One player left Arsenal fans stunned for the wrong reasons early into the clash against Manchester City.
It took Pep Guardiola’s side just nine minutes to take the lead at the Emirates on matchday five of the Premier League season.
Mikel Arteta made some surprising changes to his starting XI before the game, but one positive was the return of William Saliba.
Saliba returned from injury and replaced Cristhian Mosquera at centre-back, but it was a horrendous start for the Frenchman on his return to action.
Arsenal fans fume at William Saliba’s defending against Manchester City
Inevitably, Erling Haaland gave Man City the lead after crafting a phenomenal piece of play from midfield into the penalty area.
Both Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes were fired up to face Haaland; however, the Arsenal duo got caught up in something ugly early into proceedings.
On X, Arsenal fans reacted to Haaland’s goal by blasting Saliba’s actions, sharing their opinion that the Frenchman had to do better to block the City talisman’s run on goal.
“Poor from Saliba there icl,” one fan said, while another noted that the defender appeared to look ‘rusty’.
“Poor defending. Only been 10 minutes but Saliba looks a bit rusty.”
Negative feedback came pouring in after Haaland carved through Arsenal’s back line with ease.
“You are telling me Saliba couldn’t tackle here ???”
“Saliba should do better there to cut off the pass”
“Saliba just left him like a fool”
Saliba is regarded as one of the best in the world in his position, but he certainly didn’t show that level early into the clash against City.
One Arsenal supporter branded the centre-back’s actions as ‘shocking’, while another called him ‘dreadful’.
“Shocking from Saliba, had got to follow Haaland there.”
“Sorry but Saliba?! That’s terrible defending”
“Dreadful from Saliba. Really poor.”
Every defender in world football will tell you that Haaland isn’t easy to defend against, but at Saliba’s level, Arsenal fans wanted to see more.
“So easy, so so easy. Saliba has to block that passing lane off, surely. It’s so obvious.”
“Saliba looked rusty there. Looks like he had very little awareness that Haaland was there.”
Man City mock Mikel Arteta on social media after Haaland’s goal
Arteta’s team selection was questioned pre-match, as the Arsenal manager’s new term ‘finishers’ came into conversation again.
After Arsenal’s midweek win over Athletic Club, Arteta called his substitutes finishers, which is something Man City’s media team didn’t hesitate to mock.
Once Haaland had scored, City’s official account on X wrote “Finisher”, with a picture of the Norway international scoring his goal.
It was a poor start from Arsenal at the back, one that Haaland took advantage of with ease.
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