A lot was said about Arsenal’s set-pieces last season.
The Gunners are one of the most complete sides in the world, and they have the ability to batter any team on their day.
That is why almost every team they faced parked the bus against Arsenal last season. Mikel Arteta countered that with set-pieces, and instead of receiving praise, he was slammed by the usual voices for winning games that way.
William Saliba listened to all of that and stayed quiet. Now that he is a Premier League champion, he has shut everyone up.
Arsenal fans be honest…are you FED UP of seeing the Gunners score from corners all the time?
William Saliba silences Arsenal’s set-piece critics with a perfect response
The narrative built around Arsenal and set-pieces feels so forced.
Everyone who has accused the Gunners of being a set-piece team either doesn’t watch the Gunners or has an agenda. Or, in many cases, including that of John Obi Mikel, it’s just incredibly lazy analysis.
Almost every coach who has faced Arsenal has raved about how good they are. Luis Enrique even called them the best team in the world out of possession.
Saliba has now had his say on all the hate his side received. He even addressed the set-piece FC tag by claiming that everyone does the same thing but Arsenal just do it better.
He told L’Equipe: “There were a lot of jokes, people made fun of us. Even when we were top of the league, they were saying that at some point we were going to bottle it and drop back to second place. That’s football banter, it’s like that. If you want to change that, you just have to win.”
“Now that we’ve won it, they can’t say anything anymore.
“The first season I arrived, we were playing incredible football. That was the season where I said we deserved the title. As usual, people made fun of us – we finished second. The second season too, we were playing good football, finished second. People made fun of us, they said ‘bottle, bottle…’
“Last season too, we were playing pretty well, even if we weren’t playing as well as the first two seasons – we still finished second.
“This season, even if I don’t agree with everything they say, as if there was only one team that was playing… Well, we’re playing football. Except it’s true that sometimes we score a lot more from set pieces.
“That was crazy. Now you see, in the Premier League, everyone does long throw-ins, everyone focuses on corners – it’s not just us. We just do it better than the others. So, that’s life, and we’re going to continue like this.”
🏆 Fill in the blank: I am ___% confident Arsenal can retain our Premier League title next season…
William Saliba is absolutely spot on
Saliba is spot on – Arsenal aren’t the only club to score from set-pieces, they just do it better than any other side in the Premier League.
That has become too much to handle for certain pundits and rival fans.
The problem all of them have is not with how Arsenal play, it’s with the fact that Arsenal are winning right now.
This was the case when Arsene Wenger’s side were successful; it is the same now under Arteta, and we’re sure it won’t change in the future either.
Saliba clearly doesn’t care about what people say – neither should anyone else associated with Arsenal.
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