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After the magnificent Paul Smyth was subbed for Saito yesterday, again he looked lost when he came on. He really is struggling in the Championship this season, on current showing the money paid for him looks a poor investment.
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Saito - What Has Happened? on 22:38 - Apr 4 with 2287 views
Both Saito and Dembele were signed to play as the wide attackers in a 433. They are specifically suited to that. They are not suited for 442, where what goes on behind you is a lot more important. Saito in particular struggles with that aspect.
I don't think this is going to be problem that's fixed by anything other than a formation change, which in itself would cause other problems with the centre forwards. We've not seen enough of Chair in a 442. Be interesting to see where he fits in in a 442 as well.
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Saito - What Has Happened? on 22:55 - Apr 4 with 2220 views
I don’t think Koki is having a great season but to try and give a balanced view, yesterday when he came on he mainly had to defend and run backwards against their sub on the right wing who looked dangerous. He stuck to the task and although it’s not his game played almost as a 2nd fullback.
Not an excuse as he’s looked poor going forwards but he defended well and helped RND out loads.
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Saito - What Has Happened? on 23:31 - Apr 4 with 2096 views
Saito - What Has Happened? on 22:55 - Apr 4 by EN_Ranger
I don’t think Koki is having a great season but to try and give a balanced view, yesterday when he came on he mainly had to defend and run backwards against their sub on the right wing who looked dangerous. He stuck to the task and although it’s not his game played almost as a 2nd fullback.
Not an excuse as he’s looked poor going forwards but he defended well and helped RND out loads.
I don’t want to dig out Saito at all, but RND was horribly exposed on a few occasions (eg Millwall) by the lack of protection in front of him from Saito or Dembele. His better recent form has been assisted by Smyth’s energy. I’m sure Saito can improve if has a clear role.
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Saito - What Has Happened? on 00:34 - Apr 5 with 2022 views
Saito - What Has Happened? on 22:55 - Apr 4 by EN_Ranger
I don’t think Koki is having a great season but to try and give a balanced view, yesterday when he came on he mainly had to defend and run backwards against their sub on the right wing who looked dangerous. He stuck to the task and although it’s not his game played almost as a 2nd fullback.
Not an excuse as he’s looked poor going forwards but he defended well and helped RND out loads.
No he never.
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Saito - What Has Happened? on 02:43 - Apr 5 with 1914 views
I'm personally of the view Saito is very talented, so am biased, but this is clearly mental. He went to Japan and had an absolute nightmare debut and has looked like he has been Michael Cera walking under a cloud ever since.
Personal failure is viewed very differently in his culture and seen as very shameful - I've read former Japan coaches talk about how difficult it is to get players to take risks for that reason.
My view would be to get him out of the firing line for the rest of the season as he's becoming a boo boy, and go again in August. I personally never agree with the often trumpeted view on here of "take what you can get" - cos that invariably be worse than nothing. If other clubs know you want rid, they'll often try to take incentives from you to purchase. We have to stimulate interest.
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Saito - What Has Happened? on 11:44 - Apr 5 with 1491 views
Saito - What Has Happened? on 16:42 - Apr 4 by mart_Goblin
Interesting, as yesterday my son said to me that his body language looked like that of someone who was homesick . He has no knowledge of that , but that he just said that’s how he looked.
Might be the lack of confidence in a foreign land where you don’t speak the language , that could have a similar look, naturally .
Let’s hope he’s ok. He got a big cheer when he came on yesterday which can only help .
I got the same impression from Zan Celar.
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Saito - What Has Happened? on 12:36 - Apr 5 with 1420 views
Saito - What Has Happened? on 21:08 - Apr 4 by stevec
If Saito and Esquerdinha are first teamers in any form we can forget about play offs again next season.
Club has to get ruthless, that side of the pitch is a mess. If RND moves on or Chair is incapacitated we’ll struggle. Need a stand in for Chair and a LB that can cover or fill in for RND. No more stand ins who can’t handle the physicality of the game.
Koki was anonymous but half the players went missing in the final 15 minutes so he kinda came into a team that was literally falling apart at the seams. Yes, would've been good if he could have been some sort of outlet or threat on the break but our whole shape had collapsed and he was isolated.
I was expecting JS to hook Morgan and Varane, who after a good solid 70 mins suddenly were like rabbits in the headlights and being overrun, and bring on Hayden and JCS. But, he left us unchanged and in fairness we hung on and got the win (just).
Once the season is "dead" we could maybe give Koki some more minutes in order for him to rediscover his form, but whilst we are capable of hitting 74pts we can't be mucking about and experimenting - we need to keep chalking up the wins by fielding our best and in-form players.
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Saito - What Has Happened? on 13:25 - Apr 5 with 1352 views
Clearly his recent form is not great but I like him and I think he will come good for us again. Let's keep him as a sub for now and see how he can improve in the coming season. One of our best players last season
Nothing has happened per se. In terms of goals and assists, he's mapping what he did last season; i.e. steady state, very ordinary, which should never have given rise to the preposterous £3m+ outlay.
In his final season for us, the much derided Chris Willock still managed to attain higher number of goals and assists than Saito has managed in either of his seasons with us.
[Post edited 5 Apr 14:11]
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Saito - What Has Happened? on 14:15 - Apr 5 with 1280 views
Saito - What Has Happened? on 13:55 - Apr 5 by Loyalitat
Nothing has happened per se. In terms of goals and assists, he's mapping what he did last season; i.e. steady state, very ordinary, which should never have given rise to the preposterous £3m+ outlay.
In his final season for us, the much derided Chris Willock still managed to attain higher number of goals and assists than Saito has managed in either of his seasons with us.
[Post edited 5 Apr 14:11]
Regardless of the stats he is clearly playing a lot worse than he did last season and earlier this season:
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Saito - What Has Happened? on 21:50 - Apr 5 with 1136 views
Had a feeling someone was going to start this particular thread.
Its a shame. Towards the end of last season - somehow he seemed to be more robust but he has lost that element of his game, he seems to be nowhere near challenges and has lost his beliefs in his abilities to beat a player, and to deliver accurate and dangerous crosses also.
Come back the real Koki , please.
I feel we may well cut our losses , if we can get £3 million plus from an asian club , most likely.from South Korea or Japan...
Watford were very big. The players they brought on got bigger and bigger. I think Saito just can't compete with brick outhouses. We need to be on top of our game and to be playing like Barcelona for him to work for us. I'm not sure I can see that happening on a regular basis.
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