"What the actual f**k is wrong with him", "Forgotten how to play" - Fans unhappy with Arsenal star after 2-2 Liverpool draw

Fans online were unimpressed with William Saliba’s performance during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Arsenal. The French defender was quite shaky at the back as the Gunners fought back to secure a 2-2 draw at Anfield.

While Liverpool had already been confirmed as 2024-25 Premier League Champions, Mikel Arteta’s men had a positional battle to fight. Hence, it came as no surprise when Arsenal fashioned the first clear chance of the evening inside four minutes, courtesy of Bukayo Saka. The hosts responded a few minutes later as Luis Diaz forced David Raya into a brilliant save.

However, the Spanish goalkeeper couldn’t do much to prevent Cody Gakpo from scoring the opener from an unmarked position in the 20th minute. Anfield was rocking again in less than 90 seconds following a brilliant move involving Mohamed Salah, Diaz, and Dominik Szoboszlai. Arsenal’s failure to register a shot on target in the first 45 minutes meant Liverpool took a 2-0 lead into the break.

The Gunners started the second half strongly, and their efforts paid dividends just two minutes after the restart. Gabriel Martinelli pulled one back, heading home Leandro Trossard’s cross into the far corner.

The visitors continued to crank up the pressure as the game progressed and were back on level terms by the 70th minute. Martin Odegaard unleashed a fierce shot from a distance, and Alisson’s save hit the post and went into the path of Mikel Merino, who planted a header into the unguarded net.

The Gunners makeshift striker would go on from being the hero to a villain as he was sent off nine minutes after his equalizer. Andy Robertson thought he had won it for Liverpool at the death, but his goal was chalked off for offside.

Saliba, who has continued to be a regular figure in Arteta’s starting XI, had an evening to forget. He was caught out of position far too often and was Arsenal's joint lowest-rated player that started the game. He received a rating of 6.6 as per Sofascore. After the match, fans took to social media to call out his performance, with one writing:

''What the actual fuck is wrong with Saliba, seriously???''

Another tweeted:

''Why has Saliba forgotten how to play Football?''

''Told you if Madrid give us 100m for Saliba, we should take the money and run, his transformation to Upamecano has been scaring,'' @Emzyl_ wrote.

''Saliba has been sus for 4-5 games, not sure how he’s escaped criticism until now,'' @JessicaBlackTV added.

''Saliba has been dog shit for a month and it needs to be discussed. Unsure if it’s general malaise, missing Gabriel, or some other combination but he’s been poor and few want to address that elephant in the room,'' @GeecheeKid chimed in.

''People will probs dig me out for this but I think it's just the truth... Saliba hasn't been good this season. (By his standards set the 2 previous years),'' @AFC_TayTay wrote.

“I like action, not reaction’’ - Mikel Arteta on Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said he was very disappointed in the aftermath of their 2-2 draw with Liverpool. He was particularly critical of how they started the game, which saw them trailing by two goals after 21 minutes.

He told the media after the match:

“I'm very disappointed because we can talk about our reaction and the second half, what we've done, but I don't like that at all. I like action, not reaction. And what I saw from the team in the first 25 minutes is nowhere near the standards that we require, especially in things that we can control and we have to do.

However, he added that he’s responsible for how his players played.

“And that's fully my responsibility. And yes, the way we played afterwards, we reacted again with a lot of injuries and playing in this atmosphere and with how much hurting we went through in the last few days after the PSG outcome. Learn from it.”

Arsenal remain rooted in the second position on the league table with 68 points after 36 matches.