it dont matter. "x said" fades into the background noise and ppl dont notice it - and then do notice when the verb isnt 'said', which is what you want
if youre scanning over your writing and you are noticing your saids, its probably because your characters arent up to enough. eg:
"whereve you been?" said steve
"just out shopping," said steven, "i got that chocolate you really like."
"and did you get milk?" asked steve.
"knew i forgot something..." said steven, glumly.
compared to
"whereve you been?" said steve, eveing the two heavy bags steven was dragging inside.
"just shopping," said steven, smiling up at steve from his stooped position. He started rootling through one of the bags, "i got that chocolate you like."
Steve leant against the doorframe, crossed his arms. "and did you get milk?"
steven lifted his head, slowly, scratched his nose, sniffed, and - without turning around - muttered, "knew i forgot something..."
the action around the speech places the characters in space and movement, and in some cases redacts the need for any speaking verb - this way, you can control pacing, provide nonverbal character development, and vary up the speech placement. i wouldnt go for a
"xyz" said a
"bcd" said e
structure for more than like, four lines of dialogue until inserting some narration, and always have a reason for it.
this can get harder if your characters are in a situation where theres no need for blocking (placement and movement, an acting term thats helpful for writers too) - if theyre sat and talking, or on the phone, or... idk, two disembodied souls with nothing but dialogue to their name. that last one is the only excuse not to use narration, and in that case you can jus clarify whos talking through spacing.
in the other examples, characters are still moving and reacting and feeling - some theatre bloke once said 'acting is everything but the words,' and i try to apply that to writing as well. theres a lot you can show through movement, no matter how limited. dialogue without movement is incomplete*
*most of the time