In the aftermath of Arsenal’s disappointing collapse in last season’s title challenge, many players have expressed remorse without explicitly pinpointing the reasons behind their downfall. However, Gabriel Jesus has offered a clear explanation: William Saliba’s injury and the subsequent increase in goals conceded by the team.
Jesus said on the Denilson Show Podcast: “When he [Saliba] plays, we concede few goals, when he doesn’t play, the number [of goals conceded] increases,” said Jesus in an interview with ex-Brazil star Denilson [not our one].
“When I got injured, Eddie [Nketiah] replaced me very well. Then we signed Leo [Trossard] and we kept the pace. But when Saliba got injured, it was complicated.
“The other defenders are good, but we were playing in a certain way. Look at the stats we concede a lot less with him”
This assessment is likely to resonate with most supporters, as Saliba’s partnership with fellow center-back Gabriel Magalhaes had been the envy of the Premier League during the first half of the season, propelling the Gunners to the top of the table.
Saliba’s untimely departure from the field during the second leg of Arsenal’s Europa League knockout tie against Sporting Lisbon in March initially seemed like a temporary setback. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a season-ending injury, further compounding the team’s defensive woes.
To make matters worse, Takehiro Tomiyasu also suffered a knee injury mere minutes after Saliba’s exit, leaving manager Mikel Arteta with no choice but to rely on Rob Holding and (later) new signing Jakub Kiwior as Gabriel’s partner for the remaining 11 games of the season.
Saliba’s injury undoubtedly disrupted the team’s defensive stability and shattered the successful partnership he had forged with Gabriel Magalhaes. The subsequent reliance on makeshift defensive options proved insufficient to maintain Arsenal’s previous level of performance.
As the Gunners reflect on their disappointing campaign, it is evident that Saliba’s absence played a pivotal role in the team’s defensive struggles. The challenge now lies in regrouping, strengthening the defensive line, and finding a way to recapture the solidity and success they experienced during Saliba’s presence on the pitch.
Hopefully the imminent arrival of Jurrien Timber will give us much more backup and tactical options for next years challenges…
COYG!
Sam P
It was down to our mentality, Declan Rice and Kia Havertz two big game players should go along way to addressing same.
Absolutely right. Also another factor when 2 nil up they felt like the game was done and dusted.
Saliba’s stats were obviously better than Holding’s, but our defense might’ve also suffered because of the decline of Jesus’ hold-up ability after he returned from his long-term injury
We had still been getting good results when Trossard played false-nine, then our midfielders seemed reluctant to pass the ball to our CF when Jesus played
The excessive backward/ sideways passes made the opponents able to press our defenders more often and this subsequently led to more mistakes from them
I doubt Balogun can keep and win the ball better than Jesus/ Nketiah did last season, but let’s watch the pre-season first
Couldn’t agree more.
Haha, trossart had a better hold up play than Jesus?
Rob Holding could step into any premier league starting team. He kept Halland quieter than any other player for 85 minutes, admittedly De Bruyne picked up the slack but that’s hardly holding’s fault.
Spot on, he does a job, remember when he had Costa in his pocket in the FA Cup final against Chelsea. He has his faults but I would still keep him as a good backup, many Arsenal fans will disagree.
I would keep Holding too. People blame him but how many goals were a result of his poor play. Even when Kiwior played there was no change
Thumbs up from me FIOS.
I see him in the same light as Elneny, excellent back up squad players – a position they both seem to accept and understand.
👍 ken, the type of players every club needs.
Rob holding is not even an EPL quality of player, please which every premier league team would he step into their starting 11? Properly not English EPL maybe Nigeria premier league
We need to take defence as utmost priority.. Just see how the wonderful team collapsed for the absence of one important player..
This time let’s pick quality , most technical players with physical presence in the midfield and defence…
Saliba’s injury was made worse with Tomiyasu’s injury, as White gotta stick to RB because Zinchenko was playing LB. But Zinny’s injury opened the possibility for Partey to play inverted RB as Kiwior replaced Zinny at LB. The timing was unlucky for us.
1. Lack of rotation
2. Not player the player that’s on form
Jesus should be looking at himself in the first place. He was terrible during the run in.
Saliba had little to do with our capitulation. Can’t tell me that the season before when he capitulated and gave up 4th place to Spurs was also because Saliba was out.
It’s the whole team. And Saliba himself was going through a very shaky period before he got injured.
Sorry, going 2-0 in consecutive games and blowing it has nothing to do with Saliba. It was pure mentality that lost us the league. City had it, we didn’t.
Carragher already disproved that theory on MNF…
Yup – we started conceding more goals after the World Cup *with* saliba in the team. I do think we were worse when he was out because holding is less capable with the ball and too similar to Gabriel in approach (tries to win the first ball every time, whereas saliba will drop off at times), but i think there were other more important factors – very much including Jesus’s very poor form when he came back from injury and our letting teams come back into games we had under control.
Simply, we lost because of poor mentality, passing the ball from goalkeeper to defender, giving the ball away and staring late into every game as if to say the first ten minutes were for dress rehearsal and not the main event. Another is not bringing fresh legs when needed.