France manager Didier Deschamps chose to leave Arsenal's William Saliba on the bench in favour of Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate as part of a back four.
Saliba has been brilliant for the Gunners in the Premier League this season and many were surprised when he was named on the bench for France's World Cup opener against Australia.
And the negative reaction to his omission from the team ramped up significantly when Australia took a shock lead after just nine minutes when Craig Goodwin converted a cross at the back post.
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Goodwin was left completely unmarked to smash home past Hugo Lloris and plenty of Arsenal fans have reacted to the goal with their star man Saliba on the bench, here is how Twitter reacted.
@433Gary: You cannot convince me William Saliba and Kurt Zouma wouldn’t improve this French team.
@Faris_oezil_m: Australia leading hahaha. France prefer to play Konate instead of Saliba !! Hahaha.
@ChrisArsenalCam: France Need Saliba!!!
@Call_Me_Jaed: See what happens when you dont start Saliba France?
@ankara10messi: France really thought they would keep a cleansheet without starting Saliba LOL.
@GunnerMiguel: Leaving Saliba on the bench was a huge mistake from Deschamps.
@6bob_: France didnt start Saliba and concede within 9 mins, imagine my shock.
France have since turned the game around through goals from Adrien Rabiot and Olivier Giroud, but still look shaky at the back providing Deschamps with a huge selection decision for their second group game against Denmark.
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