‘I Don’t Agree’—William Saliba Reveals True Thoughts on Divisive Arsenal Tactics

Arsenal’s set-piece expertise did not always earn them supporters.

William Saliba played a huge role in Arsenal’s success. | Rob Newell/CameraSport/Getty Images

Arsenal center back William Saliba delighted in proving the team’s doubters wrong this season as he vowed to continue with the divisive tactics that led them to success.

After years of coming up short in the Premier League title race, Arsenal finally lifted the trophy this season, although their method of getting there was not universally popular.

To say Arsenal relied on set-pieces would be unfair, but the Gunners made no attempts to hide their desire to exploit corners, free kicks and long throws, doing so with ruthless efficiency without running into an effective counter.

“This season ... I don’t agree with everything they say, like there was only one team that was playing,” he told L’Équipe. “We were 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.”

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Saliba: No More ‘Bottle’ Taunts

Arsenal celebrated their first league title in 22 years. | Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

While the season ended in heartbreak with a penalty shoot-out defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, the campaign was undoubtedly one of overwhelming positivity as Arsenal finally ended their long wait for the Premier League title.

The Gunners had been accused of “bottling” previous title races, in which they had spent long times at the top of the standings before falling away late on. There were suggestions a similar fate was coming this year when a 2–1 defeat to Manchester City in April actually handed the advantage to Pep Guardiola’s side, but Arsenal’s pursuit of glory was relentless and finally yielded success.

“There were a lot of jokes, people made fun of us,” Saliba reflected. “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.”

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