Rob Holding says Arsenal’s fervent home support helped the players find an equaliser as they grabbed a late point with a 1-1 draw against Liverpool.
The Emirates, so often criticised for its moody terraces, was a cauldron of noise throughout the 90 minutes yesterday, even after James Milner broke the deadlock for the visitors just past the hour mark.
The home support was eventually rewarded for its efforts when Alex Lacazette curled home a cracking equaliser with eight minutes remaining. He promptly celebrated by charging into a melee of fans in the North Bank.
“I thought the fans were fantastic today,” Holding told Arsenal.com.
“They got right behind us when we went a goal down and that lifted us. We got confidence from that.
“If everyone’s together, the sky is the limit. We’ll just keep pushing on.”
Arsenal may end the weekend six points adrift of Pep Guardiola’s league-leading Manchester City, however, Holding maintains that the Gunners 14-game unbeaten run hints at a newfound winning mentality.
“There’s a really good team chemistry here and a winning mentality,” he went on.
“We’re not losing and we’ll keep fighting until the end. We never give up, we’ll keep going and get what we deserve.
“It’s a competitive league. Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool have all had flying starts and we’re right on their tails, so we’ve just got to keep ticking away with the points and you never know what can happen further on in the season.”
Head coach Unai Emery also referenced the atmosphere in the stadium when he reflected on the match in his post-game press conference.
“One characteristic of Liverpool is the intensity and their big players, so today was a good test for us,” he said.
“We need more, I think we need more in our work and tactically also, but the spirit is how we want it and also the atmosphere today was very big with the supporters pushing for 90 minutes. Today is a very good spectacle for them and for us.”
Holding is looking great for his age, strong, tall, good feet and bright.
Keep going and the fans will love you.
During the game yesterday Lee Dixon as co-commentator mentioned that he’d asked Steve Bould about him. Said that SB is a man of few words but said “Diko, he’s going to be a player”.
He does look tremendous and I hope that he keeps his spot but emphasis should be on the “going to be” he’s very young and we should be ready to support him when he inevitably does have a bad game, or make a costly error.
If everyone’s together the sky’s the limit
I love this kid! I think he’s deserved more playing time this year and last year. Keep pushing for greatness, Holding!!!
Also think Holding and a healthy Kos/Sokratis will make us all forget Mustafi in no time 🙂
i will celebrate when that $40M error prone defender leaves arsenal
Cut the guy some slack. He’s actually playing better than sokratis at the moment IMO
Sure Sokratis has been injured and need game time. I think musta did alright this season but Sokratis a commander. Look at his tree logs legs
Oh Happy Days ???
Composed and intelligent enough with his position to intercept passes. Long may it continue.
Looking forward to Rob’s full England debut.
Maguire Holding Stones has quite a menacing ring to it
Well, Chu Young Park in disguise as Matty Cakes gives a fish’s tit about the England Back three?
Let’s be more about Holding Mustafi and Mavropanos instead. That’s a menacing ring, and just look into those eyes!
I hope somehow Mustafi & Mavropanos could break into England’s back three
I’m so pleased Holding is back in the middle of our defence. I believe he is our right now and future. I love the way he out play his interpretation of events to refs. He is so calm and not flustered by top forwards in premier league. He seems to know where to be positioned just at dangerous times. I’m excited to see how Emery uses him as the ‘Rock’ of our defence, if it’s true what you read that we have limited funds for transfers, surely Holding is the man to invest lots of Emery’s time with Bold on… Read more »
For me it’s that massive bodycheck to put Arnautovic into the advertising hoardings, presumably accompanied by: “That one’s for Mathieu, you vile shitbucket”.
Beautifully followed with the obligatory “What? Me?” act for the ref, like he’d been doing that sort of thing for years.
Kind of like that nasty, ” get that crap out of here” attitude he has displayed. Also, he has been showing poise above his years.
“Why sky should be the limit when there are footprints on the moon” Mathieu Flamini.
For what it’s worth if we’d won the first two games we’d be top now
If we were good enough to win the first two when the league kicked off, rest assured we will be top come May.
So, please.. Lets be honest and set the expectations right. We are where we should be, back in the mix for top four. Long may the progress continue.
I’m not sure about city but if we can play like that against Liverpool we can do the same against Chelsea, or better
Its fair to say the team of 2018/2019 hasa real ‘never give up’ attitude. They fall behind, and the players believe they can get back into it. And that is something the fans have seen, and as such the reason i believe the fans were so vocal at the game, they too have the belief the team will give it everything even if behind on the scoreboard.
Holding is turning into a great defender.
He’s showing maturity beyond his years. A future captain perhaps?
i hope we dont have “contract” issues with holding .. hope he gets on to great things with arsenal
holding should be a regular in the England side
“Arsenal may end the weekend six points adrift of Pep Guardiola’s league-leading Manchester City, however,”
Are people genuinely watching City?
All my attention is on United and Spurs for that 4th spot. I think it’s looking like top 3 are between City, Liverpool when Spurs.
I never contemplated a league title fight and I hope many aren’t. Let’s keep your goals in check and focus on our nearest competitors.
Defense is a team game. Central midfield and the forwards ahead were as much a part of the success against Liverpool (even if we only came away with a draw) We hunted and ‘Gherkin pressed” klopp’s overrated side high up and early but it also meant we kept our lines compact because we moved as a unit to prevent them time to and space to hit at the spaces behind our fullbacks. Many times, Mustafi, Granit, Torreira and Mhkitaryan in particular attacked the ball early and forced turnovers. Both fullbacks Kolasinac and Bellerin also stayed discipline in their space relation… Read more »
gegenpressing – A tactic in which a team, after losing possession of the ball, immediately attempts to win back possession, rather than falling back to regroup.
Just by way of illustration Cbacks were outsanding as much as midfield even if there were issues still to resolve.
Duels Won (%) – Mustafi (90) / Holding (70)
Aerial Duels (%) – Mustafi (83.3) / Holding (75)
Clearances – Mustafi (9) / Holding (7)
Intercepts – Mustafi (5) / Holding (2)
Passing Accuracy (%) – Mustafi (92.6) / Holding (91.4)
All well and good to recognise Holding’s well deserved merits but slightly bigoted not to recognise Mustafi’s either.
That’s some amazing passing accuracy, as a lot of those passes were not just short, easy balls. A lot of the passes were thru-balls, splitting Liverpool’s forwards/midfielders and almost into their final third.
Rob Holding, you know, is better than Cannavaro!