Player of the season | Arseblog … an Arsenal blog

Morning all.

Not a lot going on this morning, but Arsenal’s Player of the Season – as voted by supporters – was revealed to be Martin Odegaard. It’s the second successive season he has won it, and I don’t think anyone can argue that he doesn’t deserve it. He’s such an example to the rest of the team in terms of how he plays, the perfect combination of intelligence, technique, commitment to his work on the pitch, and there are things he can do with the ball that leave you breathless at times.

I also think it’s fair to say that if it had been Declan Rice (who finished second) or William Saliba (third), it’d be hard to argue with that too. Both of them had outstanding campaigns, and could easily have merited top spot. There were so many players performing at very high level, you could go beyond that too. Personally, as much as I love all three of those guys – and I really, really do – if I’d voted I’d have gone with Bukayo Saka as my choice.

Perhaps it says something about what we have come to expect from him that a season in which he scored 20 goals and made 14 assists didn’t see him crack the top three. Let’s be honest here, those are incredible numbers for a 22 year old to produce in a season, and I don’t want to hear anything about how goals have been boosted by penalties, because it’s not as if it’s a free goal. He still had step up, hold his nerve, and slot that ball home in key moments.

Bukayo Saka still can’t take a penalty without the England miss, and the miss against West Ham last season, being mentioned. It’s 0-0 at home against Bournemouth, the third last game of the season, and just before half-time we get a penalty. Saka takes it, cool as you like, 1-0. 0-0 away at Brighton in early April, he breaks the deadlock from the spot. In the penalty shoot-out against Porto, bam, keeper doesn’t even get close. A penalty away at West Ham to make it 2-0, sends the keeper the wrong way. One in the North London derby at…

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Author : arseblog

Publish date : 2024-06-08 07:38:05

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