Tag Archives: rob holding

Best and worst case scenarios of loaning Rob Holding

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Best Case

Rob Holding remains injury free the entire season, playing almost every game and is one of Newcastle’s top performers.

He blossoms into the player many Arsenal fans hoped, and is considered amongst the best defenders in England, gaining a spot in the England squad for 2020/21.

Holding returns to Arsenal to take his place in the first team.

Middle Case

Rob Holding remains injury free the entire season, playing almost every game and performs well for Newcastle.

He forms a good partnership with Jamaal Lascelles but does not consistently perform to a higher level.

At the end of the season he has a choice between being a squad player at Arsenal, or joining Newcastle permanently to play week in week out.

Arsenal would receive £25m+ for the proven, but not top draw, centre back.

Worst Case

Rob Holding continues to struggle with injury, and when he does play it a fairly average performer for Newcastle.

In and out of the team, he is outperformed by Jamaal Lascelles. Newcastle do not see him as a regular first choice so move on to other targets.

Holding them returns to Arsenal where he has proved himself to be adequate enough to be 4th choice, but no more.

The alternative option is Arsenal sell Holding to a promotion chasing Championship team for around £10m

Current Case

With Gabriel and William Saliba joining the club, Rob Holding has found himself as 5th choice centre back. David Luiz and Pablo Mari also ahead of him.

Holding is yet to start 10 Premier League games in a single season and is now 25-years-old, having also come off a bad injury in the last 24 months.

There are plenty of sides interested, but due to question marks about his lack of consistent performances over the last 4 years, none really want to invest big.

Interested sides would likely buy Holding and another similar central defender, splitting their funds and risk between the two.

With COVID19, the most Arsenal could expect this summer would be £10m.

Keenos

Emery should resist temptation to play returning pair against Man U

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On Monday Arsenal face Manchester United away. It is a game that would solidify Arsenal’s top 3 intentions if they win; or plunge us back into depression if we lose.

Following their good performance against Nottingham Forest, there have been plenty of calls from fans to put Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney into the starting XI for the key game against Man U. Emery should not bow down to the pressure.

Tuesday’s 5-0 victory over Nottingham Forest was Rob Holding’s 1st senior game since December 2018.

Holding suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on during a 2–2 draw against Manchester United nearly a year ago.

Likewise Tierney has spent 4 months out following a hernia injury, which subsequently required surgery for.

Both players are top young talents and will be mainstays in the Arsenal first team, so it is important that Emery looks at the bigger picture.

All being well, this season Arsenal will play around 50 games. There is a lot of football to come.

To cope with the work load, Emery needs to rotate his squad and ensure players do not pick up long the term injuries that hampered the clubs top 4 and Europa league challenge last season. It is also important that he manages the work load of returning players so that they immediately break down once more.

Both Holding and Tierney performed brilliantly against Nottingham Forest, but a Premier League game against Manchester United would be a huge step up; and one which might be a step up too soon.

What makes more sense is to leave both with the “mid-week squad” in the short term.

Next Thursday we play Standard Liege at home. It would make more sense to play Holding and Tierney in that game, continuing their rehabilitation at a lower level, than put them into a big game at Old Trafford.

It might be seen as some as a bit of a risk not to play both against Man U, but looking at the bigger picture it makes a lot of sense.

Following the game against Liege, Arsenal face Bournemouth. Once again Emery should not be tempted to put Tierney and Holding in.

After Bournemouth, we have an international break, with our 1st game back against Sheffield United on Monday 21st October. That is nearly a month away.

This should be the game that Holding and Tierney are slated in for a Premier League return.

The Sheffield United fixture is over 3 weeks away. By that point both players would have had a months full team training under their belt, as well as 2 senior games. They will be ready for Premier League football.

Putting them in against Manchester United would be short sighted. It would be playing the strongest XI at the risk of one of the 2 suffering another injury – which is likely for players returning from long term problems.

Not playing the pair against Man U means that come Sheffield United, both (and Hector Bellerin) are fit and strong and ready to go for the rest of the season. A sacrifice in the short term to see the benefit in the long term.

I am excited to see Holding, Bellerin and Tierney play together. They will be 3 of the back 4 for at least the next 5 years. But to ensure we get the best out of them for the next decade, it is important that we keep their recoveries from long term injuries slow and do not rush them back.

Keenos

In a team that lacks leaders, one Arsenal player is rising above the rest

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We were told he was a bad influence, a trouble marker.

Someone more interested in fast cars, flash clothes and disappearing to Milan, Paris or wherever the party was. Not interested in being a team man, he was more interested in hanging out with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and various pop stars and models.

It was all lies created by journalists who looked at a young black sport star who likes his fast cars, liked his clothes and jewellery, and decided to label him as flash without actually knowing him.

What Arsenal actually signed in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is one of the most lethal strikers in Europe who is humble and currently the epicentre of everything that is positive at Arsenal.

He leads the line and leads the team. He is the joker, the star player, the match winner.

It was Aubameyang who looked after then teenager Matteo Guendouzi when he came to England, unable to speak English.

It is Aubameyang who is helping Nicolas Pepe settle into London – giving him a penalty to get him off his goal duck.

It is Aubameyang that is uniting the squad. It is Aubameyang who should be club captain.

Aubameyang unites a lot of the factions within the club.

Born in France, he is close with Alexandre Lacazette and Guendouzi., and more recently included Pepe into the fold. He is already building a relationship up with William Saliba – both players having spent time at Saint-Etienne.

Having also spent 5 years in Germany for Borussia Dortmund, he also crosses over with the German speakers – Bernd Leno, Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Granit Xhaka and Sead Kolašinac.

It was a mixture of French and German players who were pictured last season doing a few balloon’s in a London nightclub. You can bet your money that it was Aubameyang who was at the centre of the antics.

So here we have a superstar of a player. A colossus on the pitch, but clearly influential off it.

Aubameyang realises he is a senior pro and has taken young new recruits under his wing, helping them settle. There is no ego. No making the youngsters feel they are inadequate or undeserving.

Unai Emery should drop this “we have 5 captains” rubbish and install Aubameyang as the clubs captain. It is something that would every single fan would get behind. Would back.

Vice-captain should be Hector Bellerin.

The Spanish right back has been at the club for nearly a decade  and was influential in the recruitment of Dani Ceballos.

Bellerin knows what it means to play for The Arsenal. He knows what it represents.

He is also important when it comes to our Latino contingent – Ceballos, Lucas Torreira and Emiliano Martínez; And with his Spanish-Cockney accent he can cross over with the British lads.

Recent reports were that Bellerin and Kieran Tiernay had built up a bit of a bromance as they recovered from injury at a similar pace.

Arsenal have a mid-week team as well – playing in the Europa League and League Cup.

The majority of that team will be made up of bright young English talents. The likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock, Bukayo Saka and Reiss Nelson. I also expect Rob Holding to play a part in almost every game as he returns slowly from his learn term injury.

Holding should be given the armband for the mid-week squad, allowing him to develop as a leader of the defence.

Aubameyang as captain, Bellerin as vice-captain. Holding captaining the mid-week team.

I think that is something that we can all get behind.

Keenos