When the England squad for the upcoming Nations League matches was announced, I was surprised not to see Ben White in it.
My first thought was that it had something to do with an injury that we don’t know about, and it looks like he’s got some issues at the end of games this season, but it looks like he’s just not in Gareth Southgate’s plans. Which is a bit strange. Don’t get me wrong, from an Arsenal perspective the fact that he is fresh for October’s Slogathon©® is a good thing, but in terms of form this season he has been one of the best in the group that was selected.
Harry Maguire, for example, hasn’t played well for a long time, not just this season, and is currently not even breaking into the United team. Even if Southgate trusts him because he’s had him on his squad constantly over the years, he could use these two games to test an alternative. But then it seems that he is very conservative in his thinking. At this point, if he’s going to enter a major tournament and Harry Maguire is a key part of his plans, he’s likely to get what he deserves.
Speaking of Ben White though, he did an interesting interview with the official site and talked about how the spotlight was firmly on him after the Brentford game at the start of last season. He said:
“I played in the Brentford game and I didn’t have a good game. He was being mistreated by all the people in the media and it’s silly to hear that.
“I don’t have social networks or anything like that, so I don’t really see any of that, but they tell you about it and you send it. It’s one of those things; Everyone has their opinion of her. Some listen to it and some don’t.”
You listen to: Your manager, the coaches.
You don’t listen: A loud-mouthed former player turned Twitter union steward who dances with visiting fans when he should be providing analysis on live TV.
I’ve already blogged recently about how I think Ben White is good, so I don’t need to do it again, but isn’t that a good illustration of how short-term thinking is in modern football? landscape, and how it can become the prevailing wisdom around a player, a club, etc. He can do that. I mean, he’s better than Harry Maguire, but I guess he’s a low bar. A bit like saying that a slap in the face is better than being kicked in the balls by an angry mule.
But I do think the way he was ridiculed after that first match, in which he struggled but didn’t play as badly as many think, has kind of left an indelible mark on him in the eyes of some fans. He was judged on the price of him rather than the level of his performance, and look, that’s football, people have expectations when you pay a lot of money for someone, but I don’t think it’s always fair. It’s also worth remembering that two of the back four that night basically never played again after the first three games, we were also missing players through Covid etc so it was much more of a team failure than a Ben White horror show.
He was also interesting about what he learned on loan in the early part of his career, saying:
“Even in the League Two teams I’ve played for and in League One, I’ve taken things from there. They are a completely different environment and they put you in situations that are not standard in the Premier League. Each coach has different things to offer.”
He spent a season with Newport County, a season with Peterborough United and then a season with Leeds, helping them gain promotion from the Championship to the Premier League. When you look at some of the players we’ve got on loan this season, you know there’s probably not much of a chance they’ll make it to qualification, but the Academy gems we’re trying to develop would do well to remember that developmental seasons like that can be hugely beneficial.
So far he is very good for Flo Balogun at Reims in Ligue 1, he has scored 5 goals and given an assist in 7 games so far. Only Neymar and Mbappé have scored more this season in France. Charlie Patino was getting rave reviews at Blackpool before injury got in the way, but now he’s back and hopefully ready to have plenty of minutes under his belt. The path to the Arsenal first team isn’t always straight from the Academy, sometimes you have to make a few stops along the way.
Right. I’ll leave it there for this morning, and there’s a new Arsecast for you to listen to. I first speak to Tim Stillman about the start of a new season for Arsenal Women, before speaking with former Arsenal Vice-Chairman David Dein about the release of her autobiography called ‘Make the Decisions’. Enjoy!
