Morning all.
It looks like William Saliba had a good game for France in a 0-0 draw with Canada. Whether a 0-0 draw with Canada is a good result for France, that’s another question, but it’s definitely not a 1-0 loss to Iceland, I suppose. The other question is whether or not a performance like that in a game like that will be enough to change the mind of Didier Deschamps.
He seems to have reservations about Saliba. Earlier this year he said of him:
He is having a good season, but he also does things that I don’t like so much. For France, he has limited game time, but when he plays, that hasn’t necessarily gone well. The hierarchy doesn’t favour him at the moment, but he is here.
What is that thing – ‘Tell me you haven’t watched William Saliba without telling me you haven’t watched William Saliba’? Obviously every coach has their preferences, but if you’re going into an international tournament and you’re going to pick anyone over the best central defender in the Premier League, you’re doing it wrong, in my opinion.
There are some who would prefer Saliba not to play for France, but I’d rather he got the game time. He’s out there doing the training, so it’s not as if he’s got his feet up on holidays anyway. Plus, I think it could be beneficial for him. He’s still only 23, and as accomplished as he is at that age, he can get even better, and playing at the top level of a major tournament would help in that regard. So, if he can force his way past Deschamps mental barrier, because that’s all it is, I think he’ll stay in the team, and if he does, people will be asking why it took so long.
There were some interesting quotes last week from Saliba about Mikel Arteta and how he has helped him develop into the player he is today:
“He took me to another level. He is one of the best coaches in the world. Sometimes he thought I was a little soft in training so he asked me to be meaner. In fact, he wants the [opposition] players to be…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/06/big-willy/
Author : arseblog
Publish date : 2024-06-10 06:21:57
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