Unperturbed by the possibility of facing Ben White’s death stare, Norwegian station Viaplay Fotball were again at the Emirates this weekend to cover the mighty Arsenal.
On this occasion, they grabbed the deep-voiced William Saliba for a post-game chinwag.
Here’s what the Frenchman had to say…
On a great day…
Yeah, of course, it’s a good day because we won and we won with five goals. We had a clean sheet today so it’s a good day for us. We enjoyed that.
On the importance of a clean sheet to defenders…
It’s important. Especially for the strikers when they score in front of our fans and for us the defenders to keep the clean sheet. I think it’s the first one at home this season, so it’s important. We work together to make more clean sheets and more goals at home.
On ending a difficult week with an explosive win…
For sure, for three or four weeks we weren’t good, I know that. I work every day in training to be more consistent, I’m a new player but if I want to become a good or great defender I have to work a lot on being more consistent.
SALIBA: – We are so happy he's better. Prayers to him and his family.
(@JanAageFjortoft) pic.twitter.com/RgbNRXLDUD
— Viaplay Fotball (@ViaplayFotball) October 30, 2022
On the message to Pablo Mari…
We knew this bad news just after the game in PSV, we felt so bad for him because he’s a good guy. We are so happy that he’s better now and we pray for him and his family.
On sending a message to Manchester City…
It’s not for Manchester City, it’s for us. Every game, we want to win and to be consistent. It’s not a message to Manchester City.
On whether they look at City’s results…
Yeah, we look but we don’t play for them, we play for us.
Very sensible comments, bright lad. He was great yesterday, if there was a time he was under pressure eg had to run faster than the forward, he managed it each time. Tall, fast, skilful, very calm, great defender.
Hope he is with us for very many years to come.
Love watching him in games like this. A few of those balls yesterday would’ve caught out the other centre backs that have been playing for us over the past decade or so, I’ve no doubt about it.
Were some decent deep passes, and their striker is pretty quick and powerful, but Saliba was there every single time, out-pacing him, out-muscling him, or out-thinking him. Just so elegant, no nonsense, no drama, just mopping up and getting us going again.
Supposedly we’ve submitted our contract offer- would love him to accept before the WC.
I think I might be faster than Taiwo Awoniyi to be fair.
A couple players got sat down, with minimal effort from Big Will. Watching him turn the turbo on, was special. You could see the torque kick in and the gap widen.
Also Vieira looked rapid.
And the best is… he is only just getting started as a top defender. Minimal injuries and the lad has a decade to just keep getting better.
Agreed – I am always so impressed with how smooth and graceful he is as a defender, no wasted energy
Salina said all the right things in this interview. Hopefully, he now signs the contract that the club have offered him knowing that he’s really appreciated by both the club and the fans.
What do people think about the striker situation as in adding depth in January?
When you see Flo doing so well in France and depth we add now could block him next season.
For me, I’d be inclined to not add to the out N out strikers. We play in a way that the entire front line is responsible for goals. Add to the wingers and Mid but try to get to next season with Eddie and Jesus and then maybe Flo.
Thoughts?
Personally, I can see a scenario where “The Smith” starts playing in a slightly deeper midfield role – perhaps rotating with Xhaka – which would allow space in the squad for another left-sided forward. That could be Balogun as it’s a role he’s played in the past.
This challenge with strikers is a big one. The balance of A) keeping youngsters believing they can earn a real shot at first team 2) spending enough to silence the fans always looking to blame some part of the process 3) having great depth but enough playing opportunities for all. 4) developing personalities who blend as a cohesive team with the very top players you have. I trust Arteta. Not that mistakes will never happen but that he is good at managing it and learns from errors.COYG
Cheeky bid for Youri. And if we want to go boom, Mykahaylo would be welcome at a reasonable price…considering what we were willing to pay for Raphina. Bellingham would also be nice.
A back up right back is needed, but I think that spot’s Norton-Cuffy’s long term.
After that, we should only have to replace by upgrading. And should we be top on New yeas day, I think agents will be calling us.
Most importantly, I actually trust Edu, Arteta and co, to get who they feel would be a good fit.
Ya would love Bellingham…. 😁
No – we need to shift Eddie on and replace him with a level above where he is. That will keep the ‘back-up’ space open for Flo. Love Eddie but he has had more than enough opportunities and just doesn’t seem to be able to find the next level.
It’s a simple question: is he a CL level striker? Is he a PL-winning striker?
I fear we all know the answer.
Id love Eddie to do it, but I mostly agree with this assessment
Alternative would be to give Eddie a year EPL or top European loan and have Balogun + 1 here.
Ilike the way this guy puts him self to the game.ilove his work rate an I believe he will get anumber in France come this world cup
I love Willy
We’ve heard
Hahaha was waiting for that
Always waiting for Willy!
We play for us…
Kept thinking of Ivan Drago in Rocky IV yelling “I fight for me” to the crowd and Politburo, only Saliba meaning it for the whole club and not himself.
A very, very enjoyable day yesterday. Five goals scored and a clean sheet was almost perfect.
The only flies in the ointment was yet again the failures of both Jesus and Nketia to get on the scoreboard. Jesus had 3 decent chances and missed them all. Surprisingly, Nelson came on and did what Eddie can’t: score in the Premier League.
I’d love to see both Jesus and Eddie score against Chelsea. Strikers live for goals.
I think Saka’s injury probably would be described as a “fly” as well, although hopefully not a big one. It was a shame that Jesus couldn’t get on the scoresheet. He certainly tried but I wonder if the fact he hasn’t scored for a while now is niggling away in the back of his mind. What he really needs is a hat trick in the upcoming EL game (if Arteta plays him). That would set him up for the two potentially difficult PL games at Chelsea and Wolves before the WC break. As for Eddie, I’m not convinced by him… Read more »
Nketia will never make it at Arsenal. My guess is that, come the end of the season, Arteta will finally give up and quietly offload Nketia to whoever wants him. Then we’ll buy a decent second striker.
We are alas in the ‘who the hell will pay his wages tho’ scenario..
True: we’ll probably have to give him away to offset his wages at his new club.
Good thing is that some of our boys are still that, boys, and they’re late bloomers. Eddie looks like a 12 yo kid still so I’m not sure he will not grow into a fine striker. I wouldn’t write him off just yet.
I’m with you fats, nketia is not the level we require if we want to challenge for the big trophies.
Lol. The level of delusion here.. Tell me a club that only play single striker but have decent second striker, or tell me which decent striker happy to sit on the bench. We are not playing football manager game here.
Tell me which club pays 100k a week to a striker who never scores?
Come on guys. It’s way too soon to draw any definite conclusions about Eddie.
We’ll all of us know an awful lot more about him as the season progresses.
Let’s at least give the lad a fair crack of the whip for the rest of this campaign before passing sentence.
I think he’ll come good.
“It’s not for Manchester City, it’s for us.”
No truer words were spoken.
Hopefully Saliba isn’t for Manchester City, he’s for us.
Would love him to stay until he is 35.
Very intelligent boy. He loves Arsenal, he’ll sign if the contract is good.
“For sure, for three or four weeks we weren’t good”
Lol, if this is what he had to say about the month of October, I’m excited to say we got scary times ahead!😬 7 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss!
There you go, the competition is against us, to keep getting better and better. Thank you Saliba!
Well said, Saliba. It was a good win albeit over the bottom team in the PL, but you can’t take these games for granted and we didn’t.
It would be great news were he, or either of the other two players in the same situation, to agree to a contract extension prior to the WC. I’m sure Arsenal are hoping that at least one of the three will sign up now, but we’ll have to see. These things often tend to drag on, unfortunately.
Nice gesture by Martinelli after he scored, flashing a Pablo Mari shirt.
If we look back to what we had and what we know have a couple seasons later, wow.
,m
A bit of competition for big Gabriel and we will have a complete u it that’s up there
but Saliba is the crown jewel.
what a player
I try not to go overboard, but he really looks like he could become one of the best defenders in the world. Not that he will–that he could. As for the contract–if I were his agent, I would wait until after the World Cup. If he plays regularly for France (as I now think he is almost sure to do) and impresses (as I think he will), his bargaining power will be through the roof. I think he’ll stay at Arsenal anyway, but it will cost–which is, after all, only right.
I think we’ve got a worldie on our hands and the sooner we get him to commit to a long term deal, the better.
SIGN DAT TING
His english is excellent. His intelligence comes across in a foreign language.
i am never not surprised at how deep his voice is wtf dude’s barely outta his teenage years
The togetherness in the team is too notch. The response from Saliba regarding Mancity is perfect. We focus on our game and try to get better