The writing is on the wall when you need to walk under a motorway to get to the ground.
For those that don’t know London well, Brentford’s new ground is next to the Chiswick Roundabout which signifys the end of the M4 as it comes into the capital.
The walk to the stadium is not an inspiring one.
As we exited Gunnersbury station, there was no murmur of fans exited for the home teams first top flight game in god knows how long. Infact there were no fans around at all. The only noise was from the cars on the dual carriageway.
The walk to the ground was soulless. No burger vans, flag or scarf sellers. Not single pub bar the one directly opposite the station. Not even a tout.
You cross under the motorway and head to the ground. And what a soulless place it is.
Surrounded by a new build housing estate still under construction; there is not a soul to be seen bar Arsenal fans.
And then you get to the turnstile.
A 30 minute queue to get into the stadium as there were only 5 turnstiles available to away fans. This will only cause problems later in the season and is an accident waiting to happen.
The inside of the ground is no better.
The best way to describe it is “a little bit shit”. And that is probably an understatement.
God knows what the architects were thinking when they designed this for awful stadium.
With the huge TVs in the roof and a corner that just collapses; it is one of the worst grounds I have been too.
At least Fulham is on the edge of a beautiful park, next to the river and is a cracking ground.
And the atmosphere. You wouldn’t think it was Brentford’s first top flight on god knows how long (the second time I have said that).
The crowd was a bit like what you get at Fulham. Bunch of students and locals who probably didn’t realise Brentford had a team until they got promoted.
But what can you expect from a team that are basically Leyton Orient of South and West London.
With Chelsea, Fulham and QPR drawing in fans, Brentford have never had much of a following.
I imagine they will hope to draw in a new fan base from the thousands of new build flats rising in and around the area. A bunch of key workers who fancy a day out. They will probably try and take Fulham’s tag of being “London’s friendly club” and have “neutral end” for most games.
Brentford’s fan base looked like they were there were at the game for an appetiser before a night out. Not their first football game in 18 months.
Any ground that “doesn’t serve beer at half time to away fans” can immediately get in the bin. And Brentford is in that bin.
Not only was alcohol a big NO in the away end, but there was no pies, burgers or anything; bar coke, sprite or water.
And to top it all off, Gunnersbury station – the nearest to away fans – is shut after the game leading you with a 10 minute trek to Chiswick Park where you have to head West to Acton before heading back East.
No beer, no atmosphere, a ground under a motorway. I won’t be itching to return.
When it comes to pre-season games, there are two distinct camps.
Those that see every defeat or draw as a disaster and those that do not care about the results as it is “only pre-season”.
The early pre-season games can always be taken with a pinch of salt.
You never know where you are in your pre-season training in comparison to your opponents.
For example when we lost to Hibs, it was their 4th pre-season game and our 1st. They had been back in training for over a week before us due to the Scottish season starting a week earlier.
You also do not know what stage of training squads are at.
There are different intensities of training sessions. During the season you normally try and peak your fitness for the games, having lighter training sessions the day before to allow your body to taper. But friendlies are different.
Teams will be doing double sessions. Some will be high intensity. They might even do a full training session on the same day as a friendly.
It is all about doing what is needed to get ready for the new season.
In the later games, as you are closing in on the start of the season and playing other Premier League sides at the same level as you, more can be read into pre-season performances.
So whilst I am in the “it’s only pre-season” camp, it does not mean there are no positives and negatives that can be taken.
Positives
Albert Sambi Lokonga
Usually I am reluctant to get too excited about a young player after a handful of games, but Albert Sambi Lokonga looks the real deal.
He might only be 21-years-old, but he has played nearly 80 games for Anderlecht and was their captain last season. He looks like he has the capabilities to step up from the Belgium league to the Premier League.
He has power and strength, but is also good on the ball.
With Thomas Partey set to miss the first month of the season, expect Lokonga to be Granit Xhaka’s regular partner.
We have a good one here
Ben White
The other major signing this summer was Ben White.
What I have been impressed with is just how quickly he has got up to match fitness.
He had the Euros (where he did not play) then went on holiday. He only joined the squad for his first training session a couple of days before the Chelsea friendly.
With a little more than a weeks training under his belt, he was starting against Tottenham in the last pre-season game of the season and did not look off the pace.
There were a few errors in his partnership with Pablo Mari; but nothing not to be expected with 2 players that knew nothing about each other.
His performance against Tottenham was very good, and he will only improve as he gets more minutes under his belt.
Emile Smith Rowe
The Englishman continued where he left off last season, buzzing around and trying to make things happen.
In a front 4 that contained 3 £50million+ transfers, it is the academy graduate that looked the best.
His hunger and desire is not matched by anyone else.
Any new creative midfielder that joins Arsenal will not automatically walk into the team. For now the shirt is Smith Rowe’s.
It says a lot about Bellerin that he is open to leaving Arsenal, Arsenal are open to selling him, but so far no team has come in for him.
Bellerin has been a fantastic player for the club, and is an even better person. But it is clear his time at Arsenal has come to an end.
He has not been the same player since his ACL injury, and it might be that due to that injury his “time” as a elite footballer is over. That no Champions League club will be in for him and he perhaps needs to look a little lower down the leagues for future game time.
Bellerin is a great person and does not deserve the subtle homophobic abuse he gets from some of our fan base (we know the comments).
His performances in pre-season have shown just why his time at Arsenal needs to be over.
With 2-years left on his contract, I would not be surprised to see him go out on loan a couple of times before leaving on a free.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
When the Aubameyang contract saga was going on I was concerned that we were going to invest heavily in a player whose best days were behind him.
Aubameyang had a tough season last year with his lowest goal return since 2010/11 playing for Saint-Étienne and Monaco.
He has looked disinterested at times and is not buying into Mikel Arteta’s “defend from the front” philosophy.
Is he just mentally done with football? No longer pushing himself? Or is he just on the wain as many strikers who relied heavily on pace would be at 32-years-old.
He has performed in pre-season the same way he finished last season. Poorly.
Creativity
The biggest problem last season was we just did not create enough chances. This contributed to Aubameyang’s goal return.
The Tottenham friendly was a mirror image of so many games last season.
Arsenal on top, dominating play, but not really creating anything of note.
With no attacking reinforcements, it is not a surprise that we have not moved forward.
There are still too many aimless crosses into the box to a striker that is not a target man. We are still playing Aubameyang out wide who is a finisher, not a creator. And the Nicolas Pepe / Bellerin access is still not firing on the right.
Hopefully we can get Maddison over the line this week – although it will be a deal too late for the Brentford game.
Maddison in the middle, Smith Rowe on the left coming inside and either Pepe or Bukayo Saka on the right. Aubameyang given a shot down the middle. That is how we need to go.
For now it is “do the same get the same” and that is not good enough.
Summary
Plenty to be excited about. Plenty of the same old issues.
I would imagine we will start against Brentford with the same XI that started against Tottenham.
Brentford are a lower level opposition so hopefully in that period we are on top we can create more.
With games against Chelsea and Manchester City following, we need that 3 points on the board from the first game of the season.
In the modern era of footballers, he is a bit of a throw back.
A no nonsense defender not concerned with how he looks or chasing fame and celebrity. He turns up, does his job and goes home.
has not been groomed for stardom from a young age. Just a working class normal lad who happens to be good at football.
It is so hard to connect with most footballers these days but Holding was one that was easy to like. If felt like he was me or you. Just better at football.
Holding is an underrated player who was integral to us winning the FA Cup in 2016/17 and 2019/20. I do not think his efforts in both of those victories should be underestimated. He does not have a couple of medals in his cabinet due to being someone who sat on the bench and never contributed. He deserves those medals.
So despite my love in with the balding Holding, I would also not be too upset to see him leave.
For everything to like about Holding, he does not quite have it to be a top 4 footballer. And that is what Arsenal need right now.
His lack of pace sees him getting caught out when going wide to cover Hector Bellerin, and often means Arsenal have to sit deeper than Mikel Arteta perhaps wants to.
Holding is capable of some immense performances, but he is also liable to many lapses of judgement throughout the season.
Playing for a mid-table team, his immense performances will be more important than his lapses of judgement. But if you are chasing Champions League football, you need defenders who make very few mistakes.
Arsenal have spent £50million on Ben White this summer.
White is quicker than Holding, better positionally and a superior passer. Everything that Arteta wants.
There is a reason why White and not Holding went to the Euro’s this summer.
Holding is the level below White. He would play second fiddle to his fellow Englishman.
Holding has a desire to make the England squad for a major international tournament.
In a recent interview he said:
“When the squads were being announced, I had my eye on it. You never know, so I was looking. It didn’t happen for me this time but that’s not going to deter me or make me feel it’s never going to.”
This summers tournament would have been Holding’s best chance of making an England squad.
With 30 Premier League appearances to his name in 2020/21, 28 starts, he will unlikely never play more football for Arsenal than he did last season.
Playing second fiddle to White will see his game time dramatically reduced and almost guarantee he does not make England’s next World Cup squad.
He would have seen the likes of Conor Coady, White and Tyrone Mings make Gareth Southgate’s squad despite playing for lesser clubs.
Holding will know his best chance of going to Qatar would be to move away from Arsenal and play every league game for the next 18 months .
At 25-years-old, a move away for Arsenal is the only way he will get week in, week out football.
The move would also suit Arsenal.
We currently have too many players; and whilst we have got rid of David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis from last season, we still have one too many defenders.
With no European football, we do not need to carry 5 centre backs and 3 right backs. One must go.
The options to leave would be either Cedric Soares, Calum Chambers or Holding.
If Cedric leaves, Chambers then becomes 2nd choice right back to Hector Bellerin (or his replacement). If Holding leaves, Chambers becomes 4th choice centre back as cover for Ben White. If it is Chambers who goes, Cedric and Holding maintain their positions.
But you can only sell players if there is a buyer.
There will not be too many clubs in for Cedric – who turns 30 at the end of this month. So that gives you a choice between keeping Chambers or Holding.
Taking into account everything that has been said so far, Chambers might be the better option as understudy for White.
Chambers is closer in style of football to White.
He is a good passer of the ball and quicker than Holding.
That means if White is injured, Chambers would probably be the better man to bring in. Playing Chambers would mean we would not have to change our defensive tactics. We would not need the team to drop 10 yards deeper to cover Holding’s lack of pace.
Chambers is a more like for like replacement for White than Holding is.
He is also more versatile – capable of covering right back in an emergency and he could also play a role as 5th choice central midfielder.
When it comes to reducing our centre backs, we also have to look forward 12 months to when William Saliba returns.
If Saliba has a good season in France and continues to develop his game, he will be back in the Arsenal squad next season.
That will leave Arsenal with 6 centre backs once more.
It makes a lot of sense for Arsenal to shed one centre back this summer and then another next – especially as we do not have European football.
Next summer we sell which of Holding or Chambers is still at the club; or Saliba depending on the development of latter.
So if we get an offer for Holding (or Chambers) in the region of £20million this summer, we would be crazy to turn it down as their value will only likely diminish next summer with a year less playing.
The two obvious clubs that could target Holding are Newcastle and Leicester City.
Both sides play with deep defences so Holding would suit their style of play.
Leicester will be in the market for a new centre back following Wesley Fofana’s sickening pre-season injury.
Holding would be an easy deal for them to get done – and Arsenal could potentially use him as part of a deal for James Maddison.
Newcastle are the ones he has been most heavily linked with overnight.
It is actually funny looking at Newcastle Twitter who are slating the deal. Holding would become their best centre back.
Many are saying “if he is not good enough for Arsenal he is not good enough for Newcastle”. This the same fan base who are celebrating signing Joe Willock like it is Lionel Messi.
It is perhaps a level of delusion that Newcastle fans have always had.
They finished 12th last season. And 13th the two previous seasons. They are a relegation battling side, not a European chasing.
We have also seen it with Aston Villa. Them thinking that they are “on par” with Arsenal. Ignoring that our 8th place finish is seen as a failure for us. It would be a huge success for them.
A mid-table side – the likes of Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Leeds United – is exactly the level Holding should be playing at.
Teams like Newcastle should be targeting top sides fringe players.
Not being at the level Arsenal require moving forward does not mean he is not the level that would improve Newcastle.
Like Willock, I would wish Holding all the luck if he moves on.
Rob Holding leaving will be good for the player who has England ambitions, good for Arsenal who would add £20million or so into the coffers and good for whoever he joins who would be getting a solid Premier League centre back. A good deal for all parties.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 