He hasn't suddenly devleoped a good first touch, better close control or awareness of what's around him. He's an excellent striker, one of the best in Europe right now, but he's good because he's big, strong and fast.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Ffs. How are Holding and Pablo Mari starting in our second game of the season?

Is White that much better than Holding anyway? Maybe a long term option this season is Holding-Gabriel.

Well, that's a loaded question given your opinion of White, but, yes, I want White in there over Holding.

In a two man defence alongside Mari, after his horror show against Brentford?

Yes.

I get that he cost a lot and looks good on youtube but we’re not doing him any favours by playing him and throwing him to the wolves.

Reminds of that Wenger quote “I’m sorry Holding did not cost £55m”.

I’m actually psyched for this, going to be so good watching a big game at the Emirates with a full house. Hopefully the team put a performance to match the occasion.

Reckon we’ll see:

Pepe - ESR - Saka

Martinelli

Which is an exciting front 4 too.

Ray wrote:

I get that he cost a lot and looks good on youtube but we’re not doing him any favours by playing him and throwing him to the wolves.

Reminds of that Wenger quote “I’m sorry Holding did not cost £55m”.

Throwing him to wolves by playing him in the Premier League or because Chelsea are apparently so good? Either way, he looks levels better than Holding to me, and I would still have him over Holding even if I was judging solely off the Brentford "horror show".

goon wrote:

I’m actually psyched for this, going to be so good watching a big game at the Emirates with a full house. Hopefully the team put a performance to match the occasion.

Reckon we’ll see:

Pepe - ESR - Saka

Martinelli

Which is an exciting front 4 too.

I hope the fans are up for ot and not bogged down by the neagitivity around the club right now.

Martinelli up front does not fill me with joy. I'd go Balogun, for sure.

I'm concerned they're just going to pick us off on counters. Also that we'll struggle with their front line press all day if we go with back four.

Support is always good in these games, even in our darkest moments. Of course conceding a couple of early goals could change that.

Marty isn't ideal, but Balogun is a relegation Championship player at the moment. That's not his fault, it's just where he is in his development, but the choice has to be between Pepe or Martinelli for me.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Ray wrote:

I get that he cost a lot and looks good on youtube but we’re not doing him any favours by playing him and throwing him to the wolves.

Reminds of that Wenger quote “I’m sorry Holding did not cost £55m”.

Throwing him to wolves by playing him in the Premier League or because Chelsea are apparently so good? Either way, he looks levels better than Holding to me, and I would still have him over Holding even if I was judging solely off the Brentford "horror show".

Both.

Klaus wrote:

Marty isn't ideal, but Balogun is a relegation Championship player at the moment. That's not his fault, it's just where he is in his development, but the choice has to be between Pepe or Martinelli for me.

I wouldn’t be quite as harsh (he looked really out of his depth against Brentford but it was his first start) but yeah, Martinelli is well ahead in his development, don’t think we’d be doing Balogun any favours in starting a game like this, otherwise the wolves who tore into Eddie because of Balogun will come after him.

That's what I'm worried about too goon. I'm still hoping we can send him on loan this year. Regular playing time would be invaluable, and Arsenal is not a great environment to do your developing in at the moment unless you're a mega talent like Saka who can just skip half a dozen steps on the way.

Agreed, especially if Laca stays or leaves and is replaced. He won’t benefit at all from sporadic game time.

Martinelli had been piss poor for a long time now. There's not much between him and Balogun at all.