Arsenal: Unai Emery needs to be careful with Rob Holding

Arsenal’s defense hasn’t been awful, but there’s still grounds for improvement. Conveniently, Rob Holding is back, but Unai Emery needs to be careful.

Rob Holding is back in full training with Arsenal, and after seeing what he was capable of last year before he went down with a season ending injury, it’s natural to be a bit excited. In fact, it would make sense to give him some degree of priority, when health permits, despite the veteran duo of Sokratis and David Luiz holding the position down now.

But it’s not as easy as just taking one of them out and plugging Holding in. Because Calum Chambers did nothing to lose the job and he was taken out, so giving Holding a leg up on Chambers would be as unjust as it comes, and despite the positive relationship between the two Englishman, it would be impossible for such a decision not to sour Chambers.

Not to Holding, but to the club.

I understand the impetus behind Unai Emery rushing Luiz into the defense. Knowing how fragile this defense is, he wanted to get as much experience as he could back there, and unfortunately for Chambers, he was the byproduct of a bad situation.

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Chambers still figures to be the guy that guides us in the midweek competitions and hopefully he can rake in those side competitions and put pressure on the veteran guys, because I still think that Chambers should be starting.

But that’s what makes Holding’s situation a bit tough. Because while Holding absolutely deserves a starting spot, so too does Chambers. And for all intents and purposes, to place Holding anywhere ahead of Chambers it to unjustly demote Chambers even further than he should have already been demoted. Each day Chambers doesn’t start, I worry that he’s getting a bit rankled.

With Holding, at least we have the guise of regaining match fitness for why he won’t get rushed back into the starting XI. But the way forward is a bit muddled, and all that we can really do now is wait for the side competitions to kick up and let the English duo hold the fort down midweek. Come the summer of next year, we’ll be having a much different conversation.

It might also just be a matter of tough opposition ahead. Once we’re through that, maybe we can revert back to letting the future have a chance.