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France’s media tear into Arsenal’s William Saliba after his performance despite win vs Belgium
Although France were able to beat Belgium 2-1 away from home in the Nations League, those watching on weren’t impressed, and Arsenal’s William Saliba took the brunt of the criticism.
After his excellent form for Arsenal this season, Saliba retained his spot in France’s backline alongside Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate.
Saliba has finally earned the trust of Didier Deschamps, which was no easy task despite how well he was performing in north London.
But even though he’s now a firm starter for his country, it doesn’t look like things will necessarily be straight forward for Saliba in the future either, a player under intense scrutiny.
That being said, Saliba’s performance against Belgium was labelled as ‘catastrophic’ by French media after their narrow win.
Arsenal’s William Saliba delivered his ‘worst performance’ for France
Thanks to two strikes from Paris Saint-Germain’s Randal Kolo Muani, France took all three points but Saliba was still lamented for conceding a penalty (which was missed) and was then blamed for Belgium’s goal, too.
Sharing their review, gave Saliba a 4/10 and said that the Arsenal centre-back ‘suffered’ up against RB Leipzig’s Lois Openda.
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They wrote: “So solid in the past, whether at club or national team, the former OM player suffered tonight.
“Faced with a sharp and very lively Lois Openda, the Gunner was often naive in his duels.
“Author of a gross foul on the penalty obtained by Openda, the Bondynois could have received a red card.
“Even on the Belgian equaliser, it was he who covered the RB Leipzig striker because of a positioning error.
“Timid on the restart, he clearly was not having a great night. Cautioned in the 22nd minute.”
scored Saliba even lower at 3/10 and said it was the defender’s ‘worst performance’ for his country to date.
“For once, the Arsenal central defender was catastrophic. At fault despite a slip on the penalty obtained by Openda, he lost the ball on the equalising goal and was guilty of a bad alignment to bring the former Lens player back into play.
“On the action of Tchouameni’s red card, he was still very low on the pitch, not knowing where to put himself. By far his worst performance in the national team.”
Saliba suffering under Deschamps yet again
Of course, as an Arsenal fan reading those reviews, it’s almost hard to believe.
Saliba hasn’t put a foot wrong for Arsenal this season, let alone made multiple costly mistakes in the same game.
Therefore, it has to be concluded that the French centre-back is simply lacking confidence when playing with his country, or the set-up around him simply isn’t working.
In isolation, Saliba is easily one of the best centre-backs in Europe, and it’s odd that he continues to deliver below-par performances in front of Deschamps.
Either way, France won a tricky away tie and the post-mortem shouldn’t need to be so severe back home, even if they are a footballing nation with high standards.