Ben White | Arsenal

izec

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Brutally exposed. Went to the wrong team, as he isnt worth 50m and wont have time or someone to look up to to lead him.
 

Jezpeza

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Gave Luiz away and signed a similar player for 50 big ones.
To be honest theyve signed a couple of random shit players and a defender off a bottom 6 club.

is lokonga going to add anything that their prior midfielders cant? Why loan guendozi and saliba and spunk nearly 80mil on players that are completely similar, they’ve lost the plot. Just blowing money
 

Oranges038

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Arsenal are shit. They have easily one of the worst midfields in the league. While I don't think he was worth 50m, I am not surprised White was so exposed when you see what he has in front of him.
 

Chief123

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That’s actually his average win rate for aerial duels in his career too. They showed it before the match that he only wins around 50% of his aerial battles.

Let’s be honest lads, Arsenal have been absolutely raped for that price.
 

Chief123

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Damn, this guy is 24 in two months. Just getting into his theoretical prime, but he's ways off the pace.

24 is still young, but he'll need another couple of years to truly settle and see how he improves/matures. Not sure about his character either, but today was a bad day for him. Don't have any sympathy for him however because he's a big transfer for any CB to any club. Can't hide, but Pepe has managed to do that exceptionally well.
Pepe and Ben White cost more than Sancho and Varane. Absolutely amazing.
 

the_cliff

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Confused as to why Arteta would buy a defender who has never played in a back 4 in the epl for 50 million pounds, then play him in a back 4.
So they let a cb who can only play in a 3 man defence go (Luiz) because they wanted to play a back 4 then sign another defender that only looks good in a 3 man defence.

I suppose the positives for Arsenal fans is he's definitely going back to a back 3 against Chelsea/City because playing them with the same backline would be suicidal.
 

Red Stone

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Arsenal are the Barcelona of England. Overpaying for shite because they're a horrifically poorly run club. I love it.
 

SambaBoy

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Wasn't a great start for him.

But let's not go overboard and do our usual of writing players off after one game then looking stupid further down the line.
 

simonhch

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Damn, this guy is 24 in two months. Just getting into his theoretical prime, but he's ways off the pace.

24 is still young, but he'll need another couple of years to truly settle and see how he improves/matures. Not sure about his character either, but today was a bad day for him. Don't have any sympathy for him however because he's a big transfer for any CB to any club. Can't hide, but Pepe has managed to do that exceptionally well.
Its funny because White has been highly rated throughout his career. Leeds were desperate to keep him, probably because he’s pretty good on the ball. If you look at his stats though, his aerial dual percentage for Brighton was horrific for a CB.

He’s definitely got qualities but he’s the player you buy to go into a settled defence with a dominant partner and grow into the role. Not a player you spunk 50m on to lead the defence. Utter madness from Arsenal.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Maybe he'll come good eventually but Arsenal are such a wierd club. Everyone talks about their apparent lack of spending and then they go and spend 130 million on Pepe and Ben White. I mean, who the feck values promising players so highly? They should just stuck to value signings if this is how they use big money.
 

Ace of Spades

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This is just such a stupid signing, if they wanted solidity they should have gone for someone like Dunk.
 

ayushreddevil9

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I thought it was just for the bantz during the game but are people really writing off a player based on 1 game? First game of the season in a new team under a new manager?
 

hobbers

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Was an awful signing for the money, everyone knew that before he even kicked a ball.

Mings would have been better.
 

TheReligion

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Won't write him off after one game but I wasn't impressed with him at all. Showed very brief glimpses of how he can play from the back but as United fans we know only too well that you need more than that in the PL especially when you're one of the bigger clubs and will often get roughed up by the underdogs and find yourselves under some sort of pressure over a 90 minute period.

Will see how it pans out but I wouldn't bank on Arteta developing this side to his game given the impetus he places as a coach on trying to play. If anything Arsenal would have been better with a player who was already very good in the air and at winning duels but had room to improve their technical ability as opposed to the other way around. That said, surely for £50m you expect a bit of both.

A few times yesterday he didn't even jump or try and compete with Toney in the air. It was quite telling and if it continues I've no doubt he will be targeted throughout the season.
 

Klopper76

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This wasn’t the best piece of defending I’ve seen.


Arsenal’s defensive record wasn’t even that bad last season. Did they need a CB? Could’ve invested that in another position.
 

tenpoless

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Banter aside I feel kinda bad for him. It wasnt his mistake that he was sold for 50m. Now the pressure for him to perform has been increased because of a shit PL debut. And he really has to pick himself up. This Arsenal team has no leader and Arteta doesnt seem like a good motivator.
 

ThatsGreat

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Ben white is an okay defender worth around 30m, its the clubs fault for plonking 50m on him when we already had saliba and the 50m would've been better put towards attacking additions.
 

Josep Dowling

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Was an awful signing for the money, everyone knew that before he even kicked a ball.

Mings would have been better.
The fact a player chose Villa over Arsenal this summer tells you everything. Maybe they wanted Mings but players can see Villa are currently a better prospect.

I expect Arsenal have struggled to convince most players to sign hence the rather bizarre choices in players they have made this summer. Doesn’t matter which way they spin it but £50m is a mental amount of money for Ben White.
 

meamth

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"He can be better than Maguire"

The most delusional thinking from Arsenal fans in a long while.
 

izak

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Shaun Wright-Phillips's comments a few days ago quickly becoming as ridiculous as it was when it was said, he should be regretting those words after watching him last night.
 

Adisa

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Is it true he won leas than 50% of duels last season? Of true, that's an abomination for a CB.
 

Steve 007

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I have to say he was pretty bad and doesn’t look value for money. It’s one game though he’ll get better.
After Jaap Stam came to us for 10.5m (I think), that was one amazing sum for a defender. His first few games were terrible, the media calling him the Dutch donkey etc..Soon shut up when he showed why he was one of the best defenders around.
 

Classical Mechanic

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You can look at his stats below to give an impression of what kind of player he is. His standout qualities are on the ball and pressing whilst his weaknesses are duels on the ground and in the air. He's one of the wrost defenders in Europe in the air but one of the best dribblers. One striking thing is that he engages in one on ones quite a lot but loses them nearly all the time. He's pretty specialised player that, as others have mentioned, should be playing a three. At the least he needs someone like Maguire next to him, a partner who is dominant in the air and likes to engage the opposition's most dangerous forward.

https://fbref.com/en/players/35e413f1/scout/365_euro/Ben-White-Scouting-Report

To compare him against Lindelof

https://fbref.com/en/players/f5deef4c/Victor-Lindelof

It's far from a neat comparison. Lindelof doesn't engage often (which annoys many fans) but he usually gets it right when he does. Lindelof is better at passing but White is more of a player to step out and advance the play.
 

Phil

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All that about him being "PL ready" and "ready to hit the ground running" making him a better signing than Varane eh

(They will obviously both need time to fully settle in and play to their best, when it'll again be very fecking apparent Varane > White)
 

Ayoba

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I actually have no recollection of him at Brighton. Granted I don't watch any brighton games other than when we play them of if I catch them on MOTD. The first time I heard about him when during the England selection for euro's, had to Google who he was.

I just found it strange that I've never hear much about a £50 million defender, don't recall many of the pundits or the media raving about him last season either. It was always the other fella in defence that got mentioned, Scott Dan.
 

Classical Mechanic

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I actually have no recollection of him at Brighton. Granted I don't watch any brighton games other than when we play them of if I catch them on MOTD. The first time I heard about him when during the England selection for euro's, had to Google who he was.

I just found it strange that I've never hear much about a £50 million defender, don't recall many of the pundits or the media raving about him last season either. It was always the other fella in defence that got mentioned, Scott Dan.
He was on loan at Leeds from Brighton when they won The Championship and was very good. There was some hype about him then but I don't think he set the world on fire at Brighton last season. He was played in midifeld a lot which probably reflects his quality on the ball and lack of defensive nous. He has a lot of quality on the ball and will break the lines and dribble the whole pitch at times which gets people excited. He is under massive pressure at Arsenal now because of the fee, it could be a tough season for him.

He has stuff like this in his locker though