A tribute to Rob Holding on leaving Arsenal after 8 years loyal service

Rob Holding’s transfer to Crystal Palace was one of those deals to materialize in the last few hours of the English transfer window.

It didn’t dominate the sports news on Friday instead confirmed after the 11pm deadline.

It surprised few, as it was clear the 27-year-old had reached that point of ‘when and not if’ he would leave Arsenal, it was just a case of where was his next destination.

In truth the defender has fought against this reality for a couple of years, preferring to be a squad player at the highest level rather than playing every week for a less high-profile club.

After 8 years in North London though I just feel our current longest serving player deserved a bit more acknowledgement for his contribution towards us.

Put it this way, in our entire history we have lifted 14 FA Cups. Rob Holding played in two of those finals, with man of the match level performances.

No one can ever take away those medals away from him.

As Arsene Wenger pointed out,

‘Unfortunately, no one speaks about the performance of Rob Holding. You should be happy; he is English and 20 years old. I am sorry he didn’t cost £55 million, so he can’t be good.”

In perhaps Mr Wenger’s final time in spotting a gem, he brought the centreback for 2 million from Bolton.

Just think about that ……8 years’ service and two FA Cups for just 2 million pounds.

He leaves for 4 million nearly a decade later so he’s more than paid back the fee.

There were moments when I believed (and still do) that the older Holding gets, the better he will become.

Hearing that Arteta’s strengths at the Etihad was his 1-1 coaching, I felt the more time the two spent in training, the better the Spaniard could make him.

Anyone who recalls the 2017 Cup Final will remember that a 21-year-old was essentially thrown in at the deep end.

Our form had been so bad (so bad we would fail to make the top 4 for the first time under his reign) Mr Wenger made an unprecedented step of switching to a back three.

Suddenly Holding, who the season before had been playing in League One was asked to play every week in the Prem for a squad who were devoid of all confidence.

We won our final 6 league matches that Holding played.

A week before our date at Wembley a Koscielney red card and Mustafi and Gabriel injury forced Mr Wenger to field a back three of Monreal, BFG (only start of that campaign) and a rookie in Holding.

90 minutes later as the Ox said, ‘He (Holding) doesn’t know what he’s just done.’

I remember in Unai Emery’s first season I vividly recall the turning point at Old Trafford being an injury to Holding, breaking up his partnership with Mustafi which had been impressive.

That perhaps was the closest Holding got to being a consistent part of our first team.

He lifted a second FA Cup in three years again against Chelsea, again in a back 5, again when we were underdogs.

You could argue that Holdings two best displays of his career were the two biggest he’s played in.

That tells you the character of the man.

It’s not a coincidence on those two occasions that the opposition were allowed to have the majority of possession.

That plays to Holdings strengths, when he’s allowed to purely defend, get his head to the ball, time tackles, block shots, etc.

That would explain why he’s more comfortable in a back 3 / not 2.

Unfortunately, the games moved to a point where a defender can’t just be good at defending.

Arteta wants his defences to build from the back, to take the ball off their keeper, to be comfortable to be being pressed, etc.

That makes Holding’s style of defending old school.

There is zero disgrace at not quite being at the level needed to remain at the Emirates. Remember we are told the standards we are aiming to replicate is Manchester City!

That’s why I think he will be perfect at Selhurst Park. Roy Hodgson will allow him to do what he does best, defend.

He will play for a team who at times will need him just to defend and not to worry about being good on the ball or spotting a pass.

In a position where they say you don’t hit your peak till your past 30, don’t he shock if holding still gets better.

In an era where I think standards within our fanbase has dropped, it’s worth pointing out a lot of Holding’s peers get celebrated a lot more and they haven’t won two FA Cups for the club.

Once a Gooner always a Gooners, thank you Holding.