France’s media deliver brutal verdict on Arsenal’s William Saliba after big ‘mistake’ vs Italy

Arsenal star William Saliba ended up on the losing side as Italy beat France 3-1 in their opening Nations League game in Paris.

The 23-year-old was one of France’s best players at Euro 2024, and it was no surprise at all to see him get the nod to start again on Friday night.

Saliba started on the left side of central defence alongside Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate, and the Arsenal man had a much better game than his partner.

However, a mistake late in the game has led to some serious criticism from his country’s media.

France’s media deliver verdict on William Saliba’s performance vs Italy

France got off to a sensational start against Italy on Friday night.

Bradley Barcola opened the scoring after just 13 seconds, and Italy looked all over the place in the early stages of the game.

Everyone expected France to go on and pick up a convincing victory, but the Azzurri went from strength to strength as the game went on and deservedly picked up a 3-1 win.

Giacomo Raspadori scored the final goal of the game, and Saliba will be the first one to admit that he should’ve done better to stop the Italian.

That mistake has put the Arsenal man in the firing line, even though he was the best out of the two central defenders over 90 minutes.

Eurosport in France gave Saliba a 4/10 rating and wrote: “Cleaner and safer than his teammates in his interventions, he sometimes held the hut.

“But, beyond his sometimes useless mistakes, what does he do on the third goal where he seems to be able to clear the danger? A mistake that tarnishes his performance. In short, even he ended up sinking.”

Goal France gave him a 2/10 rating and said: “The Gunner fell back into his faults after his successful Euro 2024 campaign. Was it his recent nomination for the Ballon d’Or that destabilized him?

“One might think so given the poor match he produced. He did not have the solidity that we know him to be, showing himself to be approximate. He was notably eliminated as a junior on the last Italian goal.”

Finally, Foot Mercato gave Saliba a 3/10 rating and wrote: “Like Konaté, the Arsenal defender misunderstood individual marking. This was less obvious than on the Konaté-Clauss (right) side, but he was much less serene than during the last Euro, where he revealed himself for Les Bleus.

“A complicated match for the defender of the Blues, who also had difficulty in the duels, like the third Italian goal, where he completely missed.”

Arsenal star Saliba’s stats for France vs Italy

Saliba actually had a decent game for France apart from his mistake for Raspadori’s goal.

The Frenchman was significantly better than Konate next to him, but he will be the first one to admit that he was far away from his best.

However, despite that, Saliba’s stats don’t look too bad at all.

The Arsenal man had 86 touches of the ball and completed 77 of his 80 attempted passes, thus maintaining a stunning 96 per cent passing accuracy.

Saliba also made two tackles, an interception and a clearance, but he only won two of his seven attempted duels, which is not great (Sofascore).

France take on Belgium next on Monday, and it will be interesting to see if Saliba will continue in defence. We think he should.