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.
(4-2-3-1) Emiliano Martínez; Rob Holding, David Luiz, Kieran Tierney, Hector Bellerin; Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka; Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Bernd Leno, William Saliba, Cédric Soares, Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock, Sead Kolašinac, Emile Smith-Rowe, Tyreece John-Jules, James Olayinka.
Scorers: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (12 mins)
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 40%
Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands).
Assistant Referees: Mark Scholes (Berks and Bucks) and Marc Perry (Birmingham)
Fourth Official: Andrew Madley (West Riding)
Reserve Assistant Referee: Dan Robathan (Norfolk)
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR David Coote (Nottinghamshire); AVAR Dan Cook (Hampshire)
Attendance: A maximum of 300 attendees due to UK government coronavirus restructions
This is going to be such a strange start to the new season. A mere six days after the Champions League Final, and a fortnight before a ball is kicked in anger at any Premiership match, the curtain opener formerly known as the Charity Shield is upon us, just twenty-nine days after our superb victory in the FA Cup Final against Chelsea in this very stadium. Still, it is what it is (to paraphrase popular parlance) and for our fourth appearance in this oft-derided competition against Liverpool, (the Premiership champions of course), we welcome back Mohamed Elneny, who spent last season on loan at Besiktas in Turkey. Unfortunately, Alexandre Lacazette, Willian nor Nicolas Pépé are available for selection today, however William Saliba is listed as one of the substitutes, so it is possible that he could make his debut for the club at some point during the proceedings.
The opening minutes of the match were fairly pedestrian, which as expected, saw both sides test each other in order to exploit any possible weaknesses; despite Liverpool getting the ball in our net (which was quite rightly cancelled out by the VAR team for offside), it was us that opened the scoring with a superb goal in the twelfth minute. Collecting a superb pass up on the left wing from Bukayo Saka, our top striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang slotted an inch perfect shot past Alisson from outside of the penalty area with his right foot. A few mintues later, we almost scored a second, when Bukayo Saka passed unselfishly to Eddie Nketiah, whose low twenty yard short was pushed around the post by the Liverpool goalkeeper. Despite Liverpool coming back at us, we held our shape extremely well under pressure, and the defence were doing a sterling job in neutralising our opponents’ strikers and midfield players. Although the ball appeared to be in our half for most of the first half, in the minutes before the break, we created more chances for ourselves, and we went into the break deservedly leading the match by a goal.
The game started to open up in the second half, and although both sides had their chances, it was Arsenal who looked more organised and controlled. Excitingly, nine minutes after the restart, the magnificent Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang simply took the ball from Virgil van Dijk and ran forty yards before slotting the ball to Bukayo Saka, who let the ball run away from him, which was a good chance missed. Hector Bellerin made way for Cédric Soares just after the hour, and the lads carried on as usual, with the same shape and direction. Bukayo Saka was unlucky not to score when a superb pass from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang found him again unmarked on the right, and sadly a couple of minutes later, a mix-up in the six-yard box led to Takumi Minamino equalising for Liverpool from close range with eighteen minutes of the game remaining. Liverpool fancied their chances now, and applied considerable pressure on us, which we were able to withstand very well, but with eight minutes of the game left, Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson and Sead Kolasinac replaced Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah and Kieran Tierney, just to get some fresh legs on the pitch. Joe Willock went wide with a glancing header, and despite all this and more, penalties were destined to settle this match. We are well versed enough to understand that in the wonderful world of English football, the equation is simple: nervous footballer + penalty kick = heartbreak. But not this time for us. All five of our penalty takers (Reiss Nelson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Cédric Soares, David Luiz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang) were cool, calm and extremely collected, and on sheer nerves of steel alone, these men ensured that our captain lifted the trophy for the sixteenth time in ninety years. And funnily enough, we have now won more trophies this month than our dear “friends” at N17 have won in over twenty years!
Well, just how good was that! We have now all seen a glimpse of the future under Mikel Arteta, and if everything falls into place as we hope it does, then we can surely look forward to a bright and successful future. Obviously we all hope that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang signs his contract, and that Ainsley Maitland-Niles stays as well; it is becoming patently obvious that Mikel Arteta is creating a team in his own image, and with the confidence that winning trophies can bring, the forthcoming season should be an interesting one indeed. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday, 12th September at 3.00pm (Premier League). Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.
Today is the first day of the 2020/21 season, with the traditional Community Shield season opener
This season will be a defining one for Mikel Arteta. It is the young Manger’s first time taking charge for an entire season.
Everything we have seen from Arteta so far displays clarity of thought and decisive execution of plans. This is how he made us effective in the FA Cup run, ending with a trophy after just 7 months as a manager. Impressive stuff, which means we can assume that despite the unique lack of preseason, Mikel will have a clear plan on how he wants the season to go for is. Whatever happens, I think this means we can be extremely excited for the upcoming season.
It appears Arsenal have every intention of giving the Manager the tools that he needs to get back into the Champions League. Of course we’ve all been burned before and know, you can’t be sure with Arsenal until the transfer window is closed. With Gabriel’s arrival, the Brazilian CB from Lille, to be imminently announced, Arteta is after specific pieces to fit his jigsaw.
With Gabriel, Saliba and Mari(when back from injury), Arteta will have added height, power, passing range, and speed in the middle of defence. This should provide him with the flexibility to move between having three CBs or two.
The midfield is definitely the area where we have the most question marks about what Arteta wants us to look like in the new season. It’s no secret Arsenal are on the hunt for additions in the midfield. The stats for last season show the lack of creativity from the middle of the park.
The eye test has also told us for years that we lack stature, bite, control and aggression in our central midfield. For Arsenal to get back into the top for and challenge the best teams in England, this needs to be addressed.
For now, we still have yet to make space available and get cash in by selling. It remains to be seen the exact midfield specialists Arteta will have to pick from this season, but it is vital they give us the stability and balance to play the way Arteta wants to play.
With the likes of Elneny, Torreira and Guendouzi potential departing the club, will we be replenishing the midfield with the right profile of player.
Will Arteta still see Granit Xhaka as a nailed on starter?
Xhaka was relied upon by Arteta last season, its clear there is a lot of trust there.
Arteta is an intelligent man, he’ll be well aware of Xhaka’s glaring weaknesses. This makes it interesting to see how he plans to use Xhaka, the fans won’t accept his lack of mobility and handsy nature taking centre stage in the new season.
We’ve all seen it too many times and now we’re pinning are hopes on Arteta to really address these problems, tactically and with brave selections.
Another engaging element of Artetas first full season, is that he gets to hopefully benefit from Pepe having got his debut year in England out the way.
Arsenals record signing ended the season with a great performance in the FA Cup Final and will no doubt be anxious to kick on and fulfill his undoubted potential. It is Arteta’s job to make sure our best players are given a platform to thrive.
It seems Pepe has bought into the project and can be motivated to do the hard work in addition to proving quality in the final third. Now the fans want to see it consistently. Arteta appears to be a man with a plan, and intense and motivating figure.
We can eagerly await to see Arteta’s Arsenal revolution in full effect this season
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 