Arsenal have spent £50 million to sign Ben White this summer and after his arrival, everyone thought the Gunners defence will become much more stable.
But as they went down 2-0 to Brentford, it was the back line that looked the weakest area on the pitch for Mikel Arteta’s side.
All the pundits were expecting the home side to sit back deep and hit Arsenal on the counter but in the end, the likes of Ivan Toney and Mbeumo ended up bullying Pablo Mari and White.
And speaking after the game, pundit Gary Neville stressed on this very same point claiming that the defensive areas still look as brittle as ever.
He said in his post-match analysis: “I would say from a point of view of centre backs, you know, they’ve been messed around.
“A game of football is really difficult when your centre backs are being messed around by the opposition centre forwards – and that’s happened from minute one tonight. It’s little flick ons, it’s little nudges, it’s the long throws, it’s winning free kicks. All the things that you can control in the game.
“So, the things that cost Arsenal the game tonight – now, yes, they didn’t score a goal, which is a big problem – but once your centre backs start getting messed around, your goalkeeper’s being messed around.
“You heard Thomas Frank talk about “we thought we could do Arsenal on set pieces” – there’s nothing worse than thinking that your team are a little bit soft, and Arsenal fans will be going away from here tonight thinking, “we’ve been bullied.”
“Brentford have looked at them and said, “yeah, we’ll have you”.”
A test of character coming up for Arsenal?
Apart from Ben White and Pablo Mari, Calum Chambers also had a really poor outing and according to Whoscored, none of them was rated above 6.5. Even Kieran Tierney had an average game but unlike the other three, he was not tested too much.
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Arsenal were without players like Aubameyang and Lacazette up top so we are yet to see the best of them in the final third of the pitch. But on Friday, the Gunners defence was almost at its 100%(barring an injury to Gabriel).
The huge price tag is surely not going to be of much help for Ben White but things are not going to get any easier for him since Arteta’s side will now take on Chelsea and Manchester City in their next two Premier League matches.
All eyes will now be on Ben White to see how he copes up with the physicality of Romelu Lukaku and then how he sets himself up when facing a possible false nine system against Manchester City.
