'Bad': Gary Neville says £27m Arsenal player made a mistake on Saturday that isn't being mentioned enough
Today at 03:55 AM
Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season at the weekend against Bournemouth as the Gunners lost 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium.
Of course, the big talking point during the game was William Saliba's red card.
The Frenchman was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity, and, as you can imagine, there was plenty of uproar around this decision.
Some blamed the VAR for making a rash decision, while others blamed the Arsenal defender for getting himself into this situation.
However, speaking on his podcast, Gary Neville has pointed the finger elsewhere.
Indeed, the pundit says that Leandro Trossard was largely to blame for this incident, claiming that his pass backwards was poor and that mistake isn't being mentioned enough.
Gary Neville blasts Leandro Trossard's poor pass
Neville shared his verdict on this red card.
Ultimately, the pundit claimed that the right decision was made, but he absconded Saliba of some of the blame, claiming that Trossard's pass was a big issue.
"I thought it was a right decision in the end. It was a long decision from goal, but the goalkeeper, I think, speaking to Mike about it before actually, once the goalkeeper actually starts to back pedal, there is an acceptance that he is not getting the ball, and then you know that striker is going to get there, so I think that's the problem. I mean, the mistake from Trossard is a bad one, maybe it hasn't been talked about enough, the pass back," Neville said.
How many games will William Saliba miss for Arsenal?
William Saliba was shown a straight red card for Arsenal on Saturday, but he won't serve a traditional three-game ban.
Indeed, while we're used to seeing three game bans for straight red cards, the rules are slightly different when it is a 'professional' foul rather than serious foul play or violent conduct.
Therefore, Saliba will miss just one Premier League game.
Interestingly, Saliba will be available for Arsenal's Champions League game this week as this ban will only apply domestically.
Saliba's red card led to many being baffled, but, as Neville says, ultimately this may have been the right decision as Evanilson did have a clear route to goal if he hadn't been impeded by the Arsenal defender.
Saliba will miss Arsenal's next game against Liverpool, and it's fair to say that the Gunners could struggle without their star defender against the star-studded attacking Arne Slot has led to the top of the Premier League this season.
