Marseille lost 4-2 to Galatasaray on Thursday evening, which sees them out of the Europa League even before all the group matches have been played.
The Ligue 1 side have just four points from five matches in the competition, and a goal difference of -2. Naturally, the result, and the failure to qualify, has seen the French media look at reasons why, and Arsenal’s William Saliba is pushed forward.
Loaned to Marseille this season, with Mikel Arteta not believing the defender was ready to compete for his Arsenal side, Saliba received huge praise at the beginning of the campaign.
Arsenal and Arteta were presented as somewhat foolish for allowing the 20-year-old to play elsewhere this season, and the praise for the player seemed never ending, until very recently that is.
L’Equipe start off reasonably nicely, saying Saliba’s ‘quite phenomenal’ speed allows him to get back against players, however, it couldn’t save him from poor positioning on Thursday evening, and Ryan Babel took advantage.
That was for Galatasaray’s fourth goal, and the French newspaper believe he was also at fault for the third.
L’Equipe state: ‘After a big start to the season, he had accustomed us to excellence. Lately, his concentration swings and bad passes have been costly in the Europa League. Already at fault against Lazio (2-2), he conceded he’d “slept very badly” after this match. He must have had a little trouble getting to sleep last night as well.’
Saliba was given 3/10 for his performance.
