That's why quite a few people think he'll play as an inverted fullback for us. I don't think he'll play at CB unless there's a serious injury crisis.

I think he can also excel in a CB role for us and I'd only worry about him in matches where we are camped in our box defending with our backs to the wall. Even in such a scenario I wouldn't worry if we have both Gabriel and Tomi in our back 4. People forget we spend most matches in the opposition half, not many teams can pin us back.

I remember watching Ajax vs Dortmund and both he and Martinez dealt with Haaland very well.Timber's height would have been a major issue if he couldn't defend with a lot of space behind his back but that's the sort of thing he excels at.

He comes across really well in his interviews, very down to earth and understated, it's great to see.

Think he will fit in with the rest of the team on and off the pitch very nicely.

Welcome to Arsenal Jurrien 😄

Welcome. Don't know much about him so hope he's good. Depth in defence cost us last season so this hopefully reduces reliance on Tomiyasu to be available.

5 days later

By golly he looked superb yesterday. Straight in to the first eleven you go J

Yeah agree. He's silky smooth on the ball. Way better than White technically. Great options to have

    Clrnc Timber looks rather well suited to a hybrid role à la Zinny or Stones, you have to assume that's part of the thinking with him.

    I admire White's qualities, but he's never gonna have the control and composure in close quarters that Zinchenko possesses. I have a vibe this will be the season we start to see a lot of tactical variation from Arteta—I don't think the "Xhaka role" is going to be what it was if Havertz is getting in the side either.

      I feel Timber was brought in to replace Zinchenkos dodginess at the back. White is just unfortunate to be affected.

      We'll soon see Timber playing the big matches and Zinny brought in for the weaker teams where we can be more attacking.

        banduan I feel Timber was brought in to replace Zinchenkos dodginess at the back. White is just unfortunate to be affected.

        I wouldn't be surprised to see us line up sometimes with a back four of Gabriel, Saliba, White and Timber. Timber steps into midfield to form a double pivot with Rice and then you've a back three of Gabriel, Saliba and White. White could still occasionally overlap on the right to combine with Saka and create overloads.

            Clrnc Timber has never played as LB though. Probably will be Kiwior instead and Timber on the right

            Timber as a LB isn't what I was saying. Gabriel could nominally be the LB in that situation

                Yeah it wouldn't be super surprising for Arteta to start picking teams with four players who are thought of as credible centre backs, that's what Guardiola's been doing.

                I'd like us to be a bit less predictable this way than last season though.

                  Pepe LeFrits Good shout.

                  I think he'll most likely play the Rijkaard role (I refuse to call it the Stones role as Guardiola basically copied the Ajax 95 set up) whenever he plays CB

                    Need to see how Timber defends, and if it all he can (or is allowed to ) give something different, say overlapping Saka occassionally. However, I've practically done a 180 on this signing. I wasn't comfortable with Edteta taking spending on defence to nearly 200 million, strengthening an area that we're already looking healthy in, and the tactic of deploying CBs out wide. However, hard not to get excited by Timber's comfort in possession and style and what it could do for this team.