Arsenal defender Ben White did not have the best competitive debut for his new club against Brentford yesterday evening.
The 23-year-old was by no means the worst player on the pitch, with his centre-back partner Pablo Mari also having a bad night, but Gunners fans on Twitter were expecting much more from their £50m signing:
He had a stinker. Terrible in the air!
— Ad (@AdsVensure) August 13, 2021
Please stop with the excuses. He was shocking
— tage håkansson (@jonaskarlsson91) August 13, 2021
He's got a £50 million price tag, his performances will be watched much closer than when he was a Brighton player. Comes with the territory.
— Paulos 67 (@HARNINIO) August 13, 2021
dont get me wrong, chambers and mari are dog water. but ben white got absolutely bullied tonight and i can see it happening alot more times through out the season
— Aaron (@aaron_auba) August 13, 2021
He’s terrible in the air which is massively concerning. Will get targeted every week. Think he only succeeds at Arsenal if we play 3 atb
— #KnowledgeKnowsBest (@engancheUK) August 13, 2021
He was sub par today but like a lot of defenders people rate right now, they’ve also had average games.
— Tai (@AfcTai) August 13, 2021
Brentford took advantage of he's major weakness which is aerial duels. He needs to improve in that department and of course we need Gabriel back
— Roli Tshindane (@RoliTshindane) August 13, 2021
technical cb in a team that's wont dominate games , recipe for disaster. he will get bullied regularly
— SSJ Uchiha ???????? (@ssj_uchiha) August 13, 2021
He had a poor game no matter who was beside him I’ll be real. Toney dominated him
— ✍️ (@AdammAFC) August 13, 2021
White did not cope very well with the aerial threat posed by Ivan Toney, and he was left exposed too often in one-on-one battles with the Brentford striker.
On the ball, he was a lot better, spraying a number of diagonal balls to the feet of teammates, but he will need to improve markedly on this display.
Manager Mikel Arteta’s insistence on playing a high line, with players such as Mari and Chambers who don’t have the pace to make it work, is undoubtedly a big issue, but White must demonstrate he can help marshal the defence and make those around him play better.
