The Ben White tangent + Arseblog turns 24

Morning all.

After a quiet week, things will start to build up again today as Mikel Arteta meets the press ahead of our game against Chelsea on Sunday. I don’t quite know what injury news we’re looking for updates on, perhaps Bukayo Saka who went off late in the North London derby, but apart from that the only issues I can think of are Kai Havertz and Ben White, who weren’t in the squad last weekend.

We had a question about Ben White and his future on yesterday’s Arsecast, and while obviously that’s more of an issue for the summer, it has been notable that he hasn’t played as much this season as we might have expected. For me, the only real explanation for that is to do with his fitness, because while Jurrien Timber has been fantastic, he’s also been on the verge of being over-played. And if there is a reluctance on the part of the manager to use White, it can only be physical.

I don’t think there’s any world in which Arteta has any doubt about the quality of Ben White as a player, only his ability to be at the right level in terms of match fitness. The injuries haven’t helped, obviously, and it’s hard to build rhythm and form when you’re being managed carefully. He also put himself through a lot for this club. When Timber was injured on the first day of his debut season, he played 51 games that season, starting 46 of those for a total of over 4000 minutes.

The following season he picked up a knee injury which required surgery, which meant Timber had to do what White did the season before and play almost every game at right-back, before the Dutchman then picked up an injury which meant Ben slotted in for the final part of the season. Back in August White started our 1-0 win over Man Utd at Old Trafford, missed two games, then spent the next 10 games without getting off the bench as Timber essentially played 90 minutes in all of them.

It’s probably too early (or maybe even too late) to say lessons have been learned, but it was telling that at 2-1 up in the derby on Sunday, Timber came off after an hour to be replaced by Cristhian Mosquera. Would it have been Ben White if he’d been fit, or are we looking at a kind of passing of the baton here? I thought Mosquera did really well last Sunday, and I think Tim Stillman’s descriptor of him as a kind of Takehiro Tomiyasu type player right on the pod was really interesting.

I doubt we’ll see him at left-back, but he can play right-back and has played on both sides of the centre of defence already this season. And while I know some people might find the comparison with Tomi a little difficult because of the injuries he had, I don’t think there was ever any doubt as to his quality as a player. For me, he was one of the most accomplished natural defenders I’ve ever seen at this club. To be able to perform at a high level in every position across the back-line is so, so rare, and it’s such a shame we were robbed of that because of a quite difficult and serious issue with his knee.

So, if Mosquera can get anywhere near that level on a consistent basis, and I think he’s shown that that’s not an impossibility by any means, we’ll have a hell of a player on our hands. Anyway, I’ve kind of gone off on a tangent here, but let’s see what the story with Ben White is later. I feel like his Arsenal story deserves a moment. If we do achieve some tangible success this season, I’d love to see him make a telling contribution in a game. Obviously as a defender it might be an incredible tackle or block, but is it too much to ask for an important goal, perhaps accompanied by some classic Ben White shithousery in the celebration (e.g kicking the ball off the back of Pep’s head at the Etihad or something)?

I don’t think it is. Come on universe. You owe us, and Ben White, at least that.

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I mentioned this yesterday, but today is the 24th birthday of arseblog.com. It’s almost ridiculous to think that so many years ago I sat down at my computer in a town outside Barcelona, and produced the first blog. Back then, a hand-coded HTML page rather than using any blogging software.

A lot has happened in the meantime. Technology has changed, the world has changed, Arsenal has changed, not all of it for the better, but here we all are. Still. Every day. And it’s important for me to tell all of you who are reading this, how much I appreciate you being here. I know you know, and I know you know I know, but it’s worth repeating: none of this would mean anything without you and your consistent support down the years.

If you’d said 24 years ago that Arseblog would still be around, and be what it is today, I’d have laughed, because it just was not possible back then. It has become something I never planned for it be, but as time goes by you learn and you adapt and make decisions and then you find yourself doing what you love as your actual job. I’m very lucky and privileged to be doing it with fantastic people too, the Arseblog team has grown over the years as well, and without name-checking everyone, I hope they know how much I love working with them, and beyond that how much they mean to me as friends.

As I said, the world has changed dramatically over these 24 years, but not all change has to be negative. As well as doing our best to bring you the best Arsenal content, with actual people rather than expensively destructive digital slop, we try our best to give back and put some good out into the world. Since 2022, we have given €221,000 to good causes, and as is now tradition, we’ll add to that in our April donation drive.

I feel very strongly if you, as an individual or a company, are fortunate enough to be able to do so, supporting those in need, whether it’s locally or internationally, is an absolute necessity. If Arseblog, a mad website started by an Irishman living Spain, can do it, then so many more can, and I hope others can follow suit.

Again, all of this is possible because of you. Our readers, listeners, and Patreon subscribers. Our commitment to you is to carry on doing what we do to the very best of our ability, and to show that the power of a community to do good should never be underestimated, even when sometimes it’s hard to see beyond the most negative headlines and toxic online interactions.

Thanks to you all, I love you. And now I have to think of something big for 25.

Andrew ❤️

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So, that’s it for this morning. We’ll bring you press conference stories on Arseblog News later on, and we’ll have a Chelsea preview pod on Patreon this afternoon too.

Have a great Friday folks.