Ahead of this season, I personally expected Myles Lewis-Skelly to start the campaign as the first choice left-back. Five games into the season however and the England international is yet to start a single game for Arsenal. The brilliance of Riccardo Calafiori has kept him out of the squad so far, with the Italian barely giving the youngster a sniff. Calafiori has been very consistent in the early stages of the campaign, impressing in virtually every game we have played so far. His lone goal earned Arsenal the maximum points against Man United, while he grabbed a couple of assists in matchday two. Leaning away from the raw stats, he held his own against Mohammed Salah at Anfield while putting in solid shifts against Nottingham Forest and Athletic Club more recently. All things considered, it has been a very solid start to the campaign, but even with that said, has he done enough to be considered our first choice left-back?
Calafiori’s Arrival and Injury Concerns
When the then 22-year-old Riccardo Calafiori was bought in the summer of 2024, many expected the versatile defender to make the left fullback role his own. His physical attributes along with attacking capabilities made him a perfect fit for that position, as illustrated by his performances for Bologna previously. Despite starting positively, the former Bologna man could only manage 29 appearances in his debut season for the club. It was an injury ravaged campaign as he picked up six issues during that period. His injury record opened up the opportunity for Myles Lewis-Skelly to feature prominently and the youngster has not looked back since. After the Italian picked up an injury in pre-season, it seemed his niggling concerns were not behind him and that is why I personally fancied Myles Lewis-Skelly to start the campaign.
Calafiori Takes Control
After featuring in seven consecutive games, including the international fixtures, and staying fit however, it is safe to say that he has made the left-back position his own. Unlike Lewis-Skelly, Calafiori is a better fit in that position due to his flexibility. His pace and attacking acumen makes him a threat going forward. In the Premier League, the defender has amassed a league high 10 touches in the opposition’s box, while also topping the XG rankings among defenders, 1.43. He has also been equally impressive in defense and it is an area he has improved upon from last season. His flexibility also allows other players around him to shine, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard and Eberechi Eze all benefit from having a player of his profile at left-back.
Though I think his position is safe, barring any injury, Arsenal’s deep squad means there is not a guaranteed starter in every position. Instead of Myles Lewis-Skelly however, Piero Hincapié will pose the biggest threat to Calafiori in my opinion. They both have similar profiles, while Myles Lewis-Skelly will likely be eased into a midfield position this season, in my opinion.
After all is said and done, the big winners will be Arsenal. The fierce competition will only do well to serve the club’s collective effort this campaign and fans will hope it leads to silverware.
Your thoughts?
Benjamin Kenneth
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Lewis skelly is very talented but still very raw, very young and has a lot to learn , he picked up too many red cards last season which I believe made artetas decision to play calafiori ahead of him much easier. But whenever he is called upon he does very well and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind be a sub player for now. I like calafiori he is one of us , I haven’t seen much of Hincape to have an opinion about him, I trust he is a good player and it’s still early days .
Coyg.
Yes for now Calafiori is the undisputed starter for Arsenal left back, though he lacks pace ,he’s a big game player alright.
But Hincapié is a better defender of the ball his pace and his frequent marauding run on the left makes him a completely different player.
The Ecuadorian does sports a presence in the box with his aerial prowess.
Calafiori would likely play ahead of Lewis-Skelly and Hincapie as long as the overlapping-LB tactic works, unless Hincapie has some minimum-playing-time clauses on his loan contract
Lewis-Skelly might only become a starter again if Arteta switches back to the inverted-LB tactic
Calafiori has been playing the inverted role? He has not been overlapping. Sometimes he has nearly been that for over, he was in touching distance of the RB.
I saw Rice dropping deep frequently to protect Calafiori who ran into the opposition’s area
Calafiori still inverts sometimes, but not as often as Lewis-Skelly who tends to stay in Arsenal’s half
@Gai, if you have seen Hincapie plays, he is actually more athletic than Calafiori and also very combertive. But I guess he will need more time to gel properly with players on LW. But I bet he will compete well with Calafiori.
Best bet for MLS is to keep coming in as substitute for 15-20minutes. But I think he will have chances at cup matches.
We actually need more competition on the RFB position with White becoming injury prone.
Hincapie looks more suited to the overlapping LB role as compared to Calafiori. But he might have to wait longer for his chance, because we’re still winning games with Calafiori
As for the RB position, I think Mosquera played pretty well there
Calafiori should not be the first choice and I doubt he is. He is good, he is limited and he will/does make mistakes, the same as MLS. Who people forget is England’s LB. It should be a fair fight and when one makes too many errors, the other should be given their chance. Thats called competition.
There are no first choice with the squad that we have, the better player on the day plays especially in defence where we have 8 versatile players of high quality for 4 places.
Yes sure Calafiori is the undisputed starter in LFB. Skelly’s numerous gaffes allowed it to be so. Skelly was given ample opportunities some he affirmatively used hence won England call up. In some he squandered chances by seeing reds and conceding penalties. Cala at the moment is in the best shape. Since Cala sees cards, tires at the end and is injury prone, Skelly will have enough chances to play. Don’t go anywhere or shift to any position. Like it was between Ramsdale and Raya, it is now resolved. Calafiori!!!
Do we have someone playing LB?
🤣🤣
Too bad we can’t get both Skelly’s dogged resilience and Califiori’s forward thinking awareness in the one player, so I guess it will have to be a game by game horses for courses set up. After last season I think Skelly deserves a chance in the midfield, particularly in games when such as playing a team a team like Newcastle where Zubamendi is simply too light and could be overwhelmed. Skelly does not yet have the best of touches but already at this stage of his career,his passing is a bit more adventurous than a player like Mr 90% success rate,Elneny who we kept on the books for an age. As, with Reggie though, I’d have to agree with B.B’s rhetorical question, ” Do we really have a left back”, which also raises the question, Why not?
With time, Hancapie, will be our starter, for me this competition is good, MLS are there too . Above all three of them is good on the subject.
The one thing that concerns me regarding Calafiori at left back is his lack of pace. I think that over a season he will found out regards pacey wingers who take him on.
Don’t get me wrong, he does a good job there. But I think pace is his Achilles Hill regards the left back position. When he played Centre Back towards the end of last season, he looked calm and assured in that role, and his lack of pace wasn’t such a problem.
But with the other Centre Backs that we have, his chances of playing there appear to be limited.
Hincapie appears to be quicker than Calafiori, so I hope to see him given a chance at some point.
Neither are on the same level as Timber, Saliba or Gabriel. Not sure how much potential Calafori has to improve as a LB but MLS has plenty. I expect Hincapie to sneak in at some point and make the position his.
It is clear that Arteta favours Calafiori right now. But why did they purchase Hincapié then? Probably because Arteta will keep playing Calafiori until he breaks rather than manage his minutes smartly. Then Hincapie will play. I think they will give MLS very few minutes as he is still a teenager.
Why did they purchase Hincapie ? Because Kiwior went to Porto. Thus we haven’t weakened our defence.
Just for clarification, Lewis Skelly gave away two penalties and received two red cards last season.
I’m not sure if that labels him as a problem, but it’s good to give out the facts don’t you think?
And one of those Red Cards was rightly rescinded.
Made quite a few mistakes in my opinion
Called it at the time , the amount of goals from his side
Maybe he can step into midfield
Although should start in midweek in League Cup
Either way , no rush as he’s young
Too early to call. MLS we made it to a European sea-final with. Mikel seems to quickly want to randomly move on from him for whatever reason. MLS will surely get chances though because Calafiori is injury prone. Surprised/unsurprised that Arteta has given Calafiori basically no rest since the start of the season. He really likes to run players to the ground then act shocked when they get hurt…
Still on the fence with calafiori. Not that he’s a bad player, but I don’t think he fits well with other players. If we had a touchline hugging winger he would fit a lot better. Calafiori doesn’t really overlap often and isn’t very effective when he does. Why would you expect to create chances crashing 5 tall players in the box and asking one player to beat double or triple coverage to get crosses in? In general, you can’t let both fbs bomb forward constantly without dropping an extra midfielder deeper. Rice has to drop deeper to cover while we send not one but 2 center backs forward. Can you see me rolling my eyes?