Protecting Bukayo Saka
I wouldn't normally want to weigh in on a topic like this because it really isn't my area of expertise but after watching this clip last night it seemed worth talking about a bit more.
Listen to these dinosaurs man never heard so much rubbish in my life @ESPNFC do better #Saka pic.twitter.com/3lixRfdztJ
— Mike 🇲🇼 (@Mikega2020) March 23, 2022
I think this attitude is weird but I also understand it.
From the League's perspective, protecting the exciting players from needless injury is good. Having these players facing potential serious injury over needlessly dangerous tackles and fouls is a good thing and something they should want.
I can also see the perspective that Ali Moreno is talking about here. If you're a player going up against him I can totally imagine trying to use this as a way to get into his head and knock him off his game. If the referees continue to allow this kind of treatment it is probably even a smart strategy.
The big question is do we want this as part of the game? I think Andrew on Arseblog spelled things out great in his post on this.
Protect Bukayo Saka ... from fouls and dinosaur attitudes | Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog
My answer is no.
I don't watch soccer to see players suffer crunching tackles. I am also not saying that there shouldn't be physicality in the game, there should be! The weak touch fouls and players simulating contact to draws fouls certainly bug me but that doesn't mean we also need to allow dangerous play.
I will finish with this, this is Saka's fouls suffered over the last 3 seasons. There is a pretty clear trend that when he is in form he is targeted more by opposing players for fouls.
