Kevin Campbell says George Graham would have subbed off Rob Holding if he was Arsenal’s manager because of Ollie Watkins’ goal against the Gunners.
Watkins scored an early goal as Arsenal succumbed to yet another Premier League defeat, and their second in as many games against Villa this season.
The Gunners had been looking to recover from their 2 match winless run when they faced the Villans.
But they allowed Watkins to score the game’s only goal within 2 minutes of kick-off.
Arsenal laboured but couldn’t find an equalizer, with their opponents coming closer to notching more goals.
Campbell watched as Arsenal defended the goal poorly and blames Holding for not playing his part in the buildup.
He admitted that Cedric Soares made a bad pass to Gabriel Magalhaes, but says Holding should have been tighter on Watkins.
He reckons that Watkins would not score that goal if Holding had marked him instead of marking the space.
“Let me tell you something,” said Campbell to the Highbury Squad podcast.
“If George Graham was the manager, he might have taken Rob Holding off.
“He [Cedric] does a bad short pass to Gabriel, but remember, they are not in on goal. Traore has the upper hand on Gabriel because he is all of a sudden caught in between.
“Here’s the problem. Rob Holding marks the space and not the player. This is the problem. If he was tight to Ollie Watkins, I can guarantee you that Ollie Watkins doesn’t score.”
That was a rare error from Holding who has been arguably Arsenal’s most reliable centre back this season.