Arsenal star William Saliba has looked like a different player when he has played for France recently.
The Frenchman, under Mikel Arteta, is one of the best defenders on the planet. He has been amazing for Arsenal for over two years now and is arguably the biggest reason why they have been challenging for the Premier League title.
Saliba has been a regular for France since Euro 2024, and the 23-year-old produced excellent performances in Germany.
However, the Arsenal star has made a few big mistakes for Les Bleus in the last two international breaks.
Why Didier Deschamps is unhappy with Arsenal star William Saliba
Saliba has had a few difficult outings with France recently.
The Frenchman is widely regarded as one of the best centre-backs in the world at club level, but on the international stage, he has come under criticism.
Before the Euros, Deschamps explained why he was reluctant to use Saliba, but he then made a U-turn and started him regularly.
However, in each of the last two international breaks, the Arsenal star came under criticism for some of his performances.
Most recently, against Belgium, French media blasted Saliba for his display. He conceded a penalty, made several mistakes and was also partly responsible for Aurelien Tchouameni’s red card.
Former Arsenal attacker Jeremie Aliadiere has now explained the difference he has noticed in Saliba when he plays for France and why Deschamps is not too happy with him.
The Frenchman said on the Inside Gooners show on talkSPORT: “With France, before the Euros, a lot of people were talking about William, saying ‘he’s not that good’. He could not get into the French team before the Euros.
“I could not really get my head around it and I think that put a lot of pressure. When he plays for France, he’s not the same player mentally. I just feel he’s nervous and he’s a bit stressed.
“The way we play at Arsenal, he gets the ball, he tries to find passes through the lines to Jorginho, Partey, Declan Rice or whoever it is. France don’t really want that too much and I think that’s why Didier Deschamps is not happy with him.
“Defensively, no problem, we know as a defender what he can do. But when he has the ball, he still wants to play the Arsenal way. France don’t really want him to do that. They just want him to defend and then just hit it wide.
“But, he wants to play and that’s what happened when Tchouameni got his red card. He tried to play, lost the ball and Tchouameni got a second yellow and red card. That’s why everybody in France started blaming Saliba for it. Obviously, he gave a penalty plus that.
“I just feel he’s a little bit more under pressure with France than he is with us. We just appreciate him and know what he can do.”
Why Saliba criticism is really unfair
Saliba didn’t have a great international break in October.
His performance against Leandro Trossard’s Belgium was probably the worst we’ve seen from him, while Saliba was not particularly great for France against Israel either.
The Arsenal man can only put his hands up and admit he wasn’t at his best, but some of the criticism that has come his way during this international break is really unfair.
Over the last two years, you can probably count on one hand how many poor games Saliba has had for France and Arsenal.
Yes, he’s significantly better under Arteta, but he’s not as bad as people make it out to be in France’s colours.
Every footballer has a bad spell and Saliba had his during this international break. We expect him to bounce back very quickly.
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