William Saliba: Here to Stay ✍️

[Atlas]

What he said himself, was that although he’d have liked to have played, he wasn’t fit nor ready. French football last season was cancelled and he fell back on so much development. Then there’s also the personal tragedies he’s suffered. It’s not the time for him to be out of his comfort zone as a French teenager in England. Arteta was right to protect him by not playing him. Factoring in all of that, Arteta was right not to play him, he wasn’t ready. In France he can be more comfortable.

That’s not the full story Manberg. These are his exact words:

“The coach immediately told me that I was not ready
“I would have at least liked to have had a chance to rediscover my rhythm.”

“My first six months were difficult, because I was coming from six months where I wasn’t able to train because I was at home and couldn’t train outside, couldn’t play.”

‘I arrived there as they were finishing the league season, so I was training alone. As soon as they came back from holidays, we quickly had the first friendly matches where I lacked rhythm and was a bit insufficient physically.’

‘What’s for sure is that I was coming from Arsenal U23s, and what is for sure is that the rhythm at professional level and U23 level is not the same.

‘I wanted to play and I trained so hard at Arsenal, that’s why the coach put me in directly on Wednesday. But certainly I had not played for a while and that has done me good.

What he said was he wasn’t ready in the first few matches but wanted the chance to find his form. What a surprise a player who hasn’t played for 6 months is out of form. Martinelli wasn’t fit either should we have excluded him from the squad as well? Should we exclude every player who isnt fit for the start of the season?

No Manberg. You get the player into training and gradually introduce him into the squad like you would an injured player. Just because he wasn’t ready for the first few games doesn’t mean he wouldnt be ready for the next few games after that. As for his personal tragedies, he seems to be doing fine playing in France. How did leaving him to rot in the U23 help him deal with his personal tragedies? Sorry to hear about your parents. Btw I’m not including you in the squad and leaving you in the U23. That should make you feel better doing nothing much.

 

[Jack_the_boy]

That’s not the full story Manberg. These are his exact words:

“The coach immediately told me that I was not ready
“I would have at least liked to have had a chance to rediscover my rhythm.”

“My first six months were difficult, because I was coming from six months where I wasn’t able to train because I was at home and couldn’t train outside, couldn’t play.”

‘I arrived there as they were finishing the league season, so I was training alone. As soon as they came back from holidays, we quickly had the first friendly matches where I lacked rhythm and was a bit insufficient physically.’

‘What’s for sure is that I was coming from Arsenal U23s, and what is for sure is that the rhythm at professional level and U23 level is not the same.

‘I wanted to play and I trained so hard at Arsenal, that’s why the coach put me in directly on Wednesday. But certainly I had not played for a while and that has done me good.

What he said was he wasn’t ready in the first few matches but wanted the chance to find his form. What a surprise a player who hasn’t played for 6 months is out of form. Martinelli wasn’t fit either should we have excluded him from the squad as well? Should we exclude every player who isnt fit for the start of the season?

No Manberg. You get the player into training and gradually introduce him into the squad like you would an injured player. Just because he wasn’t ready for the first few games doesn’t mean he wouldnt be ready for the next few games after that. As for his personal tragedies, he seems to be doing fine playing in France. How did leaving him to rot in the U23 help him deal with his personal tragedies? Sorry to hear about your parents. Btw I’m not including you in the squad and leaving you in the U23. That should make you feel better doing nothing much.

He is comfortable in France. There is far less pressure. Imagine he gets played and he plays very badly. The fanbase would’ve been on him in an instant. He doesn’t speak the language. You’re also underestimating the effect of losing his parents would have on a young teenager in a foreign trying to settle in a foreign country. It’s good that he’s in France now, it’s where he needs to be.

 

[Atlas]

Imagine puffing your chest out about an 11th place team like everything is going to plan.

Apparently we were playing so well we couldn’t give any minutes to a 30m young defender who is rated higher than another young defender that is tearing it up at Leicester who are doing better than us.

 

[Atlas]

He is comfortable in France. There is far less pressure. Imagine he gets played and he plays very badly. The fanbase would’ve been on him in an instant. He doesn’t speak the language. You’re also underestimating the effect of losing his parents would have on a young teenager in a foreign trying to settle in a foreign country. It’s good that he’s in France now, it’s where he needs to be.

He wanted to play anything else is your opinion. What pressure playing for Arsenal? Are we challenging for anything? It’s the best time for a young player to play for Arsenal expectations are so low you only need to be not incompetent to shine. I’m not saying he needed to start every game I’m saying he needed to play more than 0 minutes.

 

[Jack_the_boy]

He wanted to play anything else is your opinion. What pressure playing for Arsenal? Are we challenging for anything? It’s the best time for a young player to play for Arsenal expectations are so low you only need to be not incompetent to shine. I’m not saying he needed to start every game I’m saying he needed to play more than 0 minutes.

Our fanbase is known for the pressure it places its players under, ruthless in many regards. Particularly on social media.

All I can say is, we’re not experts nor were we close to him to be judging his mental and physical readiness to play. Arteta and his coaches were well placed to make their assessment and they should be trusted.

 

[Trilly]

Saliba was bought because he could play a high line due to his speed and his boss defensive qualities. Holding can't play the high line. When defenders can play a highline, that means we have the chance to score more goals with the opposition pinned back.

This is why you buy a defender like Saliba - much in the mold of Varane and VVD.

Been trying to say this in the Holding thread. He's a good player but he's not a CB for the team we are trying to be. I thought it'd be good to cash in next summer and try to buy that player but meh.

 

[Trilly]

Pepe looked like a world beater when being utilised to his strengths.

I hope we match up a Ligue 1 team in the Europa. That will be very interesting.

The Lille side that Pepe was part of would have destroyed us on the counter, I have no doubt.

 

[Atlas]

Our fanbase is known for the pressure it places its players under, ruthless in many regards. Particularly on social media.

All I can say is, we’re not experts nor were we close to him to be judging his mental and physical readiness to play. Arteta and his coaches were well placed to make their assessment and they should be trusted.

And all I can say is from his interviews the player is clearly upset at not being able to play and he’s gone to France with a cloud over him. You might think Arteta and the clowns who run this club have done a great job but the player obviously doesn’t agree. A situation that could easily have been avoided if it wasn’t handled so badly.

 

[Trilly]

@Riou in the mud

This is the A-M version of getting ratio'd. Man got absolutely destroyed there.:rofl:

 

[Jack_the_boy]

And all I can say is from his interviews the player is clearly upset at not being able to play and he’s gone to France with a cloud over him. You might think Arteta and the clowns who run this club have done a great job but the player obviously doesn’t agree. A situation that could easily have been avoided if it wasn’t handled so badly.

What young players say or want cannot be taken at face value. They have a desire to play but they don’t know what’s best for them. It’s up to experienced coaches to use their knowledge and judgement to manage them. They collect and analyse all sorts of data and analytics on the players that we’re not privy to. The decision to not play Saliba was not made out of pettiness or spite, it was a professional decision that has to be respected.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

@Riou in the mud

This is the A-M version of getting ratio'd. Man got absolutely destroyed there.:rofl:

He needs to stick to nostalgia and posting tweets cos anytime he talks football he has a howler.

 

[razörist]

This is the A-M version of getting ratio'd. Man got absolutely destroyed there.:rofl:

I was gonna say something but every post after his he was served up an L.

 

[El Duderino]

“Honestly, if you told me a year ago, I honestly would not have believed you,” he told TF1 [translated by Get France Football News] when asked about the prospect of lining up for another French club against Saint Etienne on Sunday.

“I really, really, really didn’t think that I would be transferred for €30m and to think that I would arrive, where people were expecting a lot from me and the fans were excited about me, and you find yourself in the reserves, play zero, zero nothing in the Europa League or the league. I was in the squad once in the League Cup.

“It hurt me, it affected me. I don’t think I left too early. When you feel ready you have to go. I don’t think I left too early. These things happen. I believe in myself.”

Quite how much damage we’ve done to our relationship with Saliba remains to be seen. At least he’s enjoying himself on the pitch again.

“For me the best choice, the best decision was to join OGC Nice because there is a good project, a good team, a good level of ambition, who like to play in a certain way,” he said.

“It feels good to play and to have consistent game time, I am young, I am 19, and it is by playing matches like this that you improve. You see what mistakes you make and you correct them.”

He added: “I don’t know [about the future]. I have learned now that it is better not to look too far in the future. So I am focused on just these 6 months to try to give absolutely everything and for the rest, we will see.”

Going by this, it sounds like he's gone, tbh.

 

[field442]

Going by this, it sounds like he's gone, tbh.

Not sure it means he's gone, but he's probably unsure about where he stands with the club considering what has gone on.

 

[Camron]

One thing we have seen under Mikel is the complete 180 for some players who were written off before. If he performs well and keeps a positive attitude he will get his chances next season. Guendouzi is a lost cause most likely, but Saliba seems very level headed.

He is still young and only played 17 matches in all comps last season with injuries holding him back. 19 the season before that. Top it off with being in a lockdown in a unfamiliair environment with his personal life completely turned upside down.

Hope he’s enjoying himself out there in a comfortable environment. He’ll be hungry to prove himself at the next level come summer. Should take Luiz’ spot in rotation.

 

[Macho]

Could you really blame him if he decides to leave?

His standing in France is so different he’s seen as one of the top defenders there. Here, he’d just be a cup player at best.

I said a few pages back I’d be shocked to see him back here. 6 months with Nice isn't gong to change things that drastically.

 

[al-Ustaadh]

 

[field442]

How the **** can you call this an error One guy on Twitter watches the game, puts out an agenda tweet which gets picked up by a few popular accounts and all of a sudden Saliba is making mistakes costing games and Arteta was right not to play him. Sick of it.

https://streamja.com/grmJw

 

[al-Ustaadh]

Looks like an error to me, clearly didn’t head it away when the chance was there. He’s got things to work on. No biggie. Young defenders take time. All the potential is there to see.

 

[Moah]

The kid is 19, we didn't sign prime Van Dijk, some mistakes are bound to happen he is supposed to develop here.