William Saliba: Here to Stay ✍️

[Deleted member 102404]

You're equating a "dip in form" to being inconsistent overall, and you talk as if you watched him, how many of his games start to finish did you watch last season? Because you're talking like you've read that one quote and you think you know about his entire loan.

I watched a lot of his games in the first half of the season and he did make mistakes that's true, as you'd expect of any defender (let alone one his age) but he wasn't inconsistent he was very good in most of his games.

And well then you have the 2nd half of the season but all of the reviews from France say he did well overall, key word being on overall, so I'm struggling to see how that translates to him being inconsistent.

Here's an excerpt from GFFN about Marseille's best players 21/22:

"Much was made about Saliba’s incredible talent and at 20 years of age, he was back at a third Ligue 1 club as Arsenal continued to find no place for him in their squad, despite a €30m transfer from Saint-Etienne in 2019. Saliba slotted into a Marseille back-line that looked creaky last season, with no stand-out performer from the likes of Duje Ćaleta-Car, Ávaro González and Leo Balerdi. That changed from day 1. The Bondy native belied his age with a string of impressive performances and almost viral-like defensive moments such as his last minute challenge on a runaway Kylian Mbappe during Le Classique. To say that this was the perfect loan would be an understatement, as Saliba imposed himself massively in challenging circumstances, earning a call-up to the France national team in the process. Will he be able to continue his journey at Marseille in the coming season?"

I definitely trust their word over yours especially because it was his performances in France that contributed to him getting a call up to the France squad at the time.

He was good last year and I watched most of his games.
He had a serious dip in form that lasted about a month, was just ok at the start of the season and finished it really well.
A good year overall but it is clear he has some flaws that are not unexpected for a young player.
Looks like we made a very good decision holding him back to this year.
I believe he will be our best defender , but he isn’t there yet.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

Form of late is poor but young players go through this. Still learning. Been excellent for the mostnpart

Don't think I'd go as far as to say he's had poor form, I draw a line between 1 mistake per game and playing poorly generally in a game.

For e.g. he still looks comfortable on the ball and his first touch/passing is still good, he just gave away a pen vs West Ham and fluffed his lines for a goal vs Brighton during otherwise good performances, they're isolated incidents really.

 

[DUFFMAN]

Don't think I'd go as far as to say he's had poor form, I draw a line between 1 mistake per game and playing poorly generally in a game.

For e.g. he still looks comfortable on the ball and his first touch/passing is still good, he just gave away a pen vs West Ham and fluffed his lines for a goal vs Brighton during otherwise good performances, they're isolated incidents really.

That’s literally the definition of poor form for defenders

 

[DJ_Markstar]

That’s the definition of poor form for defenders

It really isn't though. If he was misplacing passes left and right and caught out of position constantly that'd be MUCH worse.

 

[TheGreatWright8]

He will bounce back

 

[StefanB]

He's been hesitating a bit. Needs to cut that out and just smash it at times when he's not that confident.

The penalty against West Ham could've been avoided (and should've been) if he only cleared it instead of letting Antonio pick up the ball when he could've just cleared it away. Same today. Should've just played the ball out. Instead he hesitated and Brighton capitalized..

He's clearly a very good defender already, but two big big mistakes in two games running. Let's hope he simplifies things again.

 

[Deleted member 102404]

He will bounce back

He will.
He did last year too.
The coaches will be working with him on a couple of areas but even his dips are not bad as such.
His confidence may have taken a bit if a knock with that idiot Dechamps, but he’ll be back to the level he was at the start of the season.

 

[DUFFMAN]

He's been hesitating a bit. Needs to cut that out and just smash it at times when he's not that confident.

The penalty against West Ham could've been avoided (and should've been) if he only cleared it instead of letting Antonio pick up the ball when he could've just cleared it away. Same today. Should've just played the ball out. Instead he hesitated and Brighton capitalized..

He's clearly a very good defender already, but two big big mistakes in two games running. Let's hope he simplifies things again.

I think he’ll be ok but he also had a few of these moments earlier in the season.

Needs to realise staying here and learning on the job is a better option than PSG or Real Madrid.

 

[StefanB]

I think he’ll be ok but he also had a few of these moments earlier in the season.

Needs to realise staying here and learning on the job is a better option than PSG or Real Madrid.

Yeah indeed. He has the potential to be one of the very best, but he needs to stay a bit humble and keep playing and improving week in and week out.

At the moment Arsenal is by far the best place he can be, and I hope he also realizes that.

 

[Paperino]

He is a bit rusty after barely playing during the world cup. Ignore that g1mp BaldSpray, he has been talking sh1t about Saliba for a long time.

 

[Steadman]

Could it be that the threat of suspension by picking up another yellow card is playing on his mind and effecting his game?

The aura he gives off is still there and I genuinely think most PL forwards almost fear coming up against him - reminiscent of van Dijk pre-injury.

Mistakes are bound to happen at his age for a CB and we should be thankful he has a great partnership with Gabriel to get him through performances like this.

 

[quattro]

That second goal looked worse than it did. The ball bouncing off his knee was unfortunate, but he was in the right place and he didn't go to ground. 9 out of ten times he would have cleaned that up. He'll be fine.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

If Gabriel was making the mistakes Saliba has he'd be getting hammered for it

He's a real talent going through a poor spell while in development. It happens.

 

[field442]

I don't think you can underestimate not playing for 6 weeks. Saliba, Tomiyasu and Zinchenko all looked to be lacking sharpness at times yesterday.

 

[bergholt]

I don't think you can underestimate not playing for 6 weeks. Saliba, Tomiyasu and Zinchenko all looked to be lacking sharpness at times yesterday.

Tomi played 180+ minutes in Qatar tho

 

[Big Poppa]

He’s showed his age recently after fooling us for so long. Hopefully got the errors out of his system

 

[Maybe]

Mistakes are bound to happen at his age for a CB and we should be thankful he has a great partnership with Gabriel to get him through performances like this.

Mistakes happen for defenders of any age, it's just that we always end up discussing them with young players and relating them to their age.

He will be making mistakes even when he is 27, but he will still be top quality, just like he is now

 

[mpower2540]

Don't think I'd go as far as to say he's had poor form, I draw a line between 1 mistake per game and playing poorly generally in a game.

For e.g. he still looks comfortable on the ball and his first touch/passing is still good, he just gave away a pen vs West Ham and fluffed his lines for a goal vs Brighton during otherwise good performances, they're isolated incidents really.

I agree, I actually think the way he plays invites mistakes and we're just going to have to accept it. He's so unbelievably confident with the ball that at times he's going to give the ball away trying to progress it, beat a man etc. Even for the 2nd Brighton goal, rather than just go and clear it I think he's trying to bring it down and turn out but gets his touch wrong.

 

[Deleted member 102404]

I agree, I actually think the way he plays invites mistakes and we're just going to have to accept it. He's so unbelievably confident with the ball that at times he's going to give the ball away trying to progress it, beat a man etc. Even for the 2nd Brighton goal, rather than just go and clear it I think he's trying to bring it down and turn out but gets his touch wrong.

That’s exactly what it looked like he was doing. He’ll hopefully learn that there is a time and place for that. Should have just cleared that ball. Coaches need to encourage him to still play out , but decision making on when to do it is key.

The important thing is that we’ve lost no points due to errors… and it’s probably a good thing to just dampen down some of the excessive reviews he was getting. Sign him up, let him continue to develop.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Error will help his game or he'll get too comfortable the mistake yesterday was him being too calm