Chris Sutton has defended Bukayo Saka by suggesting it’s not fair for England boss Gareth Southgate to play him as a wing back on the international stage.
Southgate finds himself in a tricky position, certainly the toughest period he has been through as England boss.
The World Cup semi-final and Euro 2020 final feel like a long, long time ago with Southgate now under increasing pressure.
A disastrous UEFA Nations League campaign has left England fans booing Southgate of late and the optimism ahead of the World Cup is at a low.
Chris Sutton has defended Bukayo Saka
Southgate still doesn’t seem sure whether to play three or four at the back, but went with the former against Germany on Friday.
Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka was pressed into a left wing back role with Reece James operating on the right side.
That isn’t Saka’s natural position, even if the Arsenal star has shown his versatility on many occasions.
Saka did feature as a left wing back at times under Unai Emery and didn’t exactly disgrace himself when playing in that role.
Yet it just isn’t Saka’s natural game; the further forward you can get Saka, the better.
Saka just can’t be England’s answer at left wing back and it feels like a disservice to take him away from the right wing.
That’s something Southgate must now figure out, with pundit Chris Sutton offering his take on Saka’s role in the England side.
Sutton has told the Daily Mail that he thinks Southgate needs to stop chopping and changing his team, believing the Saka experiment was unfair on the Arsenal man.
Sutton believes it was a ‘big ask’ for Southgate to play Saka there, given how good he is when playing further forward for Arsenal.
The former England striker noted that this was not criticism of Saka himself, but just thinks putting Saka out of position is not fair and not beneficial to England.
“You can’t keep chopping and changing,” said Sutton. “Southgate needs to forget playing Saka as a left wing-back and be fair to him. When they played Germany in the Euros, Saka was a right forward. It’s a really big ask for Saka to play in a completely different position to where he plays for his club and Arsenal are flying down that right flank.”
“That’s not a criticism of Saka — I don’t think it was fair on him or good for England. The issue Southgate has is that Shaw isn’t playing enough so maybe he will go for Kieran Trippier as left wing-back. I can’t see him shifting to a back four. On the other side, Reece James hasn’t exactly torn up any trees this season but neither has Trent Alexander-Arnold,” he added.
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