Arsenal Vs Eintracht Frankfurt: Rob Holding might struggle, and that’s fine

Rob Holding is set to return to the Arsenal first-team against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday. After nearly ten months out injured, he might struggle upon his return. But actually, that’s fine.

Returning from injuries is a very difficult thing to do. Even little niggling fitness issues can cause a detrimental rippling impact on your sharpness for several matches. Rediscovering that edge that is required at the sharp end of professional football takes time. But in the pressure-cooker world that we all now live, time is a precious and oft-missed commodity.

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Arsenal fans, you would think, should be more patient than others with their players returning from extended absences. They have had plenty of practice at watching stars gently return to first-team following long layoffs. But sometimes, the insatiable desire to instant gratification is not to be denied and gets the better of more aware, grounded analysis.

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This Thursday night, Rob Holding is expected to make his first senior appearance against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Gunners’ Europa League curtain-raiser since suffering an ACL tear in early December 2018. It is set to be quite the occasion for Holding, who many view as the potential saviour to the team’s calamitous defensive problems so far this season that have seen them concede 96 shots in just five games.

Whether Holding starts or not remains to be seen, but given that Sokratis was left at home, it would be surprising if he did not feature heavily. This is the ideal game to ease him back into competitive action. While under-23 matches are a nice run-out, Holding needs to play senior minutes, and doing so away from the Premier League is a smart move.

But Holding may well struggle in these early goings. Returning from a ten-month absence after an injury that is notorious for ridding players of their power and acceleration, two crucial attributes in the fast-paced modern game, is not easy. To expect Holding to be the same player from his first kick of the ball is utterly naive and overeager.

In fact, you could take this one step further: to expect Holding to ever return to the form that saw him establish himself as Unai Emery’s leading centre-half, losing none of his 16 appearances prior to going down with the injury is somewhat foolish. It is not inconceivable that Holding is never the player that he was.

The rehabilitation has reportedly gone well, and with the advancements in medical skill, ACL tears are not nearly as damaging for players’ careers as they used to be. But Arsenal must be patient with Holding as he returns to the team. They have to give him several matches to reacclimatise to first-team football, knowing that if he struggles early on, that is not a death knell for the rest of the season.

Fans, too, must be slow to criticise and quick to praise. They must be patient. They must accept that the early goings might look a little rough. Just playing is a major win for Holding. His form will come, in time, but for now, time is more important than anything else.