Jakub Kiwior deserves his flowers. He has done an excellent job replacing Gabriel Magalhães in defence, stepping out from his long shadow.
Though some doubted him, he has emerged as an ideal replacement for the Brazilian, offering Arsenal aerial strength and even contributing goals.
Kiwior shows grit and class against Newcastle
Against Newcastle, he crowned his performance by standing firm in the face of Dan Burn’s attempts to bully Riccardo Calafiori, showing he has also brought Gabriel’s fiery, team-first spirit onto the pitch.
The Pole delivered a man-of-the-match performance, barely putting a foot wrong in Arsenal’s 1-0 win over the Magpies.
“The Polish Wall” vs Newcastle:
10 interceptions
2 blocked shots
2 tackles
6 out of 9 duels won
91 percent pass accuracy
2 key passes
Jakub Kiwior has certainly made the most of his late-season opportunities at Arsenal, and his contributions in the club’s last 12 matches have not gone unnoticed.
From fringe player to indispensable backup
From being a player almost certain to leave this year, it now seems highly unlikely that he is going anywhere. He may not be Gabriel, but selling him in pursuit of another squad player would feel like trying to fix what is not broken.
His performances should have given Mikel Arteta reason to reconsider any summer exit plans. Any club hoping to secure his services will now have to pay a premium.
That said, even with Gabriel’s return, supporters will hope Kiwior continues to receive regular opportunities. He has proven that with a consistent run of games, he is more than capable of performing at the highest level.
What are your thoughts Gooners
Daniel O
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Sport can be cruel at times. An injury to one player can be beneficial to the replacement (Martinez for example)
Had the sheer volume and length of the injuries this season not happened, Kiwior would not have had the same opportunities to shine. It should give the club food for thought. If GM comes back in good form and the level of injuries next season are not like this one, then Arteta- I’d hope- can rotate his squad more frequently and successfully. Over reliance on a few players has shown some weaknesses
I agree SueP,
While the injury’s have certainly not helped this season, Arteta judgement regarding rotation and
the use of substitutes leave a lot to be desired to be honest.
It will be interesting to see if next season with a lot less injury’s 🤞, hopefully, Arteta can improve in this aspect of his management.
And just a footnote: With Liverpool losing to Brighton last night, we’re now only 12 points behind them, title race back on. Keep on believing guys, 📢Come On You GUNNERS. 😂🤣🙄🤦♂️🤷♂️👍😉
Arsenal problems are all but due to ARTETA, you cant be playing only a few cling of players 3 times a week while keeping other players to come on only after injuries, its the main reason for consistent injuries, tired bodies at the end of the season. Plus failing to make timely substitions in order to guarantee players more time and consistence.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Arteta plays his core players in the last match against Southampton that will make we fans thinking that the title race is still on.
Good coaches don’t rotate their back four, particularly the two CBs unless they are forced to. The defenders need to play constantly together to understand their game better
Maybe if Arsenal goes far in the domestic cup competitions, then we’d expect to see more rotation next season
CorporateMan, bang on the money. The CBs and center of midfield are the most important part of the team. As you said, you don’t split the CB pairing unless through injury or suspensions.
But now he knows he can confidently split his best CB pairing, he can confidently rotate them. The injury to Gabriel has shown that Kiwior can seamlessly step in and replace him.
I would say he can do it against lesser teams and in the domestic cups. Also if we are beating teams comfortably.
Good coaches don’t rotate their back four, great coaches do
Exactly, Pep did it regularly throughout their last few successful campaigns, it keeps top players fresh and on their toes, and the smart ones appreciate why its done. If a player demands to start every game regardless of form then that’s a player unwilling to learn and no doubt an ego bad for the dressing room.
Good coaches are evolving the way they set up. It was good to play the CBs as much as possible 10 years ago and in the 1900s but the game is played at a much higher tempo nowadays especially since there are 5 subs versus the historical limit of 3. Opposition attackers often have fresh legs at games end. I think Saliba and Big Gabby have an understanding of their game by now. They don’t need to be playing in a League Cup, FA cup game on a Wednesday against Championship teams when they have big match in three days against EPL to table teams. Both our CBs came down with hammy injuries this year.
Yeah, he’s too good of a back up to sell right now. Also, I don’t think there will be many options around as good as him that will be happy to sit on the bench.
However, as what’s been discussed above, suitable game time needs to be given to him.
Before they joined Arsenal, Tomi, White, Kwior and Calafiori made their names as centre backs, not full backs.How many centre backs should we have in a squad of 25, given that Timber and Rice have played in that position earlier in their careers?This i think, highlights the imbalance in our squad this season.Apart from Tierney how many natural full backs have we used this season?
I agree with you Grandad, unfortunately our club is managed by a man that seems obsessed with the square pegs in round holes theory.
Tierney is a natural FB but doesn’t fit Artet’s system. The others are all flexible players who can all play at a high level. How is that an imbalance? The adaptability of those players has been a factor contributing to Arsenal being amongst the best defences in the PL.
But thats the point David, Arteta’s system which he cloned from his mentor Pep, is not producing attractive sttacking football, and, more importantly, it has not produced real success.In the same way, Man City, without natural full backs, are regressing.
They have played the inverted fb for 5 years and have won 4 premier leagues and champions league. If that’s the regression we will get with inverted fb I’m all for it
Just a question Liam,
How many titles have we won with inverted fb.👍🙄
This is a redundant question that doesn’t move the discussion forward. We didn’t win the PL for years playing with more traditional LBs.
The point is that you can win titles with different systems. Some of this is related to the preferred philosophy and strategy of the manager as well as the availability of players of a high enough standard.
A problem with some of these arguments is the assumption that there is just one way to play the game or set up a team.
David,
While I agree that there’s more than one way to play said system, in Arteta’s case more often than not he just ignores the traditional route of an actual left back, and continually persists with the inverted left back.
Having not won the title playing this way, I think it’s time that he tries the old fashioned ways, ie: a traditional full back. People say you have to move with the times, and to a point I agree with that. But it doesn’t mean that the old ways are the wrong ways, they still have there place I believe. And if we don’t win the title, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with trying out the old ways.
Yes just keep buying CBs. That’s the way to go
Grandad, Calafiori only played one season as a CB, and that was at Bologna. He was a LB at his previous clubs.
It was at Bologna that he shined and got into the Italy national team, as a CB and not LB
Correct, as that was his first season playing at CB.
Tomiyasu made his name playing primarily at RB (Timber largely did play CB, though) and tbh I think white is only a good CB but he’s a *very* good RB – for him, it was a positive change.
In any case, imo, we have 4 players who are primarily centre backs, or where CB is their best position (saliba, Gabriel, calafiori and kiwior) – the others mentioned can cover that position, which is more of a positive than a negative.
We probably could do with a new fullback to replace the excellent but unfortunate tomiyasu, though. And I agree it doesn’t need to be another unit who can play CB – we do have plenty of options there.
Only reason to sell kiwior is if he wants to go – and I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted to move for a larger role in a team. He’s finally been able to demonstrate he’s a very good cb, but he’s probably never going to overtake Gabriel or saliba, who just have something extra.
If Kiwoir is sold, this one could leave eggs on the gaffer’s face, but Berta will have a say.
As the gaffer man management improves , these kinds of situations will be soon things of the pass
Unfortunately Dan, our world class coach are always in the habit of fixing what is not broken. Kiwior surprised everyone. This is a testament to the fact that, given opportunities players will gain confidence and at the highest level. But arteta being who he is will want to sell him except, there is fans outcry.
“Indispensable backup” is such a good way of putting it. He may not be in the first choice XI, but the defence looks MUCH weaker without him as an option. Interesting one, as he is probably too good to be backup. He would walk into the first XI of any club in Serie A, for instance.