Arsenal of England fast-rising utility player, Bukayo Saka has been held culpable by a former referee for a crunchy tackled he executed in last weekend’s game against Everton, which the football guru believes should have got the lad sent off, megasportsarena.com reports.
Saka, though, escaped the marching orders and went on to star for all 90 minutes in the goalless draw away to Everton at Goodson Park, only for the former English Premier League ref, Dermot Gallagher to declare that the dark-skinned lad should have been sent off by Kevin Friend, the man at the centre of that game on Saturday.
He acknowledged that Saka is being forced to play out of position, from left-wing to left-back, as cover for the injured duo of Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac, which could have accounted for his shaky start to the game and some clumsy tackles he made late on, one of which Gallagher insists was worthy of a red card from the match arbiter.
It was the last game for The Gunners’ interim coach, Freddie Ljungberg, and their new manager, Mikel Arteta watched from the stands, as Saka was fortunate to avoid getting sent off for his high foot on Dominic Calvert-Lewin, especially as he was already on a yellow card, which has now come up for critical mention by Gallagher.
Gallagher posited: “The player is not aware that he’s there, his boot up and it’s reckless. He runs the risk and I think if referee Kevin Friend had decided to pull out a second yellow card to send him off, he couldn’t argue. The only thing is Saka’s favour is he doesn’t see the player coming.”
