Ben White says he’s honoured to play alongside Takehiro Tomiyasu and labelled the right-back the best he’s played alongside.
Given White is only 23 and has previously played for Brighton, Leeds, Peterborough and Newport County, that could be seen as a backhanded compliment but he went on to claim the Japan international is “world-class” at the basics.
White and Tomi have formed a very decent partnership on the right side of Arsenal defence since they arrived in the summer and the latter was sorely missed when he sat out yesterday’s defeat to Nottingham Forest with a tight calf.
“Tomi is amazing,” White told DAZN Japan. “He’s the best right-back I’ve ever played with. He’s always focused. It’s an honour to play next to him.
“Tomi does the simple things at a world-class level. He is very alert and he isn’t careless in games.
“From the beginning, he’s completely understood English and speaks as well as I do.”
White also backed up Tomiyasu’s explanation – proffered in December – as to why he doesn’t often pass to the right-back during matches.
“I read the article about me not passing to Tomi,” said White. “If you aren’t familiar with football you might not understand but opponents target passes to the right-back when they press.
“If I play the ball to Tomi he will be targeted and he might be in a situation where he has no options.
“It’s not that I don’t want to pass to Tomi but it is the best way to build up our play so that it leads to the final third.”
Tomiyasu, who has a self-written column in the sports section of homeland newspaper Nishi Nippon, had originally explained: “It is because Ben White is a good player. Often, passes from the centre back to the full-backs become ‘pressure passes’.
“I play centre back too, and simple passes to the full-backs are actually the last option I consider. If the full-back is not under opposition pressure I will play the pass, but if the winger is right in front, you’ll end up caught by the press.
“So Ben White is a good player who doesn’t play passes that put you under pressure.”
Last night, Mikel Arteta said he’s still waiting to find out if Tomiyasu will be available for Thursday’s trip to Anfield for the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg.
We really didn’t have much of a threat on the right side against Forest. I put that down to Cedric just not being able to come and do the same tactical job as Tomiyasu.
We didn’t have a threat on any side nor the middle.
Not even the front
We barely got the ball to Saka and kept on trying to run past their right full back.
Love to see them playing together for many years, along with Gabriel, Ramsdale and Tierney too
And Saliba!
We don’t have any games in Europe or the Fa Cup. After the 2 semifinals with Liverpool and hopefully a Final we are only left with league games which sucks. This might alter our plans for bringing ppl in. If we get everyone fit again and back we won’t have enough games to play everyone. Even Pepe might not a proper run of games this season.
Not apropos of this fluff, but been thinking about this.
Anyone else notice that our best played game by far — both in terms of tactics and execution — was vs MC, when Arteta was absent?
Then Arteta comes back, and so does our lethargic play and the bizarre man management (Tavares off at 34 min).
Lol. The way some of you think, though.
Not Arteta’s biggest fan, but no way was he not involved in team selection, set-up, and so on for the Man City game. He may not have been available for the game, but he definitely contributed to decision making before and, maybe even, during the game. You are simply clutching at straws here.
The team has had this weird inconsistency problem for a while. Remember how we played like prime Barca against Tottenham, only to follow it up with a shit-show at Brighton?
Arteta not being there had no bearing on tactics. Stuivenberg even said after the match that the team played exactly to Arteta’s instructions. Maybe the fact he wasn’t there meant they applied themselves a bit more?
For what it’s worth, I thought White was not horrible yesterday. That sounds like a really backhanded compliment, but he was one of only four outfield starters I would say that about. And, considering that he was playing between Hoiding and Cedric, and with Lokonga and Patino in front of him, that wasn’t easy.
To be clear, I am not writing off either Lokonga or Patino, just judging their play in this one match.
Patino clearly isn’t ready. Sambi can play and has shown that he has been ready for premier league opposition but then he needs someone experienced and good next to him.
Tomiyasu is our best defender!
So nice to see the lads becoming pals. It’s easy to see that they all play for each other now which is so important for team cohesion and a collective fighting spirit. Shame their momentum has been disrupted by injuries/ illness/ tournaments but hopefully they can pick it back up again. If all are fit, I would play Sambi alongside MO, with ESR behind Laca/Gabi/Saka, along with our usual back four, and we should be pretty solid for the coming 3 games. Fingers crossed everything lines up in our favour.
It’s an interesting nugget, about the pass to the fullback triggering the press. Wonder if that’s just default/accepted/understood as a bad pass, or whether there are managers working to turn that trigger against the pressing team.
Partially explains why Guardiola spends ridiculous sums of money on fullbacks to spring that trap.
I kind of liked when we used Sagna as a wide target man, caught a lot of teams unawares. Maybe we could try something similar with Tomi.
I also remember Sagna getting undercut and landing on his head/back regularly as he was pressed while going up for a high ball forward from the keeper. Some matches he endured endless kickings because he was the only one the keeper seemed to distribute to.
Wenger would have loved to have some of these guys during his last few years.
Mr Wenger failed to recruit these calibre of players during his last few years with the club.
Not sure why you got down voted for a simple factual statement. Wenger would have loved these guys and he failed to recruit a similar profile.
Balon Dor in the bag, we’ll done Tommy!
On a positive note, Liverpoo will get the backlash 👍
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59931656
Klopp = Cnut
They gamed a system that was ill-defined and vulnerable to gaming. We couldn’t get a game against Brentford called off. That’s how it goes.
I am just jealous how smart they are in their administration. We live in a world where highest football body, FIFA is corrupt to the core. This is the game, I suppose.
You know, I always took Klopp for his word when he said things like he wanted 5 subs for player welfare and not to get a advantage over other teams with smaller squads. Now I just think he’s just full of bullshit all round.
Yeah, similar feeling here. Thought he was one of the decent ones.
Possibly tangential but Arsene once offered a rematch to a team based on a norm (not rule) violation. Been a long stretch without title challenges, but that kind of grace still seems worth admiring.
False positives.. yeah right Klopp you prick. What a fucking joke. I said at the time, this looked like a blatant lie. They had no issues, then on the eve of the game, ‘a severe outbreak’ just as we were flying and on a roll against Man City. Absolutely disgusting. And a slap in the face to all those who truly have covid, and are in hospital, with real, life-threatening problems. Just you wait until they have Mane or Salah back for the second leg now.. what a surprise that will be. It really is as cynical as it gets.… Read more »
Good news! The Athletic is reporting that multiple clubs (including us, presumably) have officially complained to the EFL about Liverpool’s shenanigans. Pressure mounting on EFL to investigate.
I have a very horrible feeling that this season is about to spectacularly implode in typical Arsenal fashion.
We are prone to not turning up and making spectacularly silly mistakes plus we don’t have a prolific goal scorer and have to rely on youngsters like Saka and Smith Rowe who cannot be expected to operate full throttle every game. What is more the quality of player sitting behind the first choice players is not of the required quality – in fact, some of the first teamers are not of the required quality…
I don’t share that horrible feeling you have but you did a good job of pointing out the players have never been of the required quality. The starting players who left were not of the required quality, nor are the one’s they left behind which are mostly squad players except Xhaka.
It’s Benjamin White. Benjamin.