Dip in form: William Saliba has seen his performance levels for Arsenal drop at times over recent weeks
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William Saliba is “not the same player” without Gabriel says Jamie Carragher, who has criticised the Arsenal defender’s lack of leadership in the absence of his regular centre-back partner.
Saliba has firmly established a reputation as one of Europe’s top central defenders in recent seasons after a series of loan spells in an initially slow start to his Gunners career, but has looked off the pace at times of late.
The French international was among the Arsenal defenders caught out for Liverpool’s opener in an eventful 2-2 draw at Anfield on Sunday as Cody Gakpo turned in Andy Robertson’s cross, with Carragher describing his role in the goal as “really poor” as he questioned his positioning and leadership qualities.
It was another sloppy display overall from Saliba, who has looked more prone to errors recently after his previous strong and consistent form that led many to question if he was among the best defenders in the world.
Carragher believes his dip in levels is due to the absence of Gabriel, who has not played since suffering a hamstring injury against Fulham in early April and won’t return this season, with Jakub Kiwior lining up alongside Saliba instead.
“When you’re a centre-back, I’d be hoping now that this guy next to me is the leader,” Carragher said on Sky Sports. “When he moves away, you’ve got to then become the leader of that back four and organise people, not just play your own game.
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“For me the great centre-backs, it’s not about how good you are and everything you can do, ‘oh he’s great in the air, he’s got great pace, he’s on the ball’.
“You want all that, but you need to affect other people. Think of the great centre-backs down the years, think of Tony Adams, think of Virgil van Dijk here.
“They are not just great players, they make everyone else around them look like great players. That’s the thing that I think is still lacking with Saliba.
“Without Gabriel, he doesn’t look the same player and that’s not something you want to be labelled as.
“I’d be embarrassed if I was playing centre-back for Liverpool and people say he’s not the same player without him next to him.
“We say that about a lot of Liverpool centre-backs when Virgil van Dijk is not there, but he’s very rarely out and he makes the person alongside him look like a top player.
“If we’re being totally honest, a lot of the Liverpool centre-backs over the last three or four years, I think Liverpool supporters think they are a lot better than they actually are because of who they were playing alongside.”
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