The Saliba saga – by Dan Smith
So, most of the weekend’s headlines will be based on the debut of Haaland at Man City.
Quietly on Friday night William Saliba was making his own first appearance in English Football.
His was more bizarre as it came 3 years after he officially became a Gunner.
It’s understandable that a 19-year-old might need time to adjust to the physical nature of the Premier League, yet how he played at Selhurst Park does beg the question why it took him so long for Arsenal to trust him.
Crystal Palace play in a manner where they are direct, where their attackers like to take on their man and dribble past you. It means a defender has to focus at all times, watching the ball and getting every tackle and block timed to perfection, or else you give away a penalty.
The Gunners often use the loan market as part of a youngster’s development. That’s why he stayed for a season at Saint Etienne after giving them 27 million in 2019.
He got the club to the Coupe De France Final, impressed at Nice and while helping Marseille return to the Champions League, was honoured as part of the division’s team of the year and the country’s best young player.
In other words, from a footballing point of view he more than proved in France he was good enough to get in one of the worst Arsenal squads in a quarter of a century.
Arteta even admitted regret at not registering the player for the 2020-21 campaign, essentially paying the centre back to sit at home and do nothing when a move to the Championship fell through.
It seemed bizarre that we were forced to play first team defenders in the Europa League group stage when an asset close to 30 million was laying on his settee.
I stress ‘footballing point of view’ because the club might argue it was the player’s welfare they were prioritising.
COVID meant that Ligue 1 was postponed meaning the then teenager missed months of action at the same time as losing both of his parents.
His employer’s point of view was that, instead of adjusting to a new country with strangers, he would be better in his homeland with friends and family.
Communication seemed an issue though.
Either the man himself disagreed or no one bothered to sit him down and explain.
Saliba said enough during this spell to indicate he didn’t agree with his boss’s assessment.
This only intensified when he was capped by France which increased his reputation with his national media which was already huge.
It seemed odd that the World Champions would trust him to play 5 times for them at the same time there was zero European football in North London for the first time in 25 years.
Marseille’s president was more than happy to stir the pot, making it clear they were happy to step in if Saliba remained overlooked at the Emirates and even putting out the notion that the player’s preference was not to go back.
Our manager hasn’t been shy in discarding talent if they don’t fit into his ethos or has attitudes that go against his values.
Even from a business perspective, we essentially gave Ozil, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Mustafi and Aubameyang away while Guendouzi was sold for a cut price.
The same might still happen regarding Bellerin and Torreira.
It would have been an embarrassment to the Spaniard had we paid 27 million for an asset, just to let him play for three other clubs, and then sold him.
Especially if he then played elsewhere like he did against the Eagles.
Of course, we don’t truly know what version of Saliba we would have got had he played for us sooner.
Maybe homesickness would have been a factor?
Maybe it would have been his home comforts that meant he could do what he did in France?
Good things are worth the wait.
Whether it should have been sooner we can debate forever.
At last though we can say, welcome to Arsenal, Saliba.
Dan
—————————————————–
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Arteta would have liked a couple more goals against Palace. Wouldn’t we all!
The boy is strong. I enjoyed one tackle on Zaha in the 18 yard box. It left Zaha rolling on the floor like a chicken, expecting penalty when Saliba clearly got the ball first. It was so enjoyable because Zaha bullies our players and plays against arsenal with an attitude
Loose Cannon
I love the conclusion, ‘booting out the dross’ According to them Ozil was booted out because of his comments on the Urghurs in China. So? Am sure he was also booted from Fernabache because of similar comments on Urghurs? Ozil and company were stealing a living at the Emirates.
@Howard
Please don’t say such things about Dear Prince Ozil 🤴.
Stuff like that gets a certain group very sensitive, emotional and upset on here..
Watch out.. 🙏
😂😂🤣🤣🤣
If you say so 😂😂😂😂
We cant rule out the fact that in his prime age, he was still Better than our currently first 11 commbined
@Tyson
If you say so.
🤣🤣
Howard we l loved Mezut.
That first goal v Napoli was there
Cushion finish
Ya Gunners Ya 👀
It is a lesson to zah
As you say Dan , Arteta regretted not registering him. He made a mistake.
No one can dispute Saliba’s talent and it was there to see on Friday night
Perhaps that error was a blessing as WS certainly deserves to start this season and will have matured still further during his time in France. His English is good and he is so commanding and confident. Brill!
SueP, remember when I said that time was a great healer.well MA admitted making a mistake by not registering him.while Saliba went on loan to Marseille,he said certain things at the time that showed his disappointment/disagreement.
Fast forward to this week,MA wasn’t shy in complimenting him, as for Saliba he now agrees that the loans helped him and that he needed the game time.with hindsight,they both realised several things.i think this chapter/saga should be closed now.he is now with us and let’s look forward!!
👍
I had to laugh at his English not maliciously but because I had that same strong French accent when I first moved to the UK (1996).
I’m pretty sure the captain’s armsband is going to him as soon as he becomes very fluent with his English.
Like I waited for Mr. Arsene to walk out of that door for good for 12 long years. Like I waited for 13 long years for an European final and that night was ruined by Ozil and the rest of the mugs (except Iwobi) who shamefully wore our iconic jersey. I did not have to wait for Saliba as I knew the lil magician had some tricks up his sleeve to develop the lad into a world class defender. The same could be said for Guendozi if he could swallow his big ego, but no complaints, we have Lokonga. And whether Dan likes it or not, Mikel is our boss and will remain so as long as Stan has faith in him, so go ahead, please do all you can to belittle Mikel, it will cause no harm to him, as Stan may/may not read JA and base his business decisions on the opinions of a miniscule band of fans who have no love for the club and have one agenda of bringing down Mikel for booting out the dross!
Your praise if Saliba is quite strange. Weren’t you the one who referred to him as a primadonna while he was in Marseille and wanted to return to them to play champions league football?
Agree with you mate, at that time he was influenced by others, once he came back “home” and saw the magnificent transformation of the team by Mikel and made up his mind to stay here, both deserve a little praise – Mikel and Saliba. Primadonnas are those who want to do not want to sweat it out at the Emirates!
I am. confused want to or do not want to?
LC Sometimes, in fact almost ALWAYS, when I read your comments, I think I must be your identical twin, separated at birth. We think so alike on so much. I saw Ozil for thre fraus he was very early on andxcalle dhimour consistently as Idid to thr self centred playboy Auba afrer just two seasons whenit became as obvious as it was with Ozil that his heart was not in the job he was OBSCENELY overpaid, to do.
On MA , very early on , I clearly saw his superb man management quailites. I reasoned that Pep would never have desperately wanted to keep any coach and asst manager who was not top class.
I also saw that MA has and always was, going to need time to learn the huge differeence between being a No 2 and a No 1 at a club of our world wide size and stature.
I also see how in the Amazon Prime episodes the stupidity of those who claim he is, even now, “an apprentice and not up to the job” is way beyong merely stupid but is in fact a vendetta by a very few renagade and diehard “planks”.
MA is widely revered , not simply admired, within the club AND AMONG THOSE WHO REALLY KNOW, THEREFORE . So these days, I just sympathise with those planks who lack the basic level of IQ to see what is in front of the noses of all of us.
Some are wilfully and sadly “blind” But the huge majority now see his superb man management, as clearly as you and I HAVE DONE ALL ALONG.
Right now, there are hardly any left in the club who would not die for the cause and that is DOWN TO MA!!
Jon you predicted top 4 ….you were wrong lol.
I said we would mentally choke …..I was right
So don’t think your in a position to question other IQ’s and call people planks lol
@dan smith,i can still remember you predicted another 5th place finish,still in my head.
And he was correct, so what’s your point?
Ummm,can you please read my reply to dan again? You’d probably get my point if you do so.
Yes, I’ve read it again, so what’s your point?
“another” is the key word in my point and the last time i checked we’ve played just one game out of 38 games so he can’t be right just yet.
Just because I predict something doesn’t make it okay or mean I’m happy with that position.
I predict 5th because again I think when it matters we will be mentally weak
Now that’s being pessimistic.
Nail on the head.
The real agenda for the post, is really just to use Saliba as an excuse for another dig at the manager.
Another dig ?.
Where was the dig ?.
Or do you mean the moment you read something you don’t like ?
Spot Anders, I do really hope MA will take us all the way just to see the haters vanish once and for all! I want Arsenal to be successful and I’m supporting our manager to make it happen 🔴⚪️
We all are mate but so far it hasn’t been happening
YAWN YAWN YAWN YAWN YAWN – same old same old 😂😂😂
‘ it will cause no harm to him ?’
Yeah I don’t think Arteta reads my articles on JustArsenal and cares
Too deep mate
Dan, that was in answer to the newly formed three wise men of JA, Loose Cannon, Jon Fox and Goonster, who have never seen anything wrong in Arteta… yet two of them were calling for his head if he didn’t finish in the top four (and he didn’t!!) while LC seems to be Mikel’s number one disciple – whatever floats your boat, as they say.
Good article, laying out the facts as they happened and well done to Saliba and Arteta for coming to the right decision – let’s hope he signs the new contract.
yet in my review of Arsenal’s win on Friday Xakha gets knocked but that’s okay
So it’s okay to be negative unless it’s something they disagree with lol
Let hope he feels at home already.
It was clear by his statement that he wanted to play for Arsenal and the fans by one of his interview.
It’s good to have him back and hopefully he sign the new deal.
Nobody can deny that the loan helped him a lot, and I think not having an official debut in all those time was the issue and not the loan it self.
Like he wasn’t even given the chance to make mistakes, but here is a the man Arteta watched in training and he knows what he saw for him not to have giving him any debut but it can’t be be because he’s not good enough . we have seen those who are not as good as him given that chance.
Palace players had a way of winding our players up, Zaha especially. The guys knew when would come and were battle ready.
I’m glad Saliba was on point. This will give him confidence going into subsequent games.
On another note, spending 50m on Ben White now seem more like a bad business.
“50m on Ben White now seem more like a bad business.”
It does, but I’m just pleased that arteta didn’t have white keep his CB spot simply because of the price tag and the fact he was Ma’s signing. I did worry about that, but it does show he’s picking players on merit.
Also, while I’d say we overpaid on White by quite a bit, at least he’s decent – could have been a lot worse.
Until Tomi comes back, you can’t praise Arteta for giving White’s place to Saliba
But Davi English talent is usually overpaid for, and you have to buy to fullfil the “English quota rule” too many examples around Maguire, stones, Grealish….the list is huge
Most of those claiming BW was bad business are simply jumping on a bandwagon and have a very narrow perspective.
William salib1
yeah, white overhyped and overpaid.
at least he is better than Harry Maguire lol
Loose Cannon, your full of something…..I don’t know what, or yes I do but I’m not allowed to say it here. To paraphrase what the hell are you blabbering about.
😂👍😂👍😂👍 Joe. S and that applies to those who see themselves in his comments 😂😂😂😂
Arteta might turn out to be a good coach, maybe, he’s yet to convince me. But when it comes to asset management he and Edu are incompetent at best. The rate at which we give out huge brands for nothing or close to nothing is embarrassing. People come up with excuses that they were not sellable or they were disruptive or whatever. The excuses are lame. How much did Liverpool sell Solanke who was useless as a striker. Solanke 20mil, Jordan Ibe 15 mil. Etc etc
It’s a disgrace we gave out someone like Auba for nothing. Paid him to leave and now Chelsea might buy him from Barca. Which might end up meaning we paid him to leave, gave him out for free to Barca who might in turn end up getting money for him. Paid Willian to leave. Mustafi, Kolasinac, Ozil, Torreira is going for cheap, A class keeper like Leno going for peanuts, Guendouzi going for that amount is shocking management. Bellerin might leave for free. What of Mari? The asset management of Arteta and Edu is embarrassing.
In as much as we are looking at the good of Arteta we must not turn a blind eye to the bad. People complain that Man City buys the league, but what they don’t understand is that Man City are very good at selling. They know when to move on from a player, when to renew and when not to renew. They also give to everyone what they are worth. We give out ridiculous contracts and act surprised when we can’t ship them out. Nketiah getting paid with 100k when he doesn’t even have up to 18 EPL goals for Arsenal after how many years in the first team is a disgrace. They gladly pay players to sit at home and give non reasonable excuses for that. So many things wrong and if you speak against this they label you anti Arteta. Saliba is yet to sign a new contract. So that too might turn out sour.
Arteta might learn on the job but his and Edu”s inexperience has cost us over 100mil in assets.
Arteta is not in charge player sales. When Edu and Don took over, they sacked the negotiator, Fahmy fir reason best known to themselves. They were interested in making for themselves.
Convince the Board to sell players cheap and go behind and collect your share of the booy
You are wrong sir. Arteta and Edu Gasper are firmly the deciders on both incomings and outgoings. Even Edu himself said that he will never sanction the purchase or sale of a player without Arteta’s final approval
Vinai said it, Edu said it and Arteta said it that team “Edu and Arteta” are both in charge of incomings and outgoings.
When it’s bad they blame Edu, when it’s good they praise Arteta. Edu the fall guy.
@Chapo
I do hope Edu is gotten rid of and replaced by yourself as “Director Of Football”.. Then you can fire Arteta and hire your own preferred manager, so that together you guys can bring in some mature asset management “Know How”. Because it seems like Arteta and Edu are incompetent / amateurs..
If that was an attempt at humor then I’ll say you failed woefully. If that was a subtle jibe at me then I’ll say you are a keyboard warrior. Wouldn’t say that if you were standing next to me I bet you.
So now whoever has a different opinion is attacked. Did I say anything wrong? Debunk what I said with facts. I gave you facts and that is their assets management is terrible and they are inexperienced. Give me facts to disprove this, don’t go blabbing.
@Chapo
😂🤣🤣
Turning into gangster / sinaloa cartel EL CHAPO?
I am quaking in me boots right about now..
You stated your “PERSONAL SUBJECTIVE OPINION” and now putting it forward as FACTS?
You and I are all entitled to our own opinion, but out personal opinion can be challenged. This is a public fans forum, my or your own opinion is not protected from scrutiny.. The moment you we all feel brave enough to post out own opinion on any public forum / media then know people will reply to it.
I myself I’m the greatest human being ever.. That’s a fact.. Can you debunk me now?
We can all put forth our own personal opinion as objective FACTS, it’s easy Mr wannabe Gangster..
😅
SMH. The internet has really given voice to the voiceless and might to the might-less. SMH.
So many people will attack the admin for posting opposition views that doesn’t sit down with them.
This site is for Arsenal fans.
Not a manager or player site for you to stand or not to stand with.
Everyone is free to share their opinion about their beloved Arsenal here.
I can’t remember anyone attacking the admin for sharing how bad the korenke as been post while majority want them out . perhaps many wanted him out of the club in the past, should we label them plastic fans for not supporting their owner, or call them the negative fans.
Nobody needs anyone permission before they started supporting Arsenal, and they will never need it.
You can go ahead and choose who should be included in Arsenal fan if they don’t support your view, it won’t take away them being a member of the fan.
Could have saved 50 million on Ben white if only Arteta had seen how good this kid was last season ,credit has to go to the Jorge Sampaoli who had faith in him .
And credit to the lad for pushing to go back to France as the club wanted him to loan him to a English club .
This is what he said last season before everyone starts given credit to Arteta for his loan .
“ I’m the one who chose Marseille. Arsenal preferred that I got to England, but I knew that here was the right choice, I pushed and pushed for it. Marseille is one of the best clubs in France, with a lot of fervor in the city and the country. You need to sweat for the shirt when you’re here.”
Let’s just hope he signs a new contract ,clocks ticking .
Dan kit
My take on this is slightly different, I don’t believe the gaffer didn’t recognize the talent the kid has,
In my opinion just too much egos throwing around at the time, nothing was wrong loaning him to an English club either maybe he would have even better and tougher.
I said at the time we should extend both Saliba and Guendouzi contract and loan them to a newly promoted club.
The kid obviously thinks he wasn’t treated fairly at the time and so too am I and the great Henry, this is why we are waiting with abated breath for him to sign
“I pushed and pushed for it” which means Arteta was really against it, preferred he go on loan to a club in England. I don’t know if people giving Arteta credit for Saliba don’t think. What people need to understand is that you can make a mistake which later turns out to be a great decision. Arteta made a mistake with Saliba, didn’t even give the kid a chance to make mistakes. Turns out great in the end but not so great if he doesn’t sign. Besides if Saliba benches White then it would turn out a rather more foolish decision to have sent him out and buy White for 50
That then Dan tells you one thing a loan move was seen as the best thing for both. The disagreement was “which team” and if Saliba thought highly of Marseille and pushed for that, I’m ok with that. He’s now mature and ready if the first game is the benchmark.
No,the loan became the best option, once that it was clear the boy was not going to be playing or being registered. Saliba said at the time”I wished the manager had given me a proper chance.he judged me on 2 training sessions when the French season had closed 3 months earlier,iof course I was not ready physically (fit).
How much money have Man.City spent on RúBen Dias, Aymeric Laporte, and John Stones? They even spent £41 million on Nathan Aké. How much did Liverpool spend on Virgil van Dijk, and what about Chelsea? We need at least four decent CBs to compete for silverware. It’s not about how good Saliba was a year ago, but how good we need to be to compete top four in the PL, and hopefully win something in Europe.
If Saliba continues to play like that then what would happen either with Tomiyasu or White when Tomiyasu will be fully fit??
Is that a problem?
Both are versatile players
Tomi can play across the back four and White can play the holding role in midfield.
We have six top class defenders in White, Tomi, Gabriel, Tierney, Saliba and Zinchenko.
There will be games enough for all of them
Last season we were falling apart if one of our back four was injured. Holding and Cedric are decentish but flawed players.
Maybe Arteta will go 3 at the back ,which could be a possibility to accommodate all 3 .
But I believe his preference is a 4-4-3
Without a goalkeeper 🤣🤣
Yea 4-4-3 ramsdale in CM 😂
In 3-4-3 either you will have to drop Odegaard or any CM if Arteta wants to accommodate Odegaard…
Odegaard will have to play box to box CM…
@Kedar Aren’t u happy we have this problem Liverpool have Van Dike, Konate, Matip and Joe Gomes. City have Stones, Ake, Diaz.
Somebody tell what’s wrong with having White, Saliba, Gabriel and Holding for the whole season forgetting injures and suspensions gonna come in???
Forgot Laporte for City
Sincerely I think Arsenal fans have a problem,
We complained of poor defenders last season, now we have quality ones, yet we complain,
I’m so happy we have a versatile white, Tomi and Zenchenko,
It’s less complain for us now, If we are in a Dire situation, white-Zinchenko/Vieira -Elneny could step up the midfield,
In the case of Saliba, I believe Arteta made the right choice to loan him, I can’t think of a top club that hands-over it’s heart to a 19yr old, besides it takes more than just skills to handle the defense, you must be matured, calculating with full concentration,
I wonder what would happen if a lot of Arsenal fans were given the opportunity to coach for a week.
Have you guys noticed almost every young coach that has been given a top EPL club to manage quickly grows white hairs.
How pleased i am to finally find someone who voiced out my thought,it seems there are people who barely use their number six on here,imagine a grown up claiming to have saliba and white in the same squad is a waste.so so sad,bruv.
We arsenal fans do complain alot, all I want is a team filled with quality talent. Having Saliba and Ben in the team is a blessing no calls for alarm. I could remember wen we hv players dat are not good enough playing for us, now it has become a thing of past. Our back line are now filled wit quality from 2345. Am pretty sure we can concede more than 25goals this season
Stone yes we now have the quility, whether it lasts is upon the success anchored in winning trophies lest we loose the talent we have done so much assembling. We will for sure loose this group if success isn’t achieved
Imagine having to complain about the defensive options of Sokratis, Mustafi, Chambers & David Luiz.
Then to have the quality options of Saliba, Gabriel and White and still complain about it 😂😂
Only Arsenal fans can have trouble with having multiple options of quality players because they either don’t like one of them, or they’re blinded by love for one of them
Great post. My take on Saliba is that he probably would have helped us secure CL last season had he stayed with us but equally he is a better player now having gone on loan.
So is it an Arteta gaffe.or an Arteta mster class? Honours even.
Neither because Arteta is very lucky to be on job in the 1st place after dismal 2 and half seasons
Or probably he could have been part of a team that still failed to finish top four. We will never know. What we know he is here now, he had a wonderful debut, helped the team keep a clean sheet……
Reply to voyageur
Ha ha Eddie, satisfying the human test will never happen. Most people will always look at the flaws first and give “opinion” based on that, blatantly overlooking the need to quality squad depth. Money used notwithstanding! Am happy that we now have good a defense and backup options something we haven’t adequately enjoyed for àbout two decades
Exactly @eddie,such an insatiable lot….grrrrr!!!
The problem now is will Saliba sign up for another 3/4 years? I think he has just two left on his original contract, so this season is when we should get him to commit or stand the possibility of him walking and Arsenal losing a probable world class defender. Wouldn’t be the first time.
Or he signs 5 year contract and sucks on big wage’s and then we can’t shift him, wouldn’t be the first time 🤔
@Dan Kit
RealTalk…
Next time the gaffer will make no mistake, exactly my word months ago.
It was a genuine ERROR TO PLAY A DEFENDER LIKE MUSTAFI AHEAD OF SALIBA have being shouting that almost a year ago.
A keep saying this is the biggest blunder the gaffer ever made in his career IMO.
He now will be treated with kids gloves.
I’m waiting for O’hara’s next comments. He’s so scared that Saliba would pose a problem for Tottenham attackers and shamelessly suggested he should be sold for not being good enough for Aesenal.
He thinks Arteta is dumb.
To be honest most of us never understood why we had to spend £50 million on White..
To this day I still think it was a complete waste of £50 million..
But it’s Arteta and Edu in charge, they will succeed or fail through their own decisions..
Should have used that money for another midfielder or a striker..
What is amazing about William Saliba is that he plays as last man back, a CB sweeper. In effect he covers everybody. Exactly what we need. The fact he is fast, composed and strong will change our side completely. He is defensively intelligent, and that minimises the chances other teams will have. Shite, it’s a shame we never had him last year. We really have a chance of a challenge…if we keep Jesus and Saliba injury free and fit. We MUST get another top midfield player to cover Xhaka getting sent off and Partey getting injured. If we don’t we’ll fall away. It is so obvious after Xhaka’s yellow for diving. Xhaka has a self destruction tendency. Edu…wakey, wakey.
Whether he was ready last year Sean Williams we can only guess plus what failed last season imo was not scoring enough goals
Mikel and Edu did a great job by sending Saliba on loan. We must remember Saliba was Unai Emery’s signing. And it just so happened that he returned when Emery was fired. Mikel did not have enough time to look at the player. Taking into account we had a toxic dressing room, that would not have been a good environment for Saliba. He’s mentors would have been Sokratis and Mustafi. It may not have made sense at the time, but it all worked out for the good. He has grown and matured on and off the pitch. There’s still 37 games to play, so there is still a long way to go for Saliba.
@Dboy
You mean “Sampaoli” did a great job in nurturing Saliba’s talent…IJS
Ok let blame emery for Saliba not having a debut in 2 and half years, depsite the fact that emery left more than two years ago.
How about you blame emery for adding the likes of martineli in the first team without having him go to loan first.
Ooh how dare emery promoting Saka into the first team without any loan.
It’s emery fault that we haven’t finish in top4 since he left.
It’s emery fault that we have overpaid for players despite non of his signing were on 150k monthly.
It’s always emery fault.
A lot of comments seem to have gone missing since earlier today, any ideas why? Did I miss something? Thanks.
OT
Atleast the Rabiot rumours will now go away .
GL Man Utd 😂
When Tomiyasu becomes fit and in form to play, I think Arteta should bench him and be bringing him on to bid for his time to start. But I think this will depend on if Ben White starting performance at the rightback in the team remain great. If White proves to be consistent in matches for Arsenal and performing credibly well culminating to Arsenal winning games. But not conceding goals that will lead to Arsenal to suffer a loss or play to a draw game which was a result of poor defending from him. But if White continues to play well and Arsenal continue to win, Arteta should not drop him for the sake of playing Tomiyasu.
Ben White is a bit of a conundrum. Imo he dies not have the stature to be a commanding CB nor the pace required, in modern football, to be either a right back or a wing back. There is one position he could excel at i.e. central midfield, he is a good passer of the ball, defends well, more pace than Xhaka and less likely get sent off. I think it’s time to either bench Xhaka or move him on. I agree that £50m was a lot to pay for BW but what’s done is done and we need to move on now.
‘does’
For Christ sake its just one match. Give the kid a break.. This is how the overhyping begins only for these same fans to destroy these same players later… Willian, Ceballos and others..
After a long time, I see some stability in this team. The biggest nonsense and useless piece of shit I supported and brought down the spirit and brand of Arsenal was Ozil. He should have been in ‘another’ team nothing to do with football but alas so unlucky we had him. Its time to focus on football, discipline and results. I dont think think we will ever play like in Arsene era but I also dont want absolute boring tiki taka of blood money ManC. We need to blend in a way football is eye pleasing again! cheers COYG!
Arsenners, Ozil did tremendous damage to club. His lazy, uncaring greed was horrible.
His attitude towards “working” for the team was the very OPPOSITE of all that was needed. When he finally left, a huge black cloud went away and our dressing room harmony was immeasurable better.
I loathe OZIL WITH A PASSION AND LOATHE ALL HE WAS AND STOOD FOR, apart from the political stand he took for the Uyghurs in China.
Was Ozil pushed out of Arsenal because of his statement of supporting the China Urghur Muslins? No! But I think he was disengaged from playing for Arsenal even when he was still contracted to them. And the club finally pushed him out to Fernabache. Principally because of his rebellious stance and subversive and Connivance moves bringing 2 others in to join him rebelling against Arsenal decision to deduct certain percentage out of the wages earned by players and staff at the club to help offset some financial losses incurred by the club due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. Which seriously imparted on the finances of AFC at the time.
I will keep saying it. Some arsenal fans do not deserve good things.
City has Laporte, Stones, Dias and Ake as cb options
We have Ben White, Saliba, Gabriel and Holding.
For the first time in a long while, we have an almost decent cb options and some are debating white as a bad buy.
Maybe some of you forgot we had Mustafi, Soktatis, bellerin and Kolasinac as our starting defensive team.
These guys are ARSENAL players, whether you “feel” it’s a bad buy or not, the club bought them for a reason.
I love and appreciate them all. I see them all as excellent buys. Make of it what you want but if we never bought white, we are one saliba injury from conceding goals all season long
All true
We are also one Partey injury or Jesus injury away from another collapse.
Like Pepe or not, he can play as a winger and his early days with Arsenal show he can score and assist, in fact.
Partey goes down again we have nothing, unless White can fill in, I feel is the best option for CDM.
Jesus goes down we are likely sunk. Nketiah works hard, but has never shown to be a reliable scorer when we have been starved for goals under Arteta.
Until we get a CDM and plan B striker, we are walking on a razor’s edge. Hopefully both positions filled before window closes and we have learned lessons from January debacle.
@Vin – nice saying 🫶
I think William Saliba saga at Arsenal should now be over. As Arteta his manager is now looking to have yielded to the Gooners cries who cried foul when he refused to rate him high and absub him into the first team and play in matches to show his mettle for Arsenal last season to thus give Saliba the chance to prove himself for Arsenal.
And now that Arteta has finally yielded to the Gooners cries and has given Saliba the chance to prove his worth for Arsenal in pre-season friendly matches and Arsenal opening night EPL match encounter away to Crystal Palace last Friday night. Where he has defensively excelled for Arsenal.
Nevertheless, let us Gooners hope Saliba will continue to excel defensively and a times come forward to attack the to score vital goals in games for Arsenal in thr EPL and others this season, like Magalhaes was coming forward last deacon and scored 5 goals for Arsenal in the EPL.
Weather it was right or wrong to keep him away last season is water under the bridge
1 game of the season gone and he looks a beast for us
Weather he is better then white over the season is another matter but fir the first time in years we are looking good at the back for cover.
Debatable if white had a good game as some have stated but for me. He was disciplined held his ground and gave little away at the back.
Last season we got smashed down our right and walked away with nil points
This season we kept a clean sheet, scored 2 and walked away with all 3 points
Be happy we have options
Onwards and upwards
@Alanball08 – nice saying.
To compete top four in the PL do we need a squad that is competitive with our opponents, which also includes at least four CB’s.
We have 3 quality CB’s and we will need them as the season goes. Ben can stand in across the back line and I think he could do a DM role as well. Saliba has played one game for us so I’m not getting carried away but we do need to lock him and all our young players down to long term 5 plus year contracts with big buy out clauses. I don’t know why we look back so much as the future looks a lot batter than our recent past.
Too much expected from Saliba……hopefully those singing the high praises realize he is human……..he will get better as well as make mistakes……he is very good.