With Arsenal defensively worrying, fans are wondering about the decision of the club to loan William Saliba out for a third year to Ligue 1 whilst spending 50 million on Ben White.

To reveal the thinking behind this decision, we spoke to one of Twitter's informal soccer experts. Image
AI (@nonewthing) is a die-hard fan who maintains online anonymity and a following that is 7000-strong off the back of his threads that seeks to elucidate the game to Arsenal and football fans in general.

We invited him to shed some light on the entire situation. Please share!
@nonewthing: "Last season, Arsenal quietly had one of the best defenses in the league. Looking at some of the individual defenders involved, I think it is fair to say that was more down to the system rather than the players themselves.

If this is true, then why are we bad now?"
"Fans must remember that we do not necessarily defend like West Brom even though there are times we settle in and defend the box. Mostly, we use a midfield or a high blocking scheme, even against better teams.

A major reason for our steel last season was the Partey-Xhaka pivot."
"Because we push reasonably high without the ball, the defending from the front is immediately more important than at the back. If our players up front make a mistake, then opponents will get a free run at the exposed last line with space behind.

Partey and Xhaka were essential.
"Both of them were quite successful at stopping opponents from having time, space and options on the ball when we pushed up front. When Elneny played, he did a good job in that regards as well.

Because of the way we defend, it is obvious that we need centerbacks comfortable with
moving high up the pitch and defending there. If our high block gets beaten by runners or balls over the top, those centerbacks must be good athletes who can cover large spaces easily and win those balls over the top.

Because, we also play out from the back, those centerbacks
must be calm and confident with the ball, able to pass or carry the ball out of pressure and find our players up front.

Gabriel is a perfect fit for the former description. He is a very good front foot defender. However, he is distinctly average in possession which is not great
for us when we have the ball. As a result, he has to be paired with a partner who is very good in possession.

The question is, is that Saliba or Ben White?

Saliba is above average at carrying the ball out of pressure. He is comfortable with the ball. However, his passing is not
at the required level, yet. He is more risk averse and simply does not yet have the range that someone like Ben White possesses.

Ben White is a fast defender who is comfortable defending high up the pitch. Add his great qualities in possession and you see why he is a good fit.
However, Ben White is not as powerful as Gabriel. He defends more in a high block with his brain than through sheer physical power. He is also 'meh' at aerial duels.

His strengths as a pure defender are

—Interceptions.
—Blocks.
—Recovery pace.

He is best in a high block.
You can see Saliba as a mix between Gabriel and White. Physically, he is powerful. He has more than a decent recovery pace. On the ball, he is a good dribbler and OK passer. He is also conservative, more inclined to protect the space in behind than win the ball immediately.
Saliba is however surprisingly poor at aerial duels. Even maybe worse than Ben White. He lacks anticipation and doesn't read the flight of the ball well. He also struggles in a back two at other basics, making him a little bit raw. This makes sense, given he is just 21.
Given his physical profile and comfort with the ball, Saliba should turn out to be a very good defender. I would suggest that he could be a complete modern centerback, lacking nothing at all. You can even say that he is a bigger prospect than either White or Gabriel.
But both are currently better than him at the basics of the game, especially in a back two. Given the different but complimentary qualities of Gabriel and White, it is more sensible to make them our 1st choice pairing.

That is what Arsenal have done. Saliba needs more polishing.
Apart from Saliba, White and Gabriel, no other defender at the club are good enough on paper to defend in a high block.

I don't know why Arsenal have not allowed him to be the 3rd choice centerback. Perhaps they reasoned that he needs a lot more minutes than we could give him?
In any case, our defensive issues can be traced down to 3 things and none of them are the coach's faults:

—Aerial assertiveness lacking with Gabriel out (Mari is good but poor at other things).

—One of Xhaka, Partey or even Elneny missing.

—Tough run of fixtures in 3 games."
LAST WORDS: "With Gabriel, White and Partey back soon and an easier run of fixtures, the defence from the last season will be back with them. With Saliba getting regular development minutes and getting better every day at the basics, Arsenal fans are in for a treat soon!"
Thanks to AI (@nonewthing) for sitting with us.

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