Growing up in Bondy, on the outskirts of the French capital, William Saliba first learned his trade as a footballer age six, being coached by the father of Kylian Mbappé. After spending those infant years with AS Bondy, he then moved just down the road to FC Montfermeil – a more established football club. Two years down the line, AS Saint-Étienne came sniffing around and took a liking to the then-fifteen-year-old. A further two years down the line and he has already made his Ligue 1 debut, age seventeen.
The 2018/19 season proved to a breakout for the young central defender. He featured in nineteen matches, including all three cup ties. Whilst he wasn’t entrusted with playing in the derbies against Olympique Lyonnais, and nor was he allowed to feature against Paris Saint-Germain, his other sixteen matches illustrated the ridiculous potential ASSE’s number four possesses.
Style of play
Defending
Jockeying
First and foremost, Saliba is a defender but, for all of his potential, there are still some pretty blatant defensive flaws in his game, and jockeying is most certainly the biggest of them. He struggled on this front throughout last season, making him relatively ill-equipped to fill the right-back position, as he did on several occasions.
What inhibits him is both his stance and his decision-making. Typically, his stance will consistent of him being crouched and angled towards the byline – which is positive – but he’ll often assume a very narrow body stance – making it difficult for him to shift from side-to-side quickly enough. Among the many things that have seen him lose out in one-versus-one situations was, to begin with, the way he approached the ball. There was lacking confidence in his approach; something about the way he moved to the ball seemed a little off.
Trying to direct a player one way is a good approach but, as a defender, you also have to factor in “should I want this player to take me on round the outside?”, and, “am I doing enough to force their direction?”. The problem is that he generally did neither. He will always assume the same angled body shape when squaring up to a player out wide, even against players who want to take that route anyway. He also doesn’t do nearly enough to force this point of direction.
By keeping himself so narrow, he leaves the option to cut inside fairly obvious. Additionally, this means he can’t instantly stretch out to challenge an opponent’s attempts to cut in.
In terms of positioning, he doesn’t help himself in that respect, either. Another aspect particularly prominent at the start of the season was how Saliba would distance himself from his opponent but not quite in line with where he should’ve been. As a result, he was then leaving the angle inside over-exposed and always with a body shape that was too one-sided.
Saliba angles himself towards the far-side directly ahead of his opponent, meaning his isn’t actually blocking either side.
He has sometimes tried to make tackles very early in the duels to avoid the footrace but he has mistimed most of these, with the attackers being that bit sharper on the ball.
The confusion in the direction of his stance, as well as his need to drop off against the threat of attacking runs, was another facet to his game that was causing big problems to begin with. The first few performances of his saw him spin round and round as he couldn’t make up his mind whether or not to face the ball or face his man. Both issues are perfectly highlighted together in this example.
In reaction to the left-most attacker’s movement, Saliba reacts by dropping off and shifting to face the far-side. This left the route in behind for the central attacker completely open. He did well to make up some ground and pressure the shot.
This focus on giving himself room to cover for attacking runners only left them open to receive, especially on crosses. Thankfully, both these things drastically improved across the course of the season. The eighteen-year-old’s body direction is far more consistent, facing the ball whilst scanning all the time now.
Unfortunately, the issues don’t end there. Particularly when tracking players inside or shifting to one side when jockeying in the middle, he doesn’t adjust swiftly enough. Instead of simply shifting side-on using his initial stance, he’ll switch to a forward-facing one before trying to re-assume the previous stance in the new direction. Not only does this slow him down but it also ties into another key issue of his in this respect: rushing and planting.
Rushing back to cover the ground is normal, and Saliba certainly has the acceleration to do so quite well, it’s just what he does once he reaches his opponent which is disconcerting. By the time he’s made up the ground, he hasn’t considered what to do next, which should be to assume the side-on stance. Consequently, this completely forward-facing rush across will result in him planting his feet the same way, meaning he has no chance of shifting in the reverse direction when his opponent inevitably cuts in.
Although he tracks and scans his initial opponent well, the no.4, once he crosses into Pépé’s path is too forward-facing and plants his feet that way, meaning he can’t adjust when Pépé drags the ball back the other way.
The cases of him winning these wides duels mostly come down to when he is in direct collision with his opponent, as his towering presence is more than enough to outmuscle any winger he comes face to face with in a footrace. And, as was shown against one of Ligue 1’s more prominent dribblers, Allan Saint-Maximin, where he won three one-versus-one duels in quick succession, he is a very able tackler in close proximity. It is simply when he affords his opponents too much space.
His defence of the centre isn’t great, either. He’ll square up to his man without being fully aware of the exits around him.
Physicality in defending
Aside from this, Saliba excels in a lot of other aspects, and one of those is his protection of the ball. The centre-back has become an excellent shielder of the ball. What’s most impressive about this is not just how he uses his physicality, but also how he blocks off his opponents. He’s never beaten by a more agile player’s attempts to duck inside or out; he reads all of these attempts superbly.
Here, Saliba does well to hold off one and then two opponents to keep hold of the ball and then release it.
Also referring to his physical side is his aerial ability. Standing at a sturdy 6″4′, the Frenchman, despite not stacking up too many challenges statistically (totalling 3.3 per ninety minutes), is very dominant from open play situations, albeit much less so from set-pieces, both offensively and defensively.
In terms of his reading of situations, he’s fairly resolute. On the occasions when he decides to step out, he makes the right call and intercepts the ball.
A nice feature of the way he intercepts loose balls is how he’ll hold off from going in gung-ho and thus losing the ball again. Instead, the defender will even feint as if he’s going full in before letting it roll under/across his body to earn himself an extra few seconds. He is usually well aware of his options by this point and knows how to feed it out of pressure.
Elsewhere, his physicality is put to good use when pressing up from the back. Whilst he has been guilty of being a little heavy-footed, giving away fouls as a result, Saliba generally does a great job of applying the right amount of pressure on attacking receivers. His timing and coverage of these have improved throughout the season. He doesn’t merely sit off his opponent once he reaches him, instead he legally barges into them. And, thanks to the timing of these actions, he’s often able to force errors like loose passes or touches, which help to reclaim possession for his team.
Saliba times his press in time with the pass, meaning his legal push from behind results in a loose touch from his opponent, resulting in a turnover.
Defensive awareness and defence of crosses
When it comes to scanning what’s around him, the number four has shown solid consistency but too much infrequency. The level of awareness he possesses has been best shown through his defending of crosses, as well as balls in behind him.
For over the top passes from the opposition, Saliba is generally alert to this kind of threat. Albeit a little slow, he spots when a deep ball-holder is lining up to target the space in behind and subsequently reacts well. At the same time, he’ll check over his shoulder to spot the potential threat of a sharp run.
His awareness of what’s in front of him is also at a good level and has helped inform decision-making, such as whether or not to press up onto an attacker or to instead stay back and cover the alternative attacking threat.
It’s in the box where it’s not only been representative of his flaws but also his major improvements.
At the beginning of the season, he only thought about his positioning, not his opponent. Although his positioning was good and helped him block a lot of crosses, it still left him vulnerable to blind-sided runners, especially as he checked over his shoulder once at best. So, even if he had adjusted to cover a box movement, there was still a strong possibility that that player had made a second, undetected movement.
Saliba, the very central player in this clip, checks over his shoulder just once before assuming a position to block rather than reacting to the threat of the nearest runner.
What has been great to see as the season has progressed is how vigilant he has become, which can be seen when he retreats into the box. Whereas before he possessed a relatively closed stance, he now keeps side-on at all times and constantly flicks his point of focus between the player and the ball. Against counterattacks, this is also true. It doesn’t stop once they’ve reached the box, either; he’ll still consistently check his shoulder to react to movements, like when his opponent peals off to receive on the cutback instead.
In stark contrast, this, from later in the season, shows him checking both shoulders every other second and actively reacting to the movements of those around him to then intercept the delivery.
In this respect, the only place where he has struggled is on corners. On a couple of occasions this season, he has completely lost sight of his man, which has resulted in goals conceded. And, unfortunately, Saliba has been fairly costly to ASSE at times. His poor actions have led to numerous goals being conceded – plenty of those even costing them points late on. Sometimes it has been hard luck but often it’s down to one of the weaker sides to his game. It’s probably also why he hasn’t been given the green light against the big two.
Despite these costly moments, ASSE’s league win percentage is higher in games where he’s started (69.2%) than when he hasn’t played (42.9%).
Attacking
Composure, awareness and first touches
When I first watched Saliba play, I was taken aback by just how calm he was in possession. This was a seventeen-year-old, making his debut in a top-five European league, completely unfazed by the pressure. And, watching through these matches, it’s become so clear that it’s the ball-playing side of his game that is the strongest. No debate.
It’s one thing to bare composure, though, it’s another to possess all the things he does along with it – and to put them into practice at every given opportunity.
There’s his movement for the ball, as well. Simple things like pushing back to maximise the space for himself when receiving out from the back, or recognising the need to fill a hole to provide a way out for his teammate, he all does so consistently well.
After laying it off, Saliba makes an unexpected move off the blind-side of his marker to create an alternative way out for his teammate.
Then you have the subject of his first touch. Saliba almost always favours using his stronger, right foot but is willing to change it up when needed. The list of positives only grows longer, here, as he is always so positive when receiving the ball. In combination with his awareness, he knows whether or not to push the ball out in front of him or keep it close. What doesn’t change – unless under obviously difficult pressure – is the way he will take passes on with an open-body touch. Even if he has to go back the other way a second later, he will always keep his options open. That way, if his opponent tries to block the inside route back, he can always take it on the outside.
His awareness is another big plus of his game that is more prominent in possession than out of it. Saliba is constantly scanning before and after receiving, so he pretty much always knows how to approach his next step. Only a few times has he fallen asleep and not clocked onto the pressure he’s under, at which point he’s often taken a poor touch that’s gotten trapped under his feet, but his excellent resistance through shielding and close control have helped him wriggle out of such scenarios.
Despite the panicky first touch getting caught under his feet, Saliba reacts well by pushing it out from underneath him and then turning away from his man to once again relieve the pressure.
What his awareness, scanning and, most importantly, speed of thought have enabled him to do is to take on a pass in a tight area, look up, analyse the options and play back, if necessary. And, watching him do so, you would naturally think, ‘surely there was an option on, he just didn’t look properly’, but that’s far from the case. Saliba has a very keen eye for forward passes and when you see how quickly he performs these actions and how he turns out to have made the right decision each time, it’s truly remarkable.
As I’ve already alluded to, Saliba uses different touches for different situations. Away from the close-to-body ones, he will persistently push the ball out in front of him when he knows there is space ahead. This action is particularly well done when the ball is being recycled back to him, where he then uses his weaker foot to make an instep and drive into the open space.
As the ball is recycled back, Saliba uses his weaker foot to step into the block first time, thus allowing him to target forward options.
The most impressive use of his first touch, however, is when he’s evading direct pressure. In anticipation of a challenge, Saliba is excellent in timing his touch into space to go against the grain of his opponent. In those situations where, despite boasting good control of the ball, he would most certainly lose it, he knows exactly how to beat his man. Even when playing out on the right, he’s looked comfortable using his first touch to cut in to evade pressure.
Saliba uses his very first touch to ensure his opponent can’t get near the ball, thus helping him to get out of a tight spot.
Passing and decision-making
A lot of players have some kind of big drawback when other aspects of their game are so heightened but Saliba is uniquely great. Whatever flaws he possesses on this side are barely worth mentioning.
The things he does after his first touch are still so special and are in keeping with his positive approach because he will almost always aim for the direct, forward option with his passes. He does so with a great approach, too, as his attempted passes through the lines tend to be disguised with him opening his body as if to play it wide.
He shapes his body to play towards the right but the subverts the expectations of the Nîmes players by playing a reverse pass inside.
The consistency at which he takes on the responsibility of this and finds these progressive passes is amazing. Even the speed at which he sees these options pop up is exceptional. What’s more, the fact he has the patience to wait for such openings is rare to see and highlights the level of composure even the most experienced players don’t always possess, let alone in someone as young as he is.
Saliba’s patience and press-resistance pay off as he then finds the right option in the direct pass through the lines.
The main issue that comes to mind is his weighting of some passes. They’re never too short but they’ve sometimes been a bit on the heavy side.
His mostly-short passes are always incredibly accurate, with him completing 90.4% of the ones he’s attempted. He even keeps his composure to find the short pass in the deepest of areas. Again, using his physicality to shield off opponents, he’s become excellent at starting with his back-to-goal before rolling them to get around the side before laying it off.
After coming under severe pressure, Saliba uses this and his body strength to roll his opponent and subsequently get around them.
Where his pass selection somewhat lacks is in terms of playing too centrally, at times. His persistence to play into attackers is fantastic but sometimes sacrificing playing a simpler wide pass has put his teammates under unnecessary pressure.
Saliba needlessly playing into the centre when there is a clearer option out wide results in a dangerous turnover.
As can be seen in the example above, there’s a clear option to play into the fullback but it’s not in his nature to avoid a potential forward pass into the middle, so he plays there instead, resulting in a dangerous turnover. The hugely positive thing is that this was another area he quickly improved upon. There was even a far better variety in his passes the next game. The issue had been irradicated with the snap of a finger, seemingly.
Where the pass selection sometimes seems to genuinely lack is in terms of range. Up until later on in the season, his awareness of the pitch appeared to be somewhat skewed. Very rarely would he pick out a sweeping diagonal to the left side, however, when he did, they were more often than not incredibly precise and were some of his best passes altogether.
Two of Saliba’s best passes from last season.
Although he doesn’t attempt them often enough, it’s the fact he’s capable enough to pull it off – using a floated technique to improve its accuracy – and the fact that he acts on them so sharply, that makes this area of his game something of an untapped gold mine.
He’s attempted his fair share of longer-range passes down the same side, though, but weighting aerial passes at such a straight angle is far more difficult, and has thus not always been hugely successful.
In terms of roles within the team affecting his ball-playing ability, he suffers most when playing right-back, as it narrows the angles he has at his disposal, especially with him being uncomfortably high up the pitch. He, undoubtedly, best showcases this side of his game from the centre.
Conclusion
Saliba has been trialled in a couple of positions but is clearly at home as a right-sided central defender. It would, however, be interesting to see him tried in the centre of a back-three, where there is less of a reliance on being involved in wide duels and where the distances to each side might make his pass selection more varied, in a more consistent way.
Away from all of that, it’s clear to me that Saliba is a very special player. To be operating at this level as a seventeen-year-old (only turning eighteen back in March) is unbelievable. And, despite my criticisms, it almost seems unfair to berate him for any side of his game, especially given the way he’s improved on certain aspects that were very weak at the beginning of the season.
The youngster will return to his club for one more season on a loan deal following the completion of his move to Arsenal. This means the pressure is off. He can enjoy an even more fulfilled second term in the first team. I’ve little doubt that the player we see come the end of next season will be a player who has continued to work on the weaknesses of his game, making his leap to the ‘Big boys’ league’ all the more seamless.
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Thanks for reading. If you want, you can find me here. Also, a big thanks to Stephen, who helped me with getting the footage to watch back all of Saliba’s matches for ASSE last season.
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