Emmanuel Petit has slammed Rob Holding by stating that he is ‘not a fan’ of the Arsenal centre-back because he thinks he is ‘too soft’.
On Sunday, Holding started at the heart of Arsenal’s defence as Mikel Arteta’s side beat Crystal Palace 4-1, but Petit made it clear that he didn’t want the Englishman starting, and instead, he wanted to see Ben White in that position.
William Saliba was out injured, so Holding had to come in, but even if Arteta wanted to revert White back to his position from last season, he wouldn’t have been able to do it because back-up right-back, Takehiro Tomiyasu, was also on the sidelines.
Despite Holding making his first start of the Premier League season, he faired well against a Palace side that went into the weekend’s game with zero goals from their last four matches.
From that perspective, there wasn’t much of a threat, although, it’s still never easy dealing with Wilfried Zaha because he can produce magic out of absolutely nothing.
Nonetheless, whilst Holding is a bit of a fan favourite and a popular member of the dressing room, he doesn’t have a fan in the form of an Arsenal legend, as he told Premier League Productions (19/03/23 at 1:05 pm).
“Rob Holding, I am not a big fan of him, to be honest,” said Petit. “I think he is too soft, as a defender. It’s such as shame also to see Tomiyasu injured. I would have preferred to have played with Ben White as a central defender.”
HOLDING MIGHT STILL BE NEEDED
William Saliba has the international break to recover, but if he doesn’t, then Holding will be earning more minutes in Arsenal’s last push to win the Premier League title.
There are some seriously big pressure games coming up, including trips to Anfield, St James’ Park and that all-important one at the Etihad.
If Arsenal can get through those, then after a near two-decade wait, they will become champions of England.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
