Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney cannot offer Arsenal what their best defenders do.

Rob Holding was targeted by West Ham when Arsenal lost valuable points. Credit: Getty Images/Justin Setterfield

With 13 minutes to go During Arsenal's draw against West Ham United on Sunday, Kieran Tierney excelled defensively, highlighting his outstanding qualities as a left-back. Echoing Jarrod Bowen step by step in the West Ham counterattack, Tierney showed his speed, aggression and timing with a 2-2 decisive block.

It was a classic Tierney, and a reminder of why many consider him one one of the most effective cornerbacks in the Premier League over the last few seasons. Few defenders in the league can keep up with Bowen, and few players would be so capable of fending off such an attack.

However, Tierney's problem is that these qualities are no longer required by Arsenal from their left-back. Mikel Arteta's team has been moving in a different direction this season with Oleksandr Zinchenko being a key player in their build-up in that position and Tierney has barely made any appearances until this trip to the London stadium. league match from December. Zinchenko, who was out due to injury on Sunday but is expected to return for Friday's game against Southampton, has become one of the first names on Arteta's team list.

In the match against West Ham, the absence of Zinchenko ended up being one of Arsenal's biggest problems. The same applies to the absence of William Saliba, who suffers from constant back problems. Without two of their four main defenders, Arsenal lacked the offensive control and defensive security that were critical to their success this season.

Granit Xhaka: Arsenal players will support Bukayo Saku to convert the next penalty

This is not to criticize Tierney and Rob Holding replacing Saliba. Both are seasoned Premier League players who would thrive at many other clubs in the division. It's just that they differ from Zinchenko and Saliba as players with a markedly different set of skills.

It could be argued that for most of the 20 Premier League teams, Tierney would be a far more suitable left-back than Zinchenko. The same could be true for Holding – an excellent defender of his own box with great aerial ability – compared to Saliba. But for Arsenal 2023, there's a reason why Zinchenko and Saliba always play if they're fit.

Without them, Arsenal had two significant problems on Sunday. Firstly, the lack of accuracy of their construction of the game in the second half. Zinchenko's sharp pass between the lines is as important to Arsenal as the movement with the ball, and in his absence, their movements seemed much more difficult and laborious than usual.

Arsenal dominated the first 30 minutes, but once West Ham began to press with more intensity, Arteta's side couldn't seem to make killer passes between the lines. An indicator of the difference between Tierney and Zinchenko is that the Scot made 39 accurate passes on Sunday, while Zinchenko averages 64 accurate passes per game per season.

Arsenal: Successful passes in 90 minutes, Premier League 2022-23

Zinchenko couldn't have tackled Bowen like Tierney did in the second half, but Tierney can't provide the same creativity on the ball as Zinchenko. For Arteta, the latter is clearly more important than the former.

Arsenal's second major problem was the loss of Saliba's pace in the back line. The Frenchman is a physical phenomenon, a powerful 6'4″ engine that accelerates like a racing car and his recovery speed has been fundamental to the strength of Arsenal's defense this season.

With Saliba in the Arsenal team, he was able to move up the pitch. This allowed them to push opponents, pressing them to their half and not giving them an exit. If the opposing team tried to play through their defenders, Arsenal's forwards and midfielders would press them high. If they tried to go long, Saliba would gobble up the ball.

This season, Arsenal's average starting distance (defined by Opta as the average distance from their own goal at which the team's open play starts) was 44.5 metres, the highest of any season under Arteta. However, in the match with West Ham, this line of defense moved to their own goal and reached 41.2 m.

Arsenal's average starting distance in the Premier League

In the previous three matches without Saliba, the loss of pace was not a major problem. But against West Ham on Sunday, it was perhaps Arsenal's most obvious defense problem. Michael Antonio and Bowen constantly fell behind, stretching the game and causing chaos. «Maybe we got more ball behind the back of the opposition than in the whole season,» said David Moyes, West Ham manager.

A consequence of the volatile nature of the game was that Arsenal failed to gain momentum or rhythm in the second half. From composed in the first half to exposed in the second. As Moyes later said, West Ham would have won the game if they had taken their chance.

1804 Arsenal in open play

For much of that season, the depth of Arsenal's squad was questioned. credit, they often found solutions when key players were absent. When, for example, Gabriel Jesus was absent for several months, he was replaced by Eddie Nketiah and Leandro Trossar. When Martin Odegaard missed his trip to Brentford, Fabio Vieira scored.

But in this case, the loss of two of the most important players was devastating. With City on the hunt for them, it's hard to see how Arsenal can maintain their position at the top of the table without Saliba and Zinchenko in their team.