When William Saliba found the top corner with the sweetest of left foot strikes against Bournemouth, Oleksandr Zinchenko couldn’t believe what he’d seen.
As the Frenchman raced to the corner flag to celebrate, the Ukraine international just dropped to his knees and put his hands on his head in wonder. His look said it all, ‘How on earth did he do that?’
After the 3-0 win, the Ukraine international was full of praise for the 21-year-old, who not only left the Vitality Stadium with his first Arsenal goal and another clean sheet but also a brand new chant.
— Tim Stillman (@Stillberto) August 20, 2022
“He’s incredible,” Zinchenko told Arsenal.com. “It looks like this guy has got a lot of experience in his bag, but he’s still so young. Fingers crossed, we’ve got an unbelievable centre-back.
“He’s such a nice guy and he deserves this. A massive thanks to our fans as well, they did unbelievably well during all the games and they helped us a lot and of course, William deserves that song.
“If we’re going to get a clean sheet every single game, they’re going to sing every time!”
Manager Mikel Arteta was similarly enthused by Saliba’s surprising contribution in attack.
“We’ve been training that all week,” he joked in his post-game press conference.
“It very much surprised me. Individual talent, a moment of quality – I don’t know how you’re going to call it but I don’t think anybody expected it and it was great. I’m so happy for the boy.
He added: “He got a clean sheet as well, which is the most important thing for a defender. If you score a goal, that’s a bonus but they’re doing what they need to do, to keep that clean sheet every game.”
That’s going to be Zinchenko’s statue at the Emirates one day.
Made using Zinc.
GOLD
Golden Zinc.
Zinchenko is so well oiled. He knows exactly where to be and just makes great decisions all the time. When he slots into midfield, allowing Xhaka to roam forward, we often look so dangerous.
He’s a very classy footballer and positionally he’s perfect. A very different LB to Tierney so fascinated to see the two of them battle it out for the starting spot.
Zinchenco plays midfield for his country and can see him taking over from Xhaka at times. Tierney left back, Partey Zinchenco with odegarrd ahead of them.
Zinc is a fantastic footballer he’s making Zhaka a better player also letting martinelli do his stuff knowing there’s quality behind him 🙌
Even if Zinchenko was to move into midfield I’d find it hard to see Arteta move away from a Technical LB.
I’m not going to lie I feel uncomfortable with such good players on the bench (just not used to it, even in Arsenes years) but I will say come September it’s going to start getting busy so having 2 full backs in tierney and Tomi that have played CB for there countries, I think we will see allot of different combos throughout the season
Also just a word about the timing of the Saliba/Tequila song for those who weren’t able to watch the game: it was sung by our away fans for 15 minutes non-stop (roughly from 30′ through to HT) during a period when the Bournemouth fans were dead silent, so it’s all you could hear AND it was before he even scored. The support for this kid is so heartening.
I love how triggered other clubs fans are this morning over us singing that for most of the game. We can’t win(except on the pitch), we don’t sing & we’re boring, we enjoy a sing song in the south coast sunshine & we’re also boring
I love the saliba-tequila song, but when i saw this article headline what popped into my head was that old ‘90s song by emf, with the refrain “you’re un-saliba-ble!”
and we all thought jesus was the big steal from city. turns out arteta’s greatest trick may have been snagging zinchenko. loving everything about this guy.
The shortinez decoy to cost manure 56 mil is an added sweetener.
Beautiful
Two goals in two games for Saliba. Just needed to know which direction to shoot in!
He has unlocked Xhaxa level 10…Where does it lead.
On another note, did Odegaard stole Jesus’s goal for the second goal?
Either way, I am happy we scored.
Upward Arsenal.
Odegaard had a better angle on goal, Jesus admitted that to him after the game (according to Ode’s interview). So, no stealing, as that somewhat implies malicious intent, but more an accidental assist 😉
Jesus celebrated immediately it went in. That’s a great mindset.
Might have been a little different if Øde put it in row Z!
I call it a Welbeck assist.
Odegaard also picked out Jesus after celebrating and obviously had a quick word to him to apologise (or gloat haha) and they were both smiling, I doubt Jesus is the type to get huffy about that!
Vieira vs Man U 97-98 season… this goal reminded me of this. Anyone else?
Yep! Good spot!
Dynamic group of players
As an amateur Sunday league centre back I know how rare it is for the ball to be set up for us perfectly like that but usually we sky it into the carpark.
Harry Maguire welcome to the forum.
Oh my lord that’s hilarious
Just watched the game. Team is buzzing! Saliba is just a beast. We have size, strength, skill, ability all over the pitch. This team is not weak like we’ve been for years. This team could be special!
Now that we are playing after 6/7 days we need to maintain the clean sheets. The tight fixtures coming up from mid oct. We need to be at our Best. COYG…
We’re averaging three goals a game so the odd goal conceded isn’t worrying yet.
Incredible start to the season. Maybe they’ve been ‘easy’ fixtures but Palace already took points off Liverpool. After the way we played vs City and Liverpool earlier in the year, and with the improvements we’ve made, I’m definitely looking forward to those games and without fear. Consistency and injury luck will determine if we can challenge at the top. On a side note, is anyone else as perplexed as me by Jesus’ goal being offside. Looked like an obvious Bournemouth defenders leg keeping him comfortably onside, but the line was drawn as if the leg wasn’t there. Maybe my blurry… Read more »
I’d like to know how they could give Benjamin onside when he looked off but give Gabi offside when it looked like the LBs arse was playing him on, I swear the VARs were told to give the benefit to the attacking team on offsides that tight
Yeah White looked offside but Jesus looked onside.
The VAR angle of the lines didn’t look accurate.
Could be time for the ‘daylight’ rule again.
We’ll beat at least one of either City or Liverpool at least once this PL, and not in the cups.
After so many years of division, derision, and antipathy it is truly beautiful to watch what is happening. The club is living and breathing unity and one spirit again, and this is the foundation needed to achieve something special. There are many factors which have brought this about, but for me there is one individual that is mostly responsible for this transformation; Mikel Arteta.
To quote Tim Stillman, “yeah, 100%”
Yeah, where are all those “Arteta out!” dicks now? He’s done an amazing job
Zinc and Gabi J9 has changed the dynamics of our play. Will take awhile for teams to have gameplans to stifle our play.
Thumbed you up for J9 with the R9 vibes.
Jesus and Zinch have taken this team to another technical level and Saliba has the potential of VvD level. I almost got tears in my eyes seeing how we played large part of yesterdays match. My fear is of course injuries, when we see ESR,Tierney and Eddie come in , our technichal level and effiency dropped a little too much to my liking. But anyway , top of the League until that disgusting lot from Manchester play later today. And watching partly Sp*rs yesterday, they confirm my view that this is s team even their mothers don’t like.
We’ll see how much we’ve improved the strength in depth of the squad – a key factor in sustained success – when the inevitable injuries and probably suspensions begin. As to the other lot across North London – they certainly didn’t play well yesterday, but still got the points. We haven’t really been in that position yet so it will be interesting to see how well we can grind out results, and we’ll have to along the way, with this new look team.
Salibas got 2 years left on his contract. Hopefully we’re gonna show the faith and will be putting a new one in front of him in the next couple of weeks.
good job, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. But what with xhaka screaming all the time lol, and when his turn almost makes a blunder he doesn’t seem so apologetic…also ramsdale still vulnerable at handling crosses
Went to the game yesterday. Had to sit 20 metres from our fans as could only get a seat in the Bournemouth end. Sat on my hands. But watched it all unfold with the perfect view of Salibas goal. Time to get excited….and that song….it’s the best. The Arsenal support was the best I have seen and heard for a long time. A far cry from Newcastle at the end of last season. And a shorter trip
Arteta’s decision to keep Saliba out on loan and then to bring him back, rather than offload him as there was some pressure to do, has proved to be excellent hasn’t it. Arteta was given a lot of stick last season, some deserved it’s fair to say, some not, but we are perhaps seeing the fruits of his (and Edu’s) labours now. Long may it last.
I am totally convinced by Arteta’s talent and ability as a manager. What he’s been lacking is experience and that has shown itself at times, not everything he’s done has been perfect. But what I see now is a man who has climbed a long way up that steep learning curve. He’s not at the top yet, but he’s navigated the most difficult part, and he’s clearly earned the respect of the players, the fans, the board, and begrudgingly the media. We’re all on one hell of a journey together right now! All aboard the red and white express to… Read more »