OUTLOOK: Going into this season, I was somewhat worried about the defenders/injuries that Arsenal was carrying into the season, but a French blessing in the shape of a William Saliba fell into our lap and now I can’t be more excited to see what our back line looks like with him. Despite the injuries to Tomiyasu and Tierney coming into this season, the arrival of Saliba has pushed Ben White out to RB with Tomiyasu out which affords the ability to not have to play Cédric. Saliba-Gabriel have created a formidable duo that looks as good as any in England especially given their age profiles. Zinchenko looks to have the left-back spot now with Tierney struggling to cope with injuries. Through the Sevilla and Chelsea friendlies to go along with the win against Palace, I imagine we keep this back 4 intact til things break down but you have to love the depth and flexibility we have right now when everybody is back, a huge problem we had last year that messed with my sanity.
RIGHT BACK: When everybody is healthy, my choice of right-back is my Japanese brother Takehiro Tomiyasu. Ben White has done admirably filling in for Tomiyasu for the past few games but he still looks out of place out there (not his fault at all). Takehiro is a more natural fit at RB, even though he is not the same profile as an overlapping full throttle attacking RB that TAA or Reece James is, but he is so intelligent and combines well with Saka. He is a defensive minded RB in an attacking RB world which is why Ben White’s transition over to that position hasn’t been too drastic with how we play. I do believe Arteta has a dilemma when Tomiyasu is fully fit, does he bench Ben White and bring Tomiyasu in? Or does he keep the White-Saliba-Gabrial-Zinchenko quartet in as long as we keep winning? I personally would do the former and bench one of the CBs (maybe Ben White? Absolutely can’t bench Saliba). Regardless, we are in a good position with Cédric being more than good enough 3rd RB for our squad for the cup and Europa League group games.
CENTERBACKS: I haven’t felt this good about our center-backs since the 2013/2014 season with Koscielny-Mertesacker. Through the past decade, I have lived (barely) through David Luiz, Sokratis, Mustafi, Pablo Mari, Holding etc. and I think it is clear to say in Ben White-Saliba-Gabriel, we have three CBs that are good enough to get us to Top 4. If any of them go down to injury/suspension, we don’t lose a beat as we will have one extra to fill in to that spot. Now Arteta faces a dilemma here as well, if he puts Tomiyasu back at RB when he is fully fit, he will have 3 players for two positions. Going into the season, I felt like Ben White-Gabriel would be the two that Arteta would go with due to trust and experience with them. However the fucking greatest of all time Wilo Saliba has come in and looks unbenchable now (yes, I made up a word).
I have absolutely no idea what Arteta should or would do to be honest. If I were him, I’d keep Gabriel and Saliba together as long as they keep producing shut-outs. If there is 1 of the 3 that has to play, it is Saliba and let Gabriel and Ben White fight for the other spot. Now what Gabriel has going for him is that he is left-footed which Arteta loves, which unfortunately means for Ben White that he is the odd man out if I were to guess. If I were to characterize the 3, Ben White has the most finesse style out of the group, he uses his brain and astute thinking to position himself. Ben plays a decent ball out of the back which Arteta craves and what I love about him is that he is always looking to progress the ball. Gabriel is the most aggressive out of the group, who loves getting tight with forwards but also has blistering pace for someone his size. Just an absolute monster who sometimes loses his head to our detriment. Saliba is a perfect combination of the two. He possesses a powerful and calming aura in the center of our defense. He doesn’t seem to have develop a long ball yet but it is still early. He goes into the right duels, doesn’t expose himself and has more than adequate pace to keep up with forwards/wingers. What is there not to love. And he is only fucking 21 years old. We better have extended him in the next few months to a new contract. It is a good problem to have for sure to have these 3 and I am not complaining. As long as I don’t have to see Holding and Pablo Mari, your boy will be happy.
LEFT-BACK: I can’t even imagine what it is like to be Arteta to deal with all of these decisions. If the RB and CB positions weren’t full of headaches, the LB might be the hardest to figure out. Two quality LBs that offer two completely different skill sets. Zinchenko is a CM that has been playing as a LB since Pep brought him over from Russia. Technically, you can tell he has a skillset of a CM, the way he moves with and without the ball, just a technically gifted footballer, not your typical overlapping LB. You can see in possession, Arteta has instructed Zinchenko to pinch into CM next to Partey and Xhaka. In the game against Palace, in the first half, the Xhaka-Zinchenko partnership down the left absolutely decimated Palace and they couldn’t cope with that quality and shape.
Kieran Tierney on the other hand couldn’t be any more different, one of the best LBs when he is healthy, loves to overlap and hug the touchline to deliver crosses to our attackers. Kieran has a deceptive speed and skillset to him which gives him the ability to get his crosses off that you probably would not expect from someone with his body profile. I will say that Arteta probably prefers the former over the latter just because there is no way Arteta convinced the Arsenal board to pay for Zinchenko to be a backup and also to Zinchenko, probably wasn’t leaving City where he was a backup LB to become a backup LB at Arsenal lmao. There is no chance. Zinchenko does have the ability to step in as CM as that is where he plays for his country from time to time so I would love to see that eventually with Tierney at LB. Personally, I am loyal and has always been a huge fan of Kieran Tierney and would choose him over Zinchenko slightly. His injury concerns are real and I do not blame Arsenal for choosing to get someone to cover at the position. Just a good problem for Arteta to have that I’d rather have him deal with than me.
CONCLUSION: The last thing I’ll say is that we have 6 really good players in Tomiyasu, Ben White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, and Tierney for 4 positions. And that I will always love Nuno Tavares (we loaned him to Marseille). I’ll never give up on him. <3