William Saliba’s fine performances for France at the European Championships have been rewarded with a place in UEFA’s Team of the Tournament.
The 23-year-old played every minute for Les Bleus as they reached the semi-finals before succumbing 2-1 to eventual winners Spain.
Didier Deschamps’ side was very solid at the back up to that point, only conceding once in five games and that effort, a penalty by Robert Lewandowski, wasn’t scored in open play.
Despite being a fixture in the Arsenal starting lineup since the start of the 22/23 campaign, Saliba has had to be patient for his chance at international level.
✨ The #EURO2024 Team of the Tournament ✨
🇪🇸 Six from Spain
🇫🇷 Two from France
🏴🇩🇪🇨🇭 One each from England, Germany and SwitzerlandView the team and learn how UEFA's technical observers pick it: ⬇️
— UEFA (@UEFA) July 16, 2024
He only featured for 27 minutes at the World Cup in Qatar and missed five of his country’s six European qualifiers due to injury. Even as recently as March, manager Deschamps claimed Saliba “does things that I don’t like so much”.
All the same, there was never any doubt he’d get his chance eventually – he’s just too good – and it wasn’t surprising his opportunity came at the expense of Ibrahima Konate.
Saliba now has 21 caps to his name and with a decade of football ahead of him, we fully expect him to become a centurion for his country.
The Team of the Tournament, selected by 12 technical observers, included six players from Spain: Olmo and Yamal, Marc Cucurella, Fabian Ruiz, Rodri and Nico Williams. Jamal Musiala, Manuel Akanji and Kyle Walker made up the other outfield positions while Mike Maignan was selected as the best keeper.
That Walker was the only England representative to make the cut says a lot about the performances of Gareth Southgate’s side. Despite reaching the final thanks to several moments of individual brilliance from their star men – Bukayo Saka included – none of the squad performed consistently well in a system that throttled their qualities.
Southgate announced earlier today he was stepping down from the role having taken his country to consecutive Euro finals and the semi-final and quarter-final stages of the World Cup.
To be expected! So, so glad we locked him down and I’m sure Edu and co are already working on extending his contract again by next summer.
Unpopular opinion: Declan Rice might not quite be good enough when up against the top 1% teams.
The top 1% teams are not from the Euros, they are the top Premier League teams along with the elite of Europe’s leagues. I would suggest that Declan has stood up to pretty much every challenge he’s faced in games against that level of opposition.
For me, the issue with his England performances is more to do with who he’s partnered with and the tactics/shape of the team.
Bingo. The guys discussed it in this week’s Arsecast too, Declan isn’t an overly technical ball playing midfielder, his strengths are pretty much everything else other than that. As such he needs a Jorginho or Partey or Trossard type next to him to really flourish, whether he plays at the 6 or the 8. This is like blaming Havertz for being shit at Chelsea, even some of the most talented players won’t do well when the team isn’t constructed well around them or managed well.
Haha I knew this opinion would be unpopular and I can understand why! I think he’s decent but not quite good enough with the ball at his feet and it will cost us down the line.
Well having an opinion is fine, but it isnt necessarily any more than that, many had the opinion that Granit Xhaka was shit, but truth is he played in a shit system which made hin look shit, so did Rice with England, Rice is a lot better than decent, he is top three in the world in his posistion. And club teams will always be superiour too even the best national teams, so indicating they are top 1% is just so very wrong.
Xhaka was as much playing out of position (lone #6 he is not) as it was the system. Not saying previous systems were great for him, but he was miscast by three managers (Wenger, Emery, and [initially] Arteta) until he found his role away from being a defensive midfield anchor. I was a big Xhaka critic because he was shit as a defensive midfielder because he is WAY too slow. I didn’t think he’d be as good as he was as a #8 so credit Arteta and Xhaka for that – and credit Xhaka for bouncing back through his ill-discipline… Read more »
Physically –
He has unlimited stamina , he is physically strong and tall
Psychologically-
Doesn’t panic(liverpool away when trent missed that chance), rarely makes a wrong decision, has leadership qualities
Technically-
Can Score ( including some bangers- chelsea away and late winner- utd home) can assist (bukayo and he are main corner takers), makes excellent tackles, interceptions and clearances (off the line against city at home), has a good passing range.
The only thing he lacks is a killer first touch.
Perhaps only Rodri is better than Rice in that role in the world.
Bellingham and Mainoo aren’t good enough against the top 1% of teams and have been promoted above their level.
Bellingham had a 67% pass completion rate in the final and Mainoo 72% which for central midfielders is woeful
Once again the cult of youth in England clouds proper analysis in a major finals as the established players get blamed for not being able to adequately carry under performing youngsters.
Bellingham is the most over rated player i’ve seen in a long time
Well, he didn’t play well for England. But somehow that farmers’ league in Spain named him the player of the season. You know, the league with Vinicius, Lewandowski, Carvajal, and Griezmann.
He puts up very impressive numbers as a box crashing, goal scoring midfielder but that’s in front of Toni Kroos, Valverde and Modric and in between Vinicius and Rodrigo.
It’ll be very interesting to see how things go next season with Mbappe in the front line and Kroos retired because one thing Bellingham isn’t is a technical deeplying playmaker
I think he is a genuine box-to-box type in a team that wanted that. A bigger, likely quicker, and probably more talented Aaron Ramsey, which is saying a lot. (Though perhaps with some attitudinal flaws that Ramsey never had,) He really would be great for us in the “left 8” though. (I know on a different thread you thought Olmo or Fabian Ruiz would be great there–and you are right.)
By the way, Tony Kroos is retired and Modric is probably leaving, but Tchouaméni and Camavinga aren’t terrible.
But they’re not creative either
I have sneaky suspicions that Real may have similar issues as England and France with getting the ball forward next season if they don’t replace Kroos
France and England do get the ball forward easily. They just squander opportunities in the opponent’s box.
For France, Dembele almost succeeds 100% of the time in dribbling past opposition defence to get in their box. He also shoots into the sky or passes the ball to opposition defence 90% of the time.
For England, every time Saka gets the ball, he creates something dangerous until it is squandered.
I suggest you rewatch both teams because nothing you just wrote is correct
He’s right about Saka 👍
I mean credit England for making the final despite the very strange tactics of choosing to play with only 10 men and no centre forward; quite an impressive result considering really.
He reminds me exactly of Ramsey and I was never a fan of his as I just don’t like that type of midfielder.
Much more a fan of the Olmo, Fabian Ruiz technician type
Bellingham is a much-improved Steven Gerrard.
Didn’t really fancy Gerrard either and if by much improved you mean more selfish, and more of an egotistical glory hunter you might be right.
In terms of talent I would say they both have the same over inflated opinion of what they’re actually capable of.
Prime Stevie G was a unicorn of utter proportions. Maybe the best CM to ever do it, certainly in England. Creative passing range like Beckham, elite progressive carrying, elite ball striking, goal threat from anywhere. Clear of Becks, Scholes, Lampard easily.
Everybody has been talking about how good the Spanish team was. Who in that team did better that Bellingham through the 38 games of last season in la Liga?
Sorry, I strongly disagree about Bellingham. He’s done it both in Germany and Spain.
Cucurella scored important goals but Saka was a better player in the tournament for the savvy.
No, its just Rice is no longer a static DM or 6. He has evolved as a player and is no longer, and is a lot more, than the one Southgate keeps on playing him as.
Once you evolve and develop it’s very difficult to go back to previous iterations of yourself
He was playing as Soucek’s more progressive partner even at WH. That team asked him to do everything in midfield too but at least they had a coherent structure and identity, which England lack.
Do you not think it might just be that England aren’t a very organised team? Bellingham looked awful, and he’s Madrid’s best player. Southgate did a great job of making England less hateable, and deserves credit for that, but technically England were awful and stank their way to the final via a few moments of individual brilliance.
Bellingham isn’t Madrids best player. He scored a lot of goals but Modric or Vini is their best player. It’s that view that had the pundits saying Kane was best player in Germany in a year when Leverkusen didn’t lost a game. Bellingham doesn’t have Ramseys energy or decision making. Not as good as him yet.
How many points did we take from City and Pool last season? Just asking for a friend. Or maybe those 2 teams aren’t in the “top 1%?”
No player is perfect. Progressive passing is Declan’s only weakness. Rodri’s is facing dribblers in the open grass, an area where Declan excels, but Rodri is a better playmaker and progressive passer. Two great players. Rodri would look terrible left on an island to defend counters (think Xhaka as a lone pivot in the last years of Wenger) or just like Declan struggles if left by himself to do creative ball progression stuff against a top opponent. So if you want to point fingers at Dec or JB for not being England’s everything, that’s your right, but it just shows… Read more »
Good post
Fully deserved, he looked imperious and it reflects quite poorly on Deschamps that he wasn’t an immediate starter prior to the tournament.
However, Walker getting in cheapens the achievement somewhat – I’m struggling to think of a right back who was poorer than him
Without walker in the side England would have avoided so much extra time. He’s a defensive liability and a moral liability. Can’t fake the spurs dna…
Walker in the team of the tournament is beyond appalling, it’s frankly comical.
At least Deschamps put Sabilba in from the start of the euros. Southgate would’ve waited until the last game lmao.
Greatness is inevitable.
Says more about whoever made the selections than however terrible England were. Walker was a shambles the whole tournament.
Not sure what Cucurella did to deserve a spot, either.
Shaggy is in because of one pass, lol
I thought Cucurella had a good tournament. Walker was at fault for goals in the final, idk how he’s in the 11.
Cucurella was excellent the whole tournament, including in the final where he put a brilliant ball in to assist the winner.
Decent left backs were in very short supply in that tournament.
Cucurella gets the position by being less shit than everyone else.
Cucurella was excellent. But these teams are silly. I’m sure Turkey, Austria, Switzerland should have had players in there. Even Georgia were incredible. But like the people paid to write about football I can’t be arsed to remember or look up their names
It’s a like the dozens of continental players in every position who nobody has heard of but played really well all season never get a mention because of name recognition, the most crucial driving force in politics.
It’s the hair and his instagram burn of Gary Neville. He did fine for the best team. I’m ok with it. Walker’s inclusion is a just a joke though.
Crazy that England only got one award despite getting to the final. And that was Walker who was poor on both the Spanish goals. With a manager that had more game nous we could have done better and also without no trophies Kane, past his best.
Will be interesting to see who takes over as manager. Would prefer someone English but can’t think of anyone good enough.
Hoping it’s potter because Eddie Howe is a twat.
I hear José is available 😀 if you want some more anti-football
I don’t think it’s crazy at all. I think Saka was the only other England player who a neutral could argue for, based on overall performance. Stones and Guehi played well, but selecting Saliba and Akanji ahead of them is not really controversial. Maybe Pickford. Anyone else would be ludicrous. But, like Blogs’ player ratings, it’s pretty subjective. For example, I saw several “team of the tournament” selections that included Ngolo Kante. He certainly looked brilliant in the first match but later was harshly criticised in the French press for awful passing and decision-making in attack (I think they were… Read more »
I’ve seen a lot of people praising Guehi but I’m struggling to understand it. Not saying he was awful by any stretch of the imagination, but he directly at fault for Slovakia’s goal in the last 16 and was very poor for Spain’s winner. He also offered nothing to England’s build-up play and constantly played back-pass after back-pass – a huge contrast to guys like Saliba/Akanji/Laporte who represented the best on show at the tournament. Pickford was the real culprit though, and I hope the new manager either reminds him he’s not playing Sean Dyche’s hoofball or puts in somebody… Read more »
I think it’s fair – England won two games inside 90 minutes in the whole tournament. Spain would certainly still have qualified for the final if they were in England’s side of the draw, but I don’t think anybody would argue for the reverse.
Kyle Walker?????????????
So you just have to run around like a headless chicken and be absolutely sh*t at crossing or passing the ball to get into this XI?
And get to the final and be lucky enough to not have any other standouts in your position from any of the other last 4 teams? They had to reward the team that made the final with at least one selection, it says it all about how badly that team played for 90% of the tournament and how lucky it was to be in the final that they could barely find a single player who deserved it. Thank god the best team won it for once but that won’t change my opinion that the Euros suck and shit teams always… Read more »
That list is bullshit. Kyle Walker ffs
I think the team of the tournament was missing an aged person so walker shipped in. But his ball cover, positioning and erratic character would not have allowed him to have the chance on the expense of carvajal
No, lazy thinking from the so-called technical observers in having to put a defined number of Guardiola’s players in the team of the tournament.
Kyle Walker wtf. He was fucking dreadful. Average defensively and woeful in attack (bar the one moment against Denmark). Both goals in the final came from his side. No issues with anyone else.
I thought blogs was a bit tough on Walker. Thought he performed pretty well all things considered. I didn’t think much of Cucurella
Genuinely don’t know how Kyle Walker got in the team of the tournament. He is normally a standout performer but I think he was pretty ordinary this tournament & was at fault for goals in the final
Walker’s in for the same reason as Cucurella.
He’s the worst choice, apart from all the others.
The Dubai influence…
England would have Kane, Gallagher, Walker in the worse team of the tournament. And they made the final! Southgate squandered this opportunity