Calafiorication: Page 6 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Calafiorication

HomeSteak

Qwiss he has been playing well, he just looked like he would never score a goal again, ever lol. Merino, Odegaard coming back, he won't be called up for Brazil so he gets to train, rest and all that, dare I say it? Is he so back?

Panda

on injuries:
No news, we have a training session this afternoon and we have to review a few players, but overall, especially [anyone] returning, there’s nothing to give back.

on whether Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori are fit:
Those are the two players that are in contention and we have to review today. We didn’t do any training sessions yesterday, [Riccardo] was a bit emotional after the game, so let's see how he is today.

Hopefully they are both able to train. Sounds like they may both be doubtful for tomorrow.

goon

Qwiss

To an extent, I agree. But I do think it makes a big difference when you know someone is going to consistently feed you the ball.

Calafiori doesn't shy away from passing to him, and when he does pass to him he zips it with pace. That consistency will really help.

samthegooner

I'm sure any small knock to the knee that he basically obliterated a few years ago is always a cause for concern to Calafiori so I get why he may have been emotional after the game but it does sound like there's nothing serious there. I do hope he is a little more reserved in his celebrations moving forward though!

While I agree that his defending has been hit or miss thus far due to some over aggressiveness, I have confidence the foundation is there for him to be molded into a phenomenal left back in Arteta's mold. The second goal seemed to me that he just strayed too far centrally which makes sense since he played CB for most of the last two years. Give him some more reps at LB (he's literally played less than 2 games there in the most physically demanding league in the world) and I'm confident that he will be much better positionally. I also think Arteta will help him pick his spots and hone his aggression defensively. You don't want to coach that out of him as his free wheeling nature is one of his superpowers. For every misjudged piece of aggression like the play against Savinho, he looks like he has the capability to provide amazing moments of unpredictability going forward. I saw someone on Twitter compare him to Sergio Ramos yesterday and while very premature, I do like that comp. Ramos would have moments of madness of course but those were far outweighed by match winning moments that few in the world could replicate. Let's not forget that Calafiori was one great save from Hermanson away from having his second goal in 2 league games on one of those late corners on Saturday. If it's not clear, I love the guy already.

Burnwinter

Sicario2 - Tier 1 That "team news and tix" fella sometimes has access to information but he's an absolute scammer as far as the attention and payments he tries to get based on a few scraps.

samthegooner

Creating a Patreon based on team news and transfer speculation in the social media era is a fool's errand when aggregators grab what you've posted and put it out for free very shortly after. It then causes him to have to stretch for more news and likely run with scraps that are unreliable to keep pace. Normally, I'd appreciate the hustle but the fear mongering with Raya's and Calafiori's "injuries" is just not helpful whatsoever. Can't imagine actually paying to read that drivel.

JazzG

You get the impression he is still learning how to play full back but going forward this guy is really good. A few defensive lapses but like Diaby said plays a bit on the wild side but that will improve with time.

Mirth

Given how solid our overall defence is and the upside he offers in attack, I think we’ll just have to live with him being the worst defender in our back line. That’s not a slight as the other 3 are amongst the best in the world at defending.

daredevil

Mirth

I'm not so sure, the good will will run out pretty quickly if he keeps getting beat.

Don Pacifico

Mirth not as though Gabriel isn't already well versed in covering that part of the pitch!

Mirth

daredevil it’s a trade off, I guess. We could play Timber or Kiwor there but then we’d lose out in attack and that’s not good either. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Martinelli has looked better almost immediately as soon as we changed left back

Also it’s not a permanent choice as I believe Cala’s issues are a function of him being new to the team and coachable. It’s more teething issues for the next month or two as he settles in as a new signing

daredevil

Mirth

Don't get me wrong, I'm big on Calafiori, but his two starts show that Timber and White are still our best options. It's also easy to forget that he's still very young.

Qwiss

Full backs get beaten all the time, its the nature of the position.

daredevil

Qwiss

Zinchenko says hi.

QuincyAbeyie

daredevil White and Timber being our best fullbacks doesn't necessarily mean that the best option is to start both (unless you think Timber is equally good on both sides).

Qwiss

daredevil fortunately Zinchenko has been more or less phased out of the team. I told you during the summer he was the new Cedric.

Burnwinter

I think that rather than watching a suspect defender we're watching a good defender adapt to unfamiliar and challenging instructions. Arteta appears to have asked this kid to go a long way forward and do a lot on the ball.

We know from the analysts when we signed him that his foot speed isn't his strength, but I reckon we'll see more balanced and aware positioning as he settles in. Maybe only after he gets punished a couple of times but then, if he doesn't get punished, who cares?

goon

White and Timber appear to be our best options defensively. But in a team that's very very good defensively and have Gabriel and Saliba at the back, you can probably sacrifice 2% defensive security for 10% more going forward.

No one was saying Liverpool and City needed to get rid of Trent and Cancelo while they were racking up 90-100 points consistently, they were instead recognised as the two best fullbacks around.

Burnwinter

I don't see any sign of him being more of a defensive liability than Zinchenko but he's been more dynamic and aggressive going forward due to his physicality and ball-carrying, and he's strong in duels. Martinelli has also had an uptick in productivity. Looks more like a plan working than an experiment failing so far.

USArsenal

Burnwinter

More than that, he is 22 years old, and has played 5 games for us. (maybe 4?) He is already a defensive upgrade on Zinchenko, who is 27. He has plenty of time to improve, and I think he will. He is still a little bit raw, but all the tools are there and he has already shown a lot in a small amount of time.

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