Arsenal: So we’re really going all in on Rob Holding?

After seeing Arsenal’s defensive display against Bayern Munich, it’s clear that help is (still) needed. Are we really willing to go all in on Rob Holding being that help?

Arsenal fans saw a familiar sight against Bayern Munich. They saw Shkodran Mustafi bumbling his lines, making poor decisions, and compiling on that with poor distribution. It shouldn’t be shocking anymore, but unfortunately, to me it is. Because seeing a Premier League defender play like that is just inexplicable.

What’s more inexplicable, though, is the Gunners seeming unwillingness to sort the problem out, even as the problem gets worse.

Consider that our best defender, Laurent Koscielny, is not only over the hill, injury prone, and unreliable, but he is now at odds with the club as well, and probably won’t be with us next year. That means that Mustafi is going to have an even more prominent role in this defense, barring the saving graces of one man—Rob Holding.

His season-ending injury last year was devastating. Not just because we were without his immediate services, but because we really needed to see him put a stamp on his viability as a Premier League defender.

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His sophomore year was a bit of a hiccup, and the growing pains were showing, so lat year was his chance to cement himself as the guy to count on for the future. And it started so well. He looked like our best defender before going down, which added insult to injury, but now that he is returning from injury and set to take on a big role next year, we have to ask ourselves if what we saw last year was enough to go all in on.

Because it’s looking like that’s the plan. That Holding and Sokratis are the hope, Mustafi is the wild card (and that’s being generous) and Dinos, if he stays, is the prospect. Of course, Calum Chambers also figures to have a role to play, though having spent the year on loan in a primarily defensive midfield role has me wondering what the plan for him is, and if he is even going to be with the club next year either.

It’s tough, because preseason is underway and so much business is yet to be done. So much, in fact, that a lot of it will likely not get done, and will instead be cast up to the youth options.

But that can’t include Rob Holding. He has to be the guy this season, because God help all of us if Mustafi is in that starting XI any longer than he has to be.