Ricky1985 The thing I reckon we need is better "coverage" for what happened last season when injuries to Tomiyasu, then Saliba meant we were very vulnerable to pace with Holding, and had debilitated resistance to pressing. We saw this apparent form dip like dominoes for Partey, Zinchenko, White and Xhaka … but really we lost the foundations of both our build-up play and our central defence.
It's very, very good if Arteta proactively experiments with our defenders this way. If Kiwior really could do at least a decent job across left back and centre back, we'd be more resilient to the injury and fatigue issues that are bound to strike playing across more top competitions.
It seems a bit harsh on Gabriel, but it all makes sense if he's either unwilling or deemed unable to take on a full back role, minding tricky wide players and roaming upfield to link with Havertz.
