Think this gives a glimpse into why Arteta kept faith in him until he did
What non League Cup appearance for Rob Holding after signing for Palace!
Did he retire from football?
Should have retired years ago.
Easy to make fun of Rob Holding but he was a model professional while he was at the club and gave his all. Ultimately didnāt have the talent that we now need but when he was here he accepted his role and done everything he could when given the opportunity. I will always remember him for the FA Cup Final in 2017 and will always remember him favourably.
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like Elneny.
To a lesser extent. Always seems happy. Can imagine he is a good guy to have around. Iām not sure his contribution has been at the same level as Holding though - when you take into account 2017 FA Cup.
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Thereās a hair joke there, but I canāt think of it 
El Nenny was/is useful. Rob Balding is genuinely one of the poorest excuses of an Arsenal player in modern times.
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Odds of him getting his first start tomorrow and scoring the winner?
Dunno about him scoring for Palace but with our goal shy strikers, weāll need him to score an OG or two for us to win.
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Nice guy and all but considering he canāt make an appearance at Palace always begs the question why we kept him around for so long.
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Arteta was the one who wanted him. Heās proved himself to be a good coach but I think heās still feeling his way around how to assemble and disassemble a squad.
He put a lot of emphasis on culture, and thatās fair. We had some serious bozos in the club when he first joined, but iirc we had an offer from pre-blood money Newcastle for Holding and we didnāt pull the trigger. That was a huge mistake. Iām a big believer in addition by subtraction. Arteta was happy to keep a guy like Holding around who didnāt rock the boat but ultimately he was never good enough and it bit us in the ass two seasons in a row. We should have forced Arteta to come up with a different solution or gone into the market.
It feels like weāre in a similar situation with Eddie. Guy clearly isnāt good enough but he was kept around because itās easy.
It takes time to assemble a squad.
Yes, originally I was thinking why the hell we keep Rob and other scrubs for that longā¦ but use Eddie as example. Yes, we could have spent the money on a better striker instead of Kai.
Reality is, okay, we could have a better striker, but it turned out Vieira and ESR are crooks, not even able to play an extend of games, including Partey. So who is going to take the midfield position? Donāt tell me Trossard is that guy.
We either bought a midfield then put the burden on Marti/Jesus (another crook)/Saka, or we bought a striker but put the burden on midfield (we know Jorginho can play a few games but not a starter for long period of time).
To phase out the ānot so goodā and replace by better ones really takes time.
We already spent the money (good or bad doesnāt matter) on Rice, Kai and Timber, to cover our forward position we need to keep Eddie, as least till we have resources to find a better one.
I think we had a similar situation in Rob.
Money spent on other positions, but we still need a bare minimum to cover the CB positions.
Does it though? Thereās always a decent amount of squad churn. But Iām not necessarily talking about selling when someoneās stock is in the toilet. Iām talking about being ready to take a risk on a sale and live with the consequences.
We are a responsible club.
We buy and sell with cautious and considerations.
I get that, I just think thereās a difference between being responsible and being overly cautious. I think the club has been overly cautious under the guise of being responsible.
Being responsible but not too cautious ā Selling Willock, Iwobi and Balogun
Being cautious and responsible ā new deals for Saliba, Gabriel and (pending) White
Being overly cautious under the guise of being responsible ā new deals for Eddie, Nelson and refusing to sell ESR this summer, you could also include the paralysis at the club around both Aubameyang and Lacaās contract situations in the summer of 2020
Being irresponsible and not cautious ā Willian
Iād say those were questionable decisions, but not that we bought or sold someone in a wreckless/irresponsible manner.
Thatās fair. Weāre kind of down to arguing semantics ā which really oils all attorneyās engines. But I think weāre in general violent agreement about it.
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