Arsenal loanee William Saliba has come under the spotlight for his error in Nice’s clash with Rennes last night.
The Gunners sent the defender out on loan to the Ligue 1 side in January following the manager’s decision not to use the 19 year-old in the first-half of the campaign, and he has been enjoying a regular run of first-team football for his new club.
Since returning to France, he has largely been impressing, leading to a number of fans to believe that the player has to get his chance back at Arsenal in the new season, but the opinions on Twitter after the error (which you can see below) has made some believe that Arteta may have been right all along to overlook him.
The defender is seen failing turning down the easy pass to his fellow defender, in favour of trying to find a team-mate further
😲❗️ MARTIN TERRIER with a brilliant one-man goal to bring @staderennais level with @ogcnice_eng at 1-1!#SRFCOGCN
📺 – beIN SPORTS
💻📱 – beIN SPORTS CONNECT pic.twitter.com/jYheZaIDGb— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) February 26, 2021
Pictures courtesy of BeinSports & Eleven Sports
A number of fans have reacted badly to his error, and one even moved to claim that he would be ‘hung out to dry’ if he did this in the Premier League, while another claimed that Saliba is making at least one key mistake in each match he plays/
If Mustafi or Xhaka played the ball that Saliba did tonight that led to Nice conceding a goal they would be hung out to dry.
— Shocks 🎗️ (@shaughsAFC) February 27, 2021
They’re literally exactly the same though, they were really bad when he was still at the club and they’re still really bad now
Todibo is not an improvement and Saliba makes a serious mistake basically every single game
Learn to Formulate an unbiased viewpoint
— Sam Goz (@Sam_Goz) February 27, 2021
What do we think Arsenal fans? Does Saliba deserve his shot in Arsenal’s first-team yet or does he still have some work to do?
Patrick
Everyone make mistakes. Thats why he is on loan to iron the things out
exactly. my view on his loan is different from the popular view, to me the coach is trying to protect him from the clutches of hungry fans who have pinned all hope of our defensive improvement on the boy even before he kicked a ball. am sure by now majority would have started abusing him had he been in our team
Holding and Luiz make similar errors most games. It was just unlucky it led to a goal. Saliba doesn’t have to face the same challenges in Ligue 1 as in the prem. Let the lad learn his trade in peace.
I think after his shocking treatment, he will not be returning to Arsenal. And a bit stupid to highlight a mistake and try and use that as some sort of justification of his treatment. I dont know a footballer that doesn’t make a mistake, its your general ability and contribution that counts.
Well put Reggie…very well put. How many penalties has Luiz given n how many goals we have conceded by his mistakes. Also Xhaka as well n Cebollos is clear example in last match as well. To use this as an evidence to prove Arteta was right is completely wrong. While ignoring more heavier evidence of 11 losses, so Arteta with 11 losses is not a bad call but a young kid on loan with single mistake made is a good call.
Some very good decisions of Mikel is proving him right – Turmoil at Shalke with our veterans of calamities Mustafi and Kolas, Fene dropping from 1st to 3rd with another veteran magician, Hertha Berlin and Guendozi, AMN playing on the flanks for WBA and now this from Saliba.
Have faith in Arteta, Klopp and Pool didn’t win the EPL in a year neither are the Tots winning it with Mou.
Have faith in Arteta?!! Oh my.. And then we complain why we are playing poorly
I dont believe in faith, i believe in reality and results. Faith is for dreamers.
Schalke were already sitting comfortably in the bottom of the table even before the duo were bought and you expect them to do what exactly…not a fan of Ozil buh please that Fene narrative is appalling, Faulting Guendouzi, a loaner as the reason for Hertha’s poor form is ridiculous and shouldn’t be used as reasons to defend your manager when he has been making wrong footballing decisions. Mind you, Saliba won the club’s player of the month award last month and if this is how you want your young guns to feel bad for mistakes their “experienced” colleagues make then we have a long way to go.
Klopp had a proven track record on his managerial ability, style and preferred players doing the job. No other way to say this, idiotic comparison.
If Afc were unsure of Salibas ability why would they pay 27 million for him,thats huge for such a young player ???
Upermecano made a horror today within less than 4 minutes of play and it led to a penalty then a goal. All players make mistakes. They are human not robots.
If you want Arteta to be proven right he will always be right to Arteta heads regardless of results or player preferences. Most fans like myself are willing him to succeed despite results, the quality of the football and team selections. For me the last two are the more serious issues. He always puts Xhaka first on any team sheet and then picks the rest of the team around him ,again ,with the exception of three standouts giving preference to the loyalists. Normally I would be 100% that Arteta has to go but I’m still only 50/50. This delusion is based on some gut feeling that he will turn out be one of the best managers of his generation. As such, I’m quite confident that we”ll best Leicester tonight, tomorrow? but is that just the inner child in me?
I have the same discussion with my son and we both hold a similar view to yours. As much as I want him to succeed the stats do not look good and I can’t shake the feeling that he may be a good coach but not a good manager. I remember the days of our legendry coach Don Howe taking charge and it just didn’t work out for him as a manager but he did set the foundation for George with some of the young players he brought through.
Oh come off it one error, is that it?!!
Yes Sue and Aubameyang’s poor performance in front of goal against Benfica in the first leg nearly cost Arsenal the tie. How would Arsenal have fared if Aubameyang had been dropped for the second leg?
All players, including CB’s make mistakes. Saliba at 19 years of age is performing above any reasonable expectations.
Let’s check how many similar passing errors (misplaced, mistimed, failure to see a player or run etc) Arsenal players make. Look how often Odegaard has found space and is ignored for example.
Arsenal needs to get its own house in order.
May I add the red cards that the players have received under Arteta which have cost us points….but as usual that is always considered as a player mistake n Arteta is never responsible for those but if any of our loaned arsenal player gets a red card I bet pro Arteta will just jump on it and we will have a new article stating how correct was Arteta and what a call he made lol!
Young player makes a mistake is not really an issue. It is his potential and consistency of his performance that matters. I remember the time when Tony Adams was called a donkey in his early days by the news papers and look how he turned out.
Luiz, holding, bellerin, xhaka make a least 3 of these on each game…..Saliba was just unlucky it ended in goal ….this is ridiculous
Silly article to point out one mistake, who doesn’t make mistakes? Fans, players, managers, even the author for this ridiculous and petty article.
And he won player of the month last month
Yeah that was hardly the worst. Gave the guy the chance to score from 25 yards – it’s not good but was harshly punished this time.
The bottom line is everyone should stop crucifying Arteta for every decision he makes.
That said, whatever happens to players outside the ones he has stuck to using doesn’t prove him right or wrong about anything.
Our performance in the league and in the Europa league is enough yardstick to prove him right or wrong about his overall decisions.
Time they say will always tell.
I wait.
Pointless article all round wasn’t it. I guess it was meant to provoke and Challo more than anything else.
At first glance it appears as if the sole purpose of this article was to provide cherry-picked “facts” in order to justify the actions of our manager, yet it seems much more likely that this would have the exact opposite affect and most would come to the defence of Saliba…which makes me wonder if that was the actual “real” intent of the author, considering that anyone with even a modicum of information would never fall for such an obvious ruse…so please let us know Patrick, are you on the side of the player or the manager when it comes to the way things have played out so far for Saliba?
Pointless article.
offtopic: Today is the final straw. If I see bellerin moving backwards with the ball or he passes back and sideways I am going to blow my top.
So annoying..
We are all bound to make mistake. Let’s watch and see how everything unfold at the end of the season please!
Would you all like a compilation of Arsenal defensive mistake for 20/21 season? Saliba is not in there.
Just goes to show. He will be skinned alive in the Premier league. People saying he should never have been sent out on loan forget. That the Premier league is on another level. You cannot compare. Apples with pears.