Mikel Arteta was effusive in his praise of full-backs Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori as Arsenal gear up for tomorrow’s Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
Sidelined by ACL surgery just weeks after completing his move from Ajax, Timber spent the majority of his first year recovering in the gym before returning to the pitch on the final day of the season.
While the 23-year-old picked up a knock in pre-season and started the opening game of the new campaign on the bench, Timber has since been a fixture in the team starting six Premier League games in a row. Most impressively, he’s split his time between the left and right-back slots, looking very able in both.
Facing the media ahead in his pre-PSG press conference, Arteta was asked about Timber’s presence in the dressing room.
He said: “A leader, a guy that is constantly thinking, how can I help others, bringing unbelievable energy and commitment to everything that he does in the very little time that he’s been with us, and especially with the amount of time he has spent on the pitch, for everybody to speak so highly of him, to respect him and look at him in the way that they do, it tells you the story of the kind of personality we have in that team.”
Arteta has said previously that Timber was closely involved with the first team last season even though he couldn’t be on the pitch. He explained again why he felt that was important.
“Well, it’s just getting in his shoes, you know. He comes from Ajax, he was the captain there, a big move, different country. He comes here with his expectations, it starts really well and he gets injured in the first game.
“And then what? You know, you have to look ahead, eight, nine, ten, twelve months maybe, a difficult period. And if you are disconnected to the team, you can feel very lonely and far from the expectations that you had. And this can be very disappointing and very difficult to handle personally and emotionally.
“He did completely the opposite. He started to build unbelievable relationships, he started with the physios, with the team-mates, he started to gather all the information about how we were playing.
“He was in every meeting and that really helped him to develop himself as a person, but as well to understand what we wanted in a much better way and be prepared when he was back.”
In the last 10 days, Arsenal’s defence has had a new look to it with Timber and summer signing Riccardo Calafiori lining up next to last season’s regular centre-back pairing Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba. While it sounds like the Italian defender may have to sit out tomorrow’s game with a rumoured knee injury, Arteta likes what he’s seen from his full-backs.
“They are two players that have, first of all, the football brain, the intelligence, the courage, the quality and the adaptability to occupy different spaces, both attacking and defending, and that gives the team a different flow, different dynamic, very unpredictable for the opponent to defend certain ways. And both huge personalities to play, which I love.
“They have to have one in common, that they have to love defending first, because they are defenders, and after that, every quality that we add is great.
“But as well, playing full backs [on their] natural foot, especially when we play inverted attacking midfielders and wingers many times, for the flow of those units it’s incredibly important and you could see that at the weekend as well.”
On Calafiori’s personality, he added: [I love] How willing he is. The moment I spoke with him on the phone the first time, he wanted to come here, he understood what we wanted straight away, and he felt that he was going to be a perfect fit here. And he was!
“He landed, big smile on his face, he’s got this energy, this aura around him, that is very likeable. And then he’s a fighter, he’s a player that wants to play in the way that we want to play, and he will do anything for the team. Straight away, when you have those qualities, I think a lot of things have to be wrong not to succeed.”
Really impressed with Calafiori so far, aggressive defensively and confident/secure on the ball. Hope its only a minor injury!
And an asset for Martinelli
Still a few question marks on his defensive positioning and awareness for me
Not much wrong with awareness. He gets sucked too far forward, tries to be too aggressive. He does this with his passing and carrying too. He’s 22 and MA is his coach so I’m not at all worried.
Absolutely head over heels in love with Calafiori.
But it does kinda annoy me when people keep going “because Italians just never play for Arsenal” as Jorginho jogs past the camera…
Also how blatantly disrespectful to everything Vito Mannone has achieved at this club
I like his hair, and how he nonchalantly pushes opposition players around, almost like Ben White’s been in his ear from the first day of training. I also like his hair. Wait, did I mention that already?
With a fit Timber last season we’d be champions. Convince me otherwise.
Can’t take anything away from White though.
What we needed last year was a good second striker not named Nketiah.
After the Dubai break, Nketiah became the 4th choice ST and that is when we truly flourished.
I think the point is Timber would’ve played LB, where he’d have been our best choice by a fair margin (at the very least whenever Tomi wasn’t fit, which was most of the time) despite it not even being his best position. I wasn’t one of those who scapegoated Zinchenko but he did lose us 2 or 3 points with some lax defending didn’t he? Those 2-3 points may have been enough. Plus there was that time Kiwior got badly exposed vs Bayern, perhaps even a CL final wasn’t out of the realm of possibility with Timber in his stead?… Read more »
I’ll give you 115 reasons… It is pretty clear those 115 reasons, don’t just end with buying the players on pitch…
Didn’t have unfit Haaland.
Can anyone think of a pair of more complete FB anywhere in world football? I cant. Then remember we aren’t even talking about BW here.
True
Or the two-headed colossus sandwiched between them. Add Raya in current form and there’s not a defense in the world that rivals it.
Kounde/Balde. They have the crown, for now, but we can rise to that level with these guys.
Remember when we so loved our fullback pairing of Sagna and Clichy. Maybe “loved” is a bit strong but few were clamouring for upgrades in those positions.
I still love Bacary, who was the much more reliable of those two and a brilliant athlete, but he wouldn’t even sniff the bench on this team with how limited he was technically and creatively. So cool to see just how much that position has evolved since then, a mere 15 years ago.
I actually think Mikel would love Bacary Sagna, what a physical beast and a mentality monster that guy was. Buildup limitations were real but if he came through in this era he would look more polished. Just less emphasis on that in for a defender when he was coming through..
Watched Arsenal v Leicester on Peacock. At halftime they did a10 minutes bio-pic telling us all how wonderful Bruno Fernandez is. Who the fuck thought anyone need that? And the next day ManUre the team he captains lose 3-0 to Sp*rs at home, he is sent off and apparently they played better without him…
What a leader, what a man.
I think James said on Arsecast it will be interesting to see how MA handles Benny now. Will be hard to drop Timber, Saliba isn’t coming out for either of them. Maybe spell Calafiori with Timber, but Zinny also needs minutes. Good problem to have but it could get a little tricky. I think Zinny has to go in the winter and if by the end of the season White is second choice he could start making noise.
So now we we have real, genuine, trusted depth instead of the illusion of depth. One of the few areas of criticism for MA is, can he use his squad better? Can we become less reliant on Rice, Odegaard, Saliba and Saka playing every game? With the options he has available this season I hope to see a little more rotation of these key players. The Man City model is probably the one to follow, for those with the luxury to do so. Nobody knows what their best back 4 is because they are all really good and they rotate… Read more »
Because they could always rely on Rodri covering up the defense. Now it come under scrutiny.
I would say defending big space against nimble opponents is one of Rodri’s few short comings. He can get left behind in a hurry. They don’t really have enough burst or strength in midfield in general. It’s a small weakness, but it’s a weakness. That’s why City can be bothered by big, athletic runners like Joelinton or Rice or with central dribble penetration from the likes of Kudus. That weakness will now be accentuated further without Rodri, who was at least a good header of the ball and could win a lot of static or half speed duels. Kovacic is… Read more »
It’s true, now that MA has the squad he has to use it. I think in the PL especially he doesn’t like to change too much.
Agree with the sentiment completely but you’ve mentioned the few players we don’t have cover for?
IMO, when fully fit, White is our best fullback, one of Calafiori/Timber on the other side. Timber on the right and Calafiori/Zinchenko when we need to break a defensive low block, but at 0-0, White still starts for me, his understanding with Ødegaard and Saka, his engine, ability to overlap and amazing defensive positioning are incredible I think.
On the other hand Timber is really just getting started with the team and the tactics so who knows as the season advances. Great “problem” to have actually.
Agree that Whites our best option, but Timber is right there, and if he can refine his game that little bit and clean up some mistakes I think he surpasses White. Theres a frenetic quality to Timbers play which adds a layer of unpredictability and I think he has the potential to be better defensively than White.
Zinny might need minutes, but he ain’t getting any. He’ll be a great option in the domestic cups when he’s fit again.
Probably true, in the cups is good and he could still be useful against a low block. His problem though is Ricky is probably even better against a low block plus adding his set piece threat and athleticism. Not looking good for him.