Arsenal: Rob Holding may pull salvage from collapsing defense

Arsenal’s defense is struggling mightily, but if the Newcastle experiment were to happen again, at least we know Rob Holding is getting something out of it.

In case you haven’t heard, Arsenal’s defense is a problem. And not just one or two people, but the whole damn thing. In fact, the individuals aren’t the problem at all, or at least not the major problem. The major problem is the gross inability to work as a unit.

Part of that falls on Arsene Wenger and not having, as he put it, “the right balance” between offense and defense. But this is a time for experimentation and, while some of that experimentation is futile and annoying, not all of it is.

For instance, starting Rob Holding at centerback in a pairing was exciting, even given the horrific result. This is an opportunity that he needed and it typified your usual “baptism by fire” idea, where you throw a player out there and let him sink or swim.

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Holding actually wasn’t that bad on his own. He showed a bit of inexperience in knowing where to be, but overall, he was removed from the individual scapegoating, which is a testament to his performance.

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If nothing else comes of this experimentation in the defense, and right now it’s looking like nothing else will, at least we can start to get a gauge on just what Rob Holding can become. Or, if not now, then certainly by next season. Because you have to figure that there will be massive changes come next year and Holding’s progress will determine what those changes entail.

This season has not been the ideal one for Holding, as Calum Chambers has usurped his third-place centerback ranking, but here lately, Holding has been getting a hold (get it?) of things and asserting himself as a quality defender with a lot yet to prove.

Being thrown out there in a rudderless defense is one way to force him to sink or swim. No more babying, or hiding him, this is the real deal. We need to know what he is capable of before the summer hits because I’d hate to go after a centerback signing if Holding is the ample quality to make the assumed defensive revisions work.

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There are a lot of salvageable pieces from this defense, mostly on an individual basis, but Holding is giving us another. Let this failure impart some lessons on him and it will all be worth it.