'Bit of an ego': Gary Neville angered by what he saw William Saliba do in 16th minute of 1-0 Arsenal win

09/16/2024 08:45 AM

William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes were in colossal form in N17 on Sunday as Arsenal recorded a 1-0 win over Tottenham.

The latter powered home a header in the 64th minute to hand Arsenal a second consecutive win inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but his defensive partner was scolded by Gary Neville by 16 minutes into the north London derby.

So, why did the Sky Sports pundit hammer William Saliba? Let’s take a look…

Why Gary Neville criticised William Saliba

For the majority of the international break, the main topic of conversation was in regards to whether Declan Rice deserved to be dismissed for kicking the ball away in the 1-1 draw against Brighton.

Given how prominent that moment was as a talking point, you would presume that none of Mikel Arteta’s squad would do something like that again – especially not so soon after the incident – although Saliba did exactly that.

After the Frenchman picked up the ball and ran away with it in the 16th minute on Sunday – prompting Jarred Gillett to book him – Neville remarked live on Sky Sports: “What’s he doing? We’ve been talking for two weeks about Arsenal players and delaying the restart.

“It feels like he’s been a little bit frustrated by being outmuscled by (Dominic) Solanke in the opening 15 minutes. It’s a bit of an ego thing.”

It was a foolish thing to do so soon after Rice saw red for the exact same offence, and had Saliba ended up receiving a second yellow later on in the north London derby, Arteta surely would have been seething with anger.

On a lighter note, Neville was – however – impressed by Bukayo Saka, who he felt was “fantastic” against Tottenham.

Arsenal No.2 was being closely watched

If Neville wasn’t impressed by this moment, we doubt Real Madrid were either.

Prior to the north London derby, Defensa Central claimed that Real Madrid had decided to send Chief Scout Juni Calafat to watch Saliba take on Tottenham, with the Spanish giants also watching Cristian Romero.

Real Madrid were surely impressed as the France international completed 97% of his attempted 35 passes, while also making two tackles and three clearances – as SofaScore shows – although Calafat was presumably not too fond of the Arsenal No.2’s cheap yellow card.

Hopefully, Saliba learns from that silly moment, as it easily could have cost the Gunners.