Bukayo Saka injured .... We just have to get on with it!

You've all seen Bukayo Saka's injury at this point. There's rumours of as optimistic as four weeks, as far as eight and twelve, and we're going to get into all of that, people. Naturally, there's some people that don't support Arsenal that will rejoice in hearing about a player's injury. Likewise, there's Arsenal fans who celebrated Rodri's injury. I can't speak for football fans who do that. I'm never going to be one of them and I think that's reflected on my channel. You've got to remember this is somebody's health now. It's a bitter pill to swallow where Bukayo Saka's concerned. He's one of our best players. Goals win games. He's not scoring, he's assisting. Where you want to win Premier League trophies and Premier League honours, you need to have more answers than questions. Saka's consistency level, his match-winningness and just all of that sort of stuff. Goals win games. He gives us that. So we're going to have to get on with it. I'm going to save my thoughts to the end, really, and I must admit I have sympathy for Arsenal fans. I have sympathy for Bukayo Saka with this injury. What I don't have sympathy for is anybody, whether it's Sarteto, the recently departed Edu, the Cronkies, etc. I've got no sympathy for any issues with them where injuries are concerned with Arsenal Football Club because we've been knowing this. A lot of the issues we have seen as a club, whether it's from a tactical point of view, the left-hand side, not having a striker, not having a winger for the left-hand side, as well as backup for Saka. A lot of these issues, potentially goals from open play as well. These issues did not just arise in these 15, 16 games we played, really and truly. Mikel Arteta again today has said we've got one of the Finnish squads. He said that in February of this year, and I'm not trying to point the finger at anyone. The club makes a big song and dance about collaborative nature. You're all in this. As I always give the example, I don't know about you lot, but growing up, I come from a family that has plenty. I've got plenty of cousins. A lot of us are of a similar age. When you go to grandma's house and you're ramping and you're enjoying and whatever and whatnot, and you're having fun, somebody breaks something. I don't know about you lot's grandma and grandad, but nobody is asking who did what. Everybody's getting slapped. Everyone's getting hurt. They have to hold that really and truly. It is what it is, man. It's the same old, same old. Almost an improbable task of pipping Liverpool to this Premier League trophy just got more difficult. The players are going to have to get on with it. The club, whatever you know, you know injuries can happen. You need to know if Saka's out, who's stepping up. Whether I think they're good enough or not, this is the squad. You knew these things were a risk going into the season, so it is what it is. It's a bit of a double-edged sword because Raheem Sterling is going to be missing, but between, for me, Ethan Dunwary, who could be a silver lining in this in a sense, people. Between Ethan on that right-hand side, Martinelli went over to that right-hand side, Trossart, and anybody else I've missed up, Gabriel Jesus is definitely an option out wide. Going to have to get on with it, man. I don't want to see people feeling sorry for themselves. Our season is on the line now. We've been coping with injuries, but Kyle Saka's probably the biggest injury blow we've had, but every week we've got injuries. We're still trying to fight for the Premier League. You've got the Champions League that's far from concluded. Obviously, you've got a semi-finals, a two-legged semi-finals and potentially a final in which Saka could be missing for that. It's all on the line, man. Going to have to get on with it. January is not a nice fixture list, but this is the Premier League, man. I could sit here, and obviously there's reasons to be pessimistic and down in the dumps. I could sit here and do all of that, and there's every reason to be. But at the end of the day, life goes on. Football's still going to be played. The players that I've picked go out there, and Mikel Arteta, you better damn well make sure we're able to do stuff really because, of course, I am definitely going to say if we don't win games and we struggle to score, Saka was there, we might have been able to do something. But at the end of the day, he's not there. Make it happen, man. Many fans wanted to sit there and tell me, oh, the season before last, we got 80-odd goals. Last year, we got like 90, and I broke it down. I said, I like that, but who is going to get the goal? Saka is the only one in August, you bet your life, for the majority of the season is going to do it. Cool. I love the fact that we score set pieces, but open play, there needs to be something. When the set pieces isn't quite happening, which nine times out of 10 it is, and the general play ain't there, there has to be a solution. So for me, mentally, it's not that I'm not upset about Bakayo Saka's injury or what it means or the ramifications of Arsenal in the Premier League. To a degree, I'm mentally checked out because how many times are you going to do the same things and expect something different? It's not going to make any sense, really. So all I would say with Saka, again, it's not a silver lining, but this is your first significant injury. Saka's had some good moments in his career, had some bad moments, had to bounce back from the penalty miss. Runners-up in the Premier League two years in a row now, back-to-back Euro finals, first significant injury at 23 years of age. And it even sucks a bit more because we all know Saka needs rest, and I do think us fans do a bit too much in that. You look at the best players out there, whether the fixture calendar list, there's too many games and players need rest. There's a wider discussion, but the best players play a lot of games. That being said, Saka has needed to be rested. The man's 23 years of age, he's played 250-odd times for this football club, captain's arse. I can't give Saka any more applauded, but this is the first kind of, like in life, you're never just on an awkward trajectory in life. You're never really down those highs and lows. So I won't go as far as to say it's something for Saka to learn from, but it definitely is. Of course, the man's going to be gutted. You can't do your job, which you like doing as a footballer. You can't assist your team until you're back, obviously, in trying to win major honours. But injuries are nothing exclusive to Arsenal. We've had a lot of injuries, but it is people. Since the season kicked off, we've been dealing with this. Like I said, it's not that I'm over it, but it's like, if we haven't addressed the same talking points we've had year in, year out and the fallout with that, how much energy can I really give this? I love the football club. We keep going. As I said, there's a million reasons to be negative and I'm not being blindly optimistic. There's a million reasons to throw in the towel and woe is me. I'm not on that. I think that's a pussy off thing. At the end of the day, there's 20-odd games or so to play in the Premier League, however many in the cups. Unless the world ends tomorrow, we're going to have to get on with it, man. It's as simple as that. Now, if we break it down and we have got a lot to go over, Mikel Arteta said it's not looking good. He's going to be out for many weeks. Some of you would have seen the aftermath of the Crystal Palace game. He was on crutches and I'm no physio, but once you hear hamstring, especially someone like Saka that's playing week in, week out, once you hear hamstring, you know it's peak really and truly. It is. You know, for me, you know when someone's got a hamstring injury, they're missing. You know they're out for a month and Saka, there's some that say he'll be back in March, but it's a huge blow, but it's going to be a big exercise for us to overcome another challenge. It's for you to overcome. It's for you, well us in terms of the players, but it's for you. It's you, Mikel Arteta, that's got to do that. Us fans ain't got to do that. Fans, and I said I don't agree with it, but fans can do the woe is me. I told you so. Again, I feel going into the season, a lot of the issues and frustrations that I feel like when we drew against Fulham, when we drew against Everton, other games we haven't taken points. I feel there's plenty of negatives to having that game and talking points, but I do feel external factors or external points going into that game create a spillover. For me, you can't keep doing the same things and expect different results. The squad is too small. You don't have other players that pull their weight. Saka's not there, you know. Yes, Gabriel Jesus, you lot know, I love the fact that he's doing what he's doing, but Saka's the only one that's going to show consistency. So you're going to have to live with that, man. It's long now, if I'm honest with you. Saka's out for many weeks, as Mikel Arteta said. We all know he was out on crutches at Selhurst Park. The 23-year-old has nine goals and 13 assists across 24 games. Now, goals win games. Assists indirectly lead to goals. So that's the ramifications. If you just look at it from a job perspective, you've got somebody that's doing their job. Who is going to do it for them? I hope Gabriel Jesus can definitely now show us a bit of form. I hope Raheem Sterling can get an opportunity. I hope Trossart and Martinelli can show something, even on where he has to get some game time off that right-hand side. And you're praying there's no injuries. Mikel Arteta, find solutions. Now, we can look towards January. On the best of days, when everyone's fit, there's a case to make about we need to sign people. We all know January is a difficult time. I don't know who you're going to get. You tried to get Nico Williams. It seems like he wants to stay in Spain. The same with Rufino. Pedro Neto signed for Chelsea. You see Jadon Sancho's got over there. Does this add fuel to the fire for Marcus Rashford? Marcus Rashford off that, I don't know. But you're going to have to make something happen because it's already make or break time where the season's concerned, really and truly. And it's been made even worse. It is what it is. You're right about that. He's injured. We cannot change it. We're going to use this time now to help him, which he deserves. Arteta also said he's putting some ideas together with Saka's absence. You should have been doing that in August. You need to know if Saliba and Gabriel get injured, what's the best partnership you can put in? If something happens to Benjamin White, who's going there? If anything happens to Declan Rice, what's going on? If anything happens to Raya, what's going on? If anything happens to Thomas Partey, what's going on? I want to pick my words wisely, but Saka's probably been due an injury like this. We've probably been due the prolonged absence of Bukayo Saka, owing to the amount of games the man's played. But we're going to get onto that. We've also lost Martin Odegaard, which was unheard of. So again, whether it's recruitment, being able to cope with injuries, tactical stuff. If we still want to be a team that fights for the league indirectly, where Liverpool are the frontrunners and gets to trophies and gets to cup competitions in the respectful rounds, we've got enough. But if you want to win stuff, there's certain questions that can't be answered. Now, granted, people could sit here and say, but what if Liverpool's Mo Salah got injured? Of course you'd miss Salah. You saw what he did yesterday. You could see his statistics. Salah's a Premier League Liverpool footballing legend. And I'm not saying that they wouldn't feel that absence. But if Salah's not there, obviously nobody's of Salah's level. But historically, when they were fighting for leagues, if anything happened with Salah, you had Mane over there. And at this moment in time, whether they're as good as Salah or not, you've got Cody Gakpo, you've got Darwin Nunez, you've got Xhota, Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones can play out there. I'm probably missing someone. With us, way. Because even when everybody's fit, you know if Saka and Odegaard are not there or they're not doing the business, we're an issue. This is nothing new. Arsenal fans have been saying this. For me, I love the club. I want us to fight for stuff. But until there's answers for the questions I have purely under the guise of winning Premier Leagues and champs, to a degree, I'm emotionally checked out because you knew these are things that are going to happen, especially in this season, especially off the back of last season, where don't get twisted. Historically, Arsenal pick up injuries. Last season, Tommy Ansu and Partey were missing. Timber bosses leg on the first day. And there were one, two players missing here and there. But we had a clean run. For me, we should have, and it's easy for me to say yes, as a fan, we should have sat there in the summer and said, boy, we got lucky. You know, we know the last few years, Odegaard's given us a clean run. What if he gets injured? Saka, the same logic. Benjamin White's played with injuries. You know, Califuri picks up knocks. Tommy Ansu can't stay fit. Thomas Partey, granted, even in and amongst this injury crisis, Partey's only missed one or two weeks, but he's had issues. Moreno's had issues. This is what comes with the territory. You know, you look at City, they've missed Rodri. Clearly, anyone is going to miss their key players. But they don't have somebody that's better than Rodri. You know, you've got options. And it's the same parallels could be with Saka. You know, you either get someone that's better than Rodri, which evidently is difficult to find. You get someone that is not quite as good as Rodri, but can do that role. Or you find a completely different way of playing. That is what City have failed to do beyond the obvious issues that they have. And you relate that to Arsenal. The drop-off, I feel, on that right-hand side, if Saka isn't there, is a madness. I don't feel anyone's really convincing off that right-hand side if Paquiao Saka's not there. I know after the Crystal Palace game, people would say, you know what, Martinelli, if you can play on the left, you can play on the right. And you could say, with Martinelli's general decision-making, being a right foot on the right-hand side, in theory, you probably have less options. So that could help him. Trossart can play over there. Jesus can play over there. The young Ethan, there's minutes there for you. And thank the Lord for you and Lewis Skelly, because it would look a lot more darker. It is what it is. Like I said, my sympathy is to Arsenal fans and Paquiao Saka. And indirectly, the players, obviously, Paquiao Saka's teammates, because you're not in charge of recruitment. The party they do, Mikel Arteta, Stan Kroenke, Josh Kroenke, everyone that has a scooby-doo or is involved in the process of recruitment, boy, I don't want to be that guy. And I'm definitely not being reactive. And I definitely don't feel we should have kept him. But Fabio Vieira was playing off the right. Smith Rowe was playing off the left. If you had these guys in the squad, there could be some chopping and changing. My point being, a lot of the same things are required. You can't go into the season trying to compete for four trophies with the small squad we've got. So as I said, you can't stand in the rain and complain you're wet, people. He's torn his hamstring. He said, yes, probably. There are ways to prevent the injury. There are a lot of factors. We are looking at everything and what we can do differently. Since his debut in November 2018, Bakao Saka has played 250 times for Arsenal with 67 goals and 63 assists. Now, I don't know if he would have got to Kevin De Bruyne or on re-levels across assists for the season, but beyond the obvious reasons for Saka, I think a big blow is I think you could have really got some strong numbers for goals and assists and kept doing what you're doing, but you're going to have to sit down for a minute. And also you've got to remember, from the moment Saka's injury is healed, that doesn't mean you're ready to go again. Like from him being past medically fit, when is he able to run? How many minutes can he get? Is he fit enough to be on the bench? And also if you're missing eight weeks, he's lost a bit of rhythm. So there's also that factor as well. But we're going to have to get on with it. We're going to have to get on with it. It's as simple as that. Oh man. He said Saka was gutted and emotional after discovering the severity of his injury, people. And then when asked on the congestive fixture list, it's probably more the accumulation of matches as people like Declan Rice and Saka have played over 130 games in three seasons, which is true. And again, player welfare, the fixture calendar list, these are things. I think there is a correlation between that and the ACL. But Mikel Arteta has also had comments where he's saying the best players are playing 70-odd games the last two, maybe three years, including this. You know these players are going to be involved. You know that there's two double whammies with injuries. Obviously, players are going to be missing, but you're then running players into the ground. Declan Rice, Benjamin White, Odegaard was a freak one, but Odegaard, now Bakayo Saka, Gabriel had an injury as well. Not all of it is due to overload and things, but injuries happen. It is what it is, man. Again, Raheem Sterling is also sidelined for a few weeks, allegedly due to a knee injury, which again, you need to get yourself fit. In theory, if he is to miss six, four to six to eight weeks, and some go as far as to say 12, obviously he won't be playing against Ibswich, Brentford away, Brighton away, Newcastle, United, the North London derby, which to be fair to you, Spurs obviously will raise their game. But based on what I've seen from Spurs, away from what the game is and Saka being a great player, if you can't get something against United with their current form and Spurs at this moment without Bakayo Saka, there's issues. Newcastle is a nasty fixture, as is Brentford and Brighton away. Ibswich, yes, that is one arsehole should be winning. But you could argue that's a potential banana skin. And although Liverpool beat them in the early weeks of the season, they made it very difficult for them. They've beaten Spurs, they drew with United. And it's that cliche thing about, oh, you know, every game is a cup final, et cetera, et cetera. We have no margin for error. Liverpool look like they're not stopping. And when they keep winning, I do think Liverpool have a blip and drop points like against Fulham. But when you keep winning games and doing what you're doing, you give yourself a certain floor. And Liverpool are not going to win every game from now to the end of the season. But us, we need to be able to make sure we're maximising our points. But it just feels like self-engineered issues. Now, I'm not saying Arsenal wish injury are going to put players out there if they believe they can get injured. But these are questions and talking points that big up you lot on the platform. We've been here speaking about this. So for me, there's a degree of it's not that I don't care, but it's like I'm struggling to really go overboard here. It's not even I told you. So it's you could see this like you could you could see that the sun was shining, but all of a sudden the weather started getting cold. There's little droplets of rain. So I can't be surprised that it's peeing buckets at this moment. Dynamo Zagreb, Wolves away, Girona away, Manchester City at home, Newcastle at home and Leicester in theory is what he could be missing people. So it is what it is. Arteta said he's putting ideas together. You better find some ideas. I actually remember you saying Kai Havertz could play off the right last season. I'm not saying apologies, people. I'm not saying we need to see that, but it is something. Team News in Texas said now people are reporting it will be eight weeks. I'm told that it's a bare minimum likelihood is we won't see him until March. The main thing is Saka comes regardless of what we're fighting for. The main thing is Saka comes back fit and healthy and, you know, able to continue his life as a footballer. There's no point rushing a man back and things like that. And to a degree with Saka, we're going to have to probably save him from himself, because again, when people sit here and say footballers don't care, it annoys me. Some of these footballers, Benjamin White, the best example, because, you know, the people that do the former footballers that go on podcasts, they say Ben White's known to hide injuries. If you're Saka and you want to, you know, you're one of the poster boys, you want to win a title, you might in your heart know that I'm probably 98% fit, but you know that there's that added percentage that you're not fully there. You're going to tell the physio you're good. So there's a degree of having to save people from themselves, people. He's torn his hamstring and he's out for at least eight weeks, man. But yeah, he's likely to be sidelined for several weeks with an injury to his right hamstring. He suffered that against Crystal Palace and we all know the games he looks to miss. Assuming it's a moderate hamstring injury, the typical recovery time is between four and six weeks, while Saka has often returned far, fairly quickly from injuries. The worry is that it is the third hamstring issue he has suffered during this campaign, where he's also had a fire problem last season. And also you go back to the last international break, he missed games. Now, someone like Saka is going to have hamstring injuries. I'm pretty sure you want to speak to Saka, to Salah, to Rodri before the injury, all the guys that play week in, week out. That is something. And again, I do think on one hand, people do too much with players need to be rested and all of that. But at the same time, if that is his third hamstring, we all know that's an overload injury. We all know Saka plays a lot of games. So again, we didn't have this conversation this season or last season, or even the season before that, or even the season before that, where boy, Saka plays a lot of games. We need people to come in. Israel, he missed two games for Arsenal in October. He missed the last international break. This season, he started 16 of our 17 league matches and five of our six in the Champions League. Plus he did start in September against Bolton. Last season, he missed only three league games. So he's quite durable people. He set a club record of playing in 87 successive top flight games. So he was doing this. It happens. The more you use something, the more things break, no? It is what it is, man. We're going to have to get on with it, man. We're going to have to get on with it. Mikel Arteta said he's worried as well. And it's the first proper, well, he's had a couple of injuries, but I would say this is the first significant kind of injury. And Saka is a durable player. So that's what makes it even more scary. It is what it is, people. But for Saka, all you can do is just focus on your rehab, innit? There's not much you can really do. And for me, beyond the obvious, one thing I'm peed off about is I like watching Saka, obviously. And for me, like, where you look at the Premier League, we'll get onto it, but where you look at the Premier League top goal scorer as well, there's bare man in double figures. Like as much as Harlan's in issues, he's still on double figures. Saka's probably our top goal scorer in the Premier League with five and 10 assists. So what, 13 assists, nine goals in 24 appearances. That's great. I think Saka was going to get some strong numbers, right? We've got an issue around scoring. Saka's been one of our top goal scorers. Prior to the Crystal Palace game, Kai Havertz didn't score until, and I'm not getting at the players, but Kai Havertz didn't score before he scored against Palace. I don't think he scored, the last time he scored was mid-October, right? Gabriel Jesus has been a big part player now. Big up Gabriel Jesus for the form he's shown in the last two games and he's had a great week, right? But what, in the Premier League, he's got two goals already now. Like, well, if that, and in all comps, he's probably one of our top goal scorers already. And in the Premier League, he isn't that far removed from what would be our top goal scorer. So it kind of piggy banks in our issues of goal scoring. We all know if Saka doesn't score goals, we're in trouble. And a lot of Saka's goals and assists have been match winners or goals at important moments. So it's more the drop-off. So these lot are going to have to get on with it, man. Again, you look at the top goal scorers, I don't know what it is, what is all this? This ain't, this year's trying to stitch me up. But yeah, we ain't got no one serious. You look at the double figures, we're not there really. When do you actually see Arsenal on that? In fact, better yet, in the Premier League, who's bagged for us? Kai Havertz, apologies, is our top goal scorer with six. Kai's got five. Martinelli hasn't been really scoring goals, he's got four. We're going to need Gabriel Magalhães to chip in a lot more really and truly. And you know what, Gabriel Jesus, you know, you found two goals and you're already tied with Thomas Partey. Who did Partey score against? He scored against Wijnaldum. Did he score against Boris? Who did he bag against? Fair enough, man. But goals win games and this has been an issue really and truly with us, man. So it is what it is. Mikel Arteta and, you know, Mr. Tim Lewis and the party they do and the Cronkies, these are where, these are the things that I get so annoyed. I'm emotionally, I've lost my emotional investment beyond my love for the team. We started the season with one of the Finnish squads. Now, I'm not trying to scapegoat no one. You lot see the date here, right? February the 1st. February the 1st, 2024. Mikel Arteta came out today on the 21st of December and said we got the smallest squad. In February of this year, he said, we have one of the Finnish squads in the league, that's for sure. When you talk about the numbers, especially in certain areas, we are really thin. If I didn't tell you that was said in February or that was said right now, when would you have thought? How much time are you going to do the same things and expect different results? Fair enough, though. And we all know prior to this week, we was up there. Well, we still are up there. We was up there for injuries. Now, obviously, people have played games. There's been injuries and whatnot. But our point, we had 16 injuries. Our players collectively missed 406 days. It'd be a miracle to see Arsenal win something of significance this season. But for me, I'm only mentioning this because we know this as Arsenal fans and football fans. Injuries are no excuses. Of course, they play a part. Everybody gets injuries. It's probably now 17 with Saka, which ties us with Ibswich and Brighton. It's not really the league table I want to be at, but it could be better and it could be much worse. We'd hope to be lower down the list, but it could be much worse. It is what it is. My point being, everyone gets injuries. And then you look at last season. We didn't learn our lessons and thank God for our blessings because we had a clean run with injuries last season. This is an article from May, people. Where would Arsenal be? We had 23 separate injuries, so we're lower the list. If we were really looking at this summer and thinking, how do we get better? Obviously, recruitment across several positions. But the point had to be, even after I said in preseason, we were lucky with Gabriel, Benjamin White and Saliba, who got suspended. We've had injuries. We should have thanked our lucky stars and prevented that really and truly. Fixed the roof while the sun is shining. Because when it rains, a bit like what you saw in Anne-Marie's press conference from Man Utd, it gets long. So this is why I love the football club. We're at the highs and the lows, but when you lot want me to sit here and say we're going to win this, going to win that, you're too positive, DG, you're too negative. I can only comment what's in front of me. There'll be a day, I believe wholeheartedly in August, going all the way to May, Arsenal can win the league. But that will be when I have less questions and more answers. Right now, there's questions for the questions for the questions. And every week there's another question. It is what it is. Mikel Arteta said we have to be creative. Brother, you have to be