It may seem a little bit odd to say this after Rob Holding was an unused substitute for most of his debut season as an Arsenal player, especially after this summer of international competition when his club and country colleague Calum Chambers was selected ahead of him for the England under 21 team every time, but I believe that the young defender is going to be a regular first team starter for us next season.
Arsene Wenger may be aware that there is a lot of pressure from us fans to spend big money on transfers and at the same time he will take flak if one of his big signings from last summer, Shkodran Mustafi, is sat on the bench. But Wenger has never been scared of picking youth over reputation.
In fact he has a well deserved reputation for developing young players and after Holding did so well as part of the new back three system towards the end of our last campaign I think us Gooners will be happy to see the boss give him more opportunity.
And I feel that Holding really does have what it takes to be a top class player. Having played at right back as well as in the centre makes him ideal for that right side of a back three but he also has good pace and technical ability. The same can be said of Chambers, of course, but what makes Holding stand out, for me, is the aggression and attitude he showed, most notably against the Chelsea thug Diego Costa in the FA cup final.
What do you guys think of Holding and his place in the Arsenal side?
Bob.
Still early days…
I feel more confident with Holding in the side. It could be mostly because of the three man back-line or five depending on how you see it, though he played well and earned plaudits within a two man centre also. Holding has stuff about him that we’ve not seen in years. He has an intelligent aggression, which he can unchain if someone is putting it up to him, and he gets under the skin of the senior players he’s trying to stop. We usually just play our football as the saying goes, Holding is one of those players that would work well under a Mourinho or Simeone. I think we all know already that he will captain of Arsenal one day. I’m not trying to put the mockers on anything, I know some people hate early applause when things are only beginning and there’s still a long way to go. It’s just that he has the character, a great attitude too, I find it difficult to see what could go wrong. The boy has a certain mentality about him, and he seems to have all the tools. He wasn’t fazed one bit, I don’t even think Alexis or Ozil could faze this lad. So good luck to all his opponents who try.
Depending on who we play I think we’ll see Monreal at left side of the 3 with Kolasinic6 the marauding wing back
I think mustafi/koss will rotate in the centre of the 3 due to their leadership and 1 on 1 defensive skills.
Leaving holding/Gabriel right side.
If he plays Monreal at centre back over holding and chambers then we know he’s lying about our new progressive, forward thinking style of football. If we were progressive we’d be giving the best young centre backs in the country much needed game time
I love this Jean Michel Aulas guy ??. Unlike Wenger and gazidis he keeps providing proper honest updates about the transfers.
Wenger be like ” oh please shut up Jean ” ???
This guy Aulas makes me sick I know he is trying to get as much money as possible for his club but he keeps coming with all the bullshit one minute he wants more money the next minute he is claiming he is not for sale.It seems as if if he is not sure what he wants to decide or do, anyone doing business with him needs the patience of a saint
I think that with the playing schedule of league, domestic cups and Europa League, both Holding and Chambers will be required. Koscielney is our best defender but getting on and our 2 young English centre backs need game time to replace him. Mustafi needs to justify his fee and Monreal can cover left wing back and left centre back. I would move Gabriel on personally.
we played beilerin cocquelin when we were short through injury now we have holding and chambers xhaka we will do allright this seaon all we want is a forward who can score goals from amount of chances provided then we will challenge again
t
sell him n our cohesive english core walcot ox wilshire ramsey chambers
He is young and still lacks top flight experience. He has not done enough to bench Mustafi and Koscielny but regular games will help him grow. Let us not heap too much praise and pressure on him. But yes when we are playing smaller teams, he should feature here and there. That ensures that when any of the senior defenders is injured, he can always step in and the quality of our game will remain the same. Remember we have Calum Chambers as well, who got loaned out and gained a lot of valuable pitch time at Borough. So we have options. Between Koscielny, Mustafi, Gabriel, Chambers, Holding and Mert, we are okay in defence. Monreal can play as part of a back three too with Sead Kolasinac likely to be fielded as a wing back.
Rob holding is a great player, but there’s a reason why Calum chambers started ahead of him in the U21’s euros. Plus Chambers has a full PL season under his belt, so I’d give chambers a go before Holding. Someone’s bound to get injured so it’s not like Rob won’t have a big role to play this season.
Also get rid of Gabriel and use kolasinac as a utility centre back if needed
holding over gabriel every time… gabriel is a liability
I think Holding/Chambers is the future off the central defence at our club and the England international team. I didnt see much off Chamber last year but have heard he was one off the best in the borough defence. He deserves his chance and Holding looked more solid than our more experienced center backs late last year
Just wondering Arsenal playing Bellerin as a holding midfielder?……..he has all the qualities except height……..