Rob Holding has revealed Unai Emery took him aside to tell him to be ready to play more often as the fixture schedule ramps up with European and cup football to contend with.
The centre-half has been on the bench for most of the season, but played his first 90 minutes in the 4-2 victory over FC Vorskla and then came on to replaced the injured Sokratis in yesterday’s 2-0 win over Everton.
He looked comfortable and assured, and spoke about how the new boss had a quiet word with him about his involvement.
Asked if he felt ‘match fit’, the 22 year old said, “That’s something that you obviously only get with matches, so it’s something I’ve had to work on in training.
“Before the international break the boss pulled me in and said ‘Keep doing what you’re doing, the games are coming thick and fast now.’
“So I just had to be ready mentally and physically, and I’ve been fine in both games, so I look forward to it.”
Holding should start again in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday when we face Brentford at the Emirates, and he says the clean sheet in the Everton game is a monkey off the team’s back.
“We’ve obviously conceded in each game so the clean sheet is a big boost for us and that was the target for the last few games, to keep a clean sheet!
“It’s good to get that off our back now and we can push on for the rest of the season.”
Great potential, nice lad, could be our next Adams/Bould and even captain.
Hope he does well versus Brentford and over the season.
Wow, no pressure there…
More like the callibre as of Johan Djourou? Djourou the ilk of Sanogo but as a defender.
I hope that is where he is aiming. Calm, straightforward, strong, skilful on the ball, good mentality.
‘Could’ is the operative word though. No guarantees, unfortunately.
I love me some Rob.
Adams/Bould ? LOOOL.. I will be shell shocked if he can even pull off an Upson.
We should’ve kept Chambers.I would rather him than Holding.Might’ve been a bit harsh to Holding there but he hasn’t pushed on at all and if anything should’ve been loaned out,calum already proved himself at Boro that he is PL calibre.IF holding is to reach the level you think he can,he is surely better off being educated somewhere with a bit more defensive tactics and bit less pressure.
P.S. Looks like Adams is looking for every nooks and crannies he can find to sign up again.Fancy a part time contract for him till sokratis comes back? Ha..
Deserves a starting spot ahead of Mustafi, might just be the man to solve our defensive issues. Looks more solid on the ball.
I agree, although if/when mustafi doesn’t make his usual 2-3 howlers per game, he is great..
Holding and the Sock could be very complimentary. It’s a shame Mavrop is injured as I would have liked to see the two younger guys playing together on Wednesday.
so, your backline would be: Bell, Hold, Mavrop, Mon …
mustafi is playing better than how he used to run around like headless chicken last season. but last match was not mustafis strong one. papa had to bail him out once or twice . we cant keep doing this, against better teams this will come back to bite. i am worried even now since papa will be injured for a while. cant wait for koscielny to come back and replace him
Does anybody know how Chambers is, er, holding up at Fulham?
he had a very good game against Watford, thank you very much
Watched their game for like 30 minutes. He did good . Felt that he is really comfortable on the ball.
He did really well. Would like to see him with Sokratis in the PL, I think Holding is more solid than Mustafi at the moment.
good, well done em, it will be good to see holding get more games now, he deserves it, I hope he takes his chance and push on for a starting place
Holding did well against Everton. He still needs to up his concentration though and avoid giving the ball away. I’d like to see him take Mustafi’s place on a regular basis.
Really hoping for great things from Holding. We seem to forget he only just turned 23. Tall, strong lad, good passer, keeps things simple generally. The best years are ahead of him, and though he may not be the finished article quite yet, there is massive scope for development and improvement. There is also something admirable about a central defender who will wallop it out into touch on occasion.
I’m hoping to see Holding and Mustafi at Brentford, especially if sokratis has more than just a dead leg, so they can get used to working together without too much pressure
please partner holding with papa.
His statue will be him telling Diego Costa that he’s fucking mental.