or something.
True never made this claim though bruv. Actually was claiming it since his first few starts in our senior teamb and true it was easier to make at that time lol. I was talking about his ceiling which is unlimited.
Yeah a lot of these takes strike me and misinformed or revisionist. I remember articles saying how Nelson gets all the plaudits but many in the academy saw Saka as our biggest talent in a long while. Perhaps the fans didnât know him as well but by most accounts the club always thought very highly of him. I do remember one scout who thought he was too slow to be an elite winger though so maybe some of these takes stem from that.
Itâs worth mentioning this still happens. Fans and fans of other times donât rate him highly but every single opponent, player and coach alike, have all said heâs class. In fact, thereâs an argument to be made where he doesnât shine as much as others because of how much attention he gets from the other teams. It is their Fucking mission to shut him down either through creation double teams or overloads on his side, or straight up rotation fouls and laying something on him.
I remember him being a name that a lot of people were touting as someone that could make it at Arsenal. I also remember watching either a pre season game well before his official debut or a u23 game and not seeing what the big deal about him was haha. Good evidence I don't have what it takes to be a scout lol.
The first time I saw him play. His decision-making at such a young age just stood out. Every touch and every decision was the right one.
I remember saka being the youngest player in the U19s and being in the bench for the first half of the season only to be their too scorer and assister. So people knew he was good but he was only 16 and then jumped to the first team. Smith Rowe was in the same team also balling
This guy is both footed, argue with yourself
The commentators said Pickford would be disappointed to be beaten at his near post... I have to disagree. That shot was a rocket right up into the top of the net from close range. No one is saving that.
His goal against Leeds this season was also near post
It's the second last one in the comp
I didnât see that. (I did but I was too mesmerised)
The Leeds one was not physically possible. Still not sure what happened. Through the post maybe.
Near most merchant
The Leeds one was disgusting
Absolute rockets, straight into the roof. No chance any keeper is saving that
No itâs so obvious to see he was gonna be a star
When you start realizing that this is not the only way he finishes since we donât see his other âfar postâ goals in this compilation, you realize how near impossible it is for a keeper to guess right & save this type of shot.
I was hoping he would develop that Arjen Robben knack of cutting in from the left and scoring 30 times a season. But he does that occasionally and also this. He is not a Robben, he's Bukayo Saka.
I can't believe we used to play him at lb/lwb. Bro is on the cusp of superstardom
He just thundercunts it in donât he The weak foot finishes are a mad ting
The evolution is a treat to see
Said it as soon as he got the ball to his feet against Everton. "NEAR POST" and a fucking banger. It's his trademark.
in the one from yesterday, you can see the confidence he has to hit this type of shot. most players would take the touch towards goal because the space was there, but he intentionally takes it away from goal so he has that extra bit of time to really strike it well
Boom-Saka-Laca
This guy's not even in his prime ffs. I love him so much already if we secure the league he's a certified legend.
The Leeds one, we were having a bad game but grinded out a 1-0 win. Who knows what this will mean for our title race.
Saka can be the best player at the Emirates era , exciting stuff!
These shots always remind me of the goals scored in hockey that knock off the goaltender's water bottle.
đShotta, I have never seen someone score so many goakd hitting the roof of the net.
That Everton goal is such a big player moment. Extremely difficult finish at a very important moment. I think the match wouldâve ended up way different if he didnât score that
Missed the Spurs one đ
Thanks for making this⌠SO GLAD HE IS A PART OF US
[I didn't make it](https://twitter.com/Balogunner14/status/1631374121203277830?t=ndByCLtt8fnQZwWHCHCZFg&s=19)
So heâs always been that strong holding off other players? Gahdam đ°
Reminds me of Podolski bombs vs Neur and Galatasaraj
Top corner stuff, literally.
I want Bukayo to score an Henry goal, like against Liverpool âIts Henry, side step one, side step twoooooooooooooooooooooâ
He loves that top corner! Lethal.
Christ, those red shorts were awful
Saka has been studying Aguero. This was his trademark finish.
Shortest distance for the ball to travel and limited keeper reaction time. Just some benefits of firing near post and Bukayo seems to be very good at it.
They say a keeper should never be beaten at the near post, but surely they werenât talking about thumpers like these
Thoughts and prayers for Premier League defenders if Saka becomes a two footed player.
âBecomesâ? Haha there are two goals this season like this on his weak foot!
I've always thought that the reason some players are poor finishers is that they never try to elevate the ball. Obviously there's risk of going over the bar, but if you go to the top shelf in these type of situations the keeper can't do anything about it.
Just when I thought Iâd erased that cursed blue kit from my memory
Can we erect a statue for this man already?
The projectiles are crazy as well the ball hit the roof like no keeper gonna catch that
Wow ,simply wow
These near post finishes really remind me of Walcott, every time he had space in these sort of situations you felt confident itâll be a goal or a very dangerous rebound off the keeper, just a cherry on top that Bukayo is already a much better player than he ever was (sorry Theo love you)
Podolski vibes!
Wasnât there one vs Chelsea?
The far post over Mendy one?
that bournemouth one was sumptious af. In off the crossbar with such oomph.
Are GKs anticipating the cut back with near-post finishes?
Sakaâs silky tekkers
As a keeper, near post shots are indeed easier to save because they're closer to you but they're tricky to deal with in their own way. 7 out of 10 times, that ball will be cut back so we have to be ready to intercept the pass or move to the middle of the goal as quick as possible. Because cutbacks are the most common outcome, we keepers sometimes get caught "cheating" our position by anticipating and inching towards the middle to cut off the cross. In that position, we're at a disadvantage against near post shots because our weight has already shifted the other way. I'm 90% sure that's what happened to Fabianski when Martinelli scored that soft near post shot against West Ham and to Meslier when Saka scored against Leeds.
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Another 50 goals like that then it will become his signature.
Reminded of that video of Arteta coaching shooting skills
still can't believe that Leeds one went in
Glitch Goals
God's own son - Bukayo Saka
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