Why hasn’t Rob Holding played at all in 20 months since Arsenal sold him to Crystal Palace?

Last week I suggested Carl Jenkinson could be invited back to Arsenal to at least keep himself fit while he searches for a new club.

Well don’t be shocked if Rob Holding follows in that direction, given that 20 months after leaving North London he hasn’t played in the Prem once?

In fact, since moving to Selhurst Park the defender has featured in one League Cup tie.

At 28 he should be in his peak years getting regular minutes. Which was the whole reason he moved across the Capital.

There were Gooners who felt the center back wasn’t quite up to the required level to be a regular for a club our size, especially once we had realistic ambitions to challenge Man City.

Yet to go from starting in Europe to not getting a second of league action with Crystal Palace is some fall from grace.

At his very best, he played in two winning FA Cup Finals where he was outstanding in both.

We have lifted 14 of those trophies in our history. He will always be able to say he contributed to two of them, no one can take that away from him.

Yet he can’t even make the Eagles bench when they are selecting two keepers and youth players just to make up the numbers.

Mr. Wenger once boasted to the media how Holding only cost him 1 million. Yet before his prime, Holding can’t even get picked as a sub when managers can pick up to 9 options.

As some have observed Oliver Glasner at times hasn’t been able to fill his bench so common sense would say to use Holding even if it’s to have an extra body.

To prefer to be a man short in your Matchday squad indicates he doesn’t trust the player.

While for a while the company line was there were a few injuries, his boss was brutally honest on transfer deadline day explaining that despite being fit, Holding is training away from the first team and will continue to do so with the player ‘knowing the reason’.

He’s spoken about his battle with mental health in the past, especially when his self-confidence was impacted by hair loss. Yet would your employers be supporting you by freezing you out.

Whatever the real issue is it would seem Holding does not agree with his treatment. He’s spent the international break updating his social media pages, essentially unfollowing the club and removing any evidence that he’s connected to them.

This makes it harder to keep the situation private which is Palace’s preference.

If this is related to his behaviour it would be very uncharacteristic and not the Holding, we recognise from the Emirates.

We know how strict Mikel Arteta is if he feels a player is not meeting his principles. Our manager didn’t tolerate the likes of Aubameyang and Ozil’s personalities not aligning with his ethos, so would be the same regarding Holding.

In fact, the Spaniard respected the player so much that last January, after the 4 million deal was confirmed, he phoned Holding to personally thank him for his contribution, his reliability and being one of the more vocal members of our dressing room.

It seems odd that Holding has gone from that to his current predicament.

Wishing Rob Holding all the best and hope he can get back on the pitch soon

Once a Gooner Always a Gooner

Dan


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19 Comments

  1. Err, injured for 90% of the time he has been with Palace and never as good as the players ahead of him in the squad so there are two valid reasons why he hasn’t played.

    If you love him so much, have him back because he is just a massive waste of salary at Palace.

  2. I hope someone who really cares steps in and gives him the help he needs before something irreversible potentially occurs.

  3. What business is it of ‘ours’ what team selections are made by the coaches of clubs where ex-Arsenal players now are? Holding was a nice bloke and a decent defender, but he’s gone, we owe him nothing.

  4. I always thought he was a decent 4th choice CB; never hid and never complained about playing time.
    He basically got cup games and emergency starts, but I have to say his fall is curious.

    I admit I don’t know about his situation, but frozen out for 20 months does raise an eyebrow.

    I wish him the best of luck, and maybe time to move on or ask for his release.

  5. Sorry to come across in a rather uncaring manner but if Holding is being asked to train away from the main group then there can only be a couple of reasons- one is that the club wants to move him on and he’s sticking to his deal and two, because he has upset his manager and is being punished

    Bringing up mental health issues as a result of premature hair loss is a bit weak imo. He at least has the financial means to get it sorted as have other players who’ve spent their hard earned millions having new gleaming white gnashers to replace their previous yellow ones

    As a former Arsenal player I haven’t anything negative to say about him as he always tried his best when he played

        1. I simply wrote he’s battled with his mental health in the past
          Past isn’t current
          Past means ….
          having existed or taken place in a period before the present lol

  6. He was a liability. He was absolutely milking it as a footballer. He killed our season with four games to go against Spurs not knowing how to defend, basically. He left a season too late. Him playing ahead of Kiwior when Saliba was injured was criminal

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