Rob Holding says he’s looking forward to tasting the hot atmosphere of the north London derby and taking on Harry Kane when Sp*rs visit the Emirates on Sunday.
The centre-back has yet to play against the homeless goblins since signing from Bolton in July 2016 but having been a mainstay of Unai Emery’s starting lineups for the last couple of months that could be about to change.
Unlike Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi who got to sit out the 3-0 win over Vorskla in Kiev, Holding completed an hour before being withdrawn.
Thursday’s clean sheet was the sixth that the defender has been involved in this season – a promising show of solidity – and now he’s hoping for another scalp, even if he’s none the wiser as to how to stop ex-Gunner Harry Kane.
“I don’t know [how to stop him,” Holding joked. “He scores goals, doesn’t he? If he doesn’t score a goal, I’ll be happy.
“It’s one I’m looking forward to. I’ve been on the bench against Tottenham at White Hart Lane in my first year [at Arsenal]. It was a good experience the first time, especially away at White Hart Lane.
“Their crowd was up and our fans were giving it some. It seemed like a hot atmosphere to play in so I’m looking forward to that. I’m looking forward to going up against Harry Kane.”
He added: “With the fans behind us and the manager, the players are all buying into it. We’re in a positive momentum at the moment.
“For the players, we just know it is a big game for the fans and that is mainly our focus. We want to beat Tottenham and give fans the bragging rights and let them enjoy their weekend.
“Our fans will be behind us and we’ve just got to prove to them that we can beat Tottenham.”
We know Tottenham is shit. We want to beat the shit out of them. Once we do that, will they be shitless shit?
I’ll get my coat.
Please be careful when you get it, it might be full of sh*t….
You mean it might be full of Tottenham?
Really impressed with Holding. Some people seem to think he’s a 3 star CB, but ultimately he’s a CB who does a good job in a system which leaves our defence exposed. If you can look good in our system then you’re probably a very good defender.
Sokratis and Holding for me at CB. Musti for bench.
He’s underated because he did not cost big money unlike all the mancity squad
I actually think Holding and Mustafi is our best combo, (whilst Koscielny is unavailable) despite the latter’s infamous mishaps. Mustafi offers more dynamism than Sokratis in my opinion and helps our build-up play and penetration from the back better. He does need Holding covering him though.
I do wonder though what the best pairing would be with Koscielny back? Him and Holding or him and Sokratis? (Koscielny+Mustafi doesn’t quite work in my opinion).
i feel like emerys first choice defenders are sokratis(obviously) and mustafi(!!). maybe emery wants homding to improve himself more or maybe he thinks mustafi has a higher potential than holding, or maybe he thinks they works better as a pair, whenever all three are injury free, its almost always mustafi and sokratis that plays our most important matches.
Do we play with a back three again if Monreal is still out and Kola is in? I think it could work, put Ozil in Iwobi’s inside right position.
COYG! Keep the undefeated streak going!
I hope Kane has a frustrating time in Holdings pocket the scummer
Looking forward to Holding – Chambers* partnership next year.
Hoping Chambers improves under Ranieri!
Surely Holding / Jenkinson!
Emery doesn’t have a fixed 11, he picks a team for the occasion, I think he’ll pick his centre half’s based on who he thinks is best suited to dealing with Moura, Kane and the runs of Alli. Holding certainly doesn’t have the physicality or pace of Sokratis or Mustafi, but he’s less rash in the challenge, and Kane+Alli don’t need an invitation to go down in the box, but based on the raw pace of Lucas Moura and the power Kane possesses, I think he’ll go with Mustafi+Sokratis And I’d be extremely surprised if he went with a back… Read more »
Since Kola is our only fit LB, I think we’ll be playing a back 3 again. Nacho could do the defensive job at LB, Kola is a LWB.
Think we’ll start the same defensively;
Leno
Sokratis Holding Mustafi
Bellerin Torreira Xhaka Kolasinac
i think if lacazette is available, and most probably he will be available we will go back to back four. that was when our team was at our best against livrepool. and laca and three attacking midfielders are very important in making us play as slick as we did against liverpool
Tony madda fucken Adams , thats all i will say
go on rob, get stuck in mate