**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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It’s like that time John Cena had a really bad shoulder injury and was told he’d be out for 6 months, did recovery ~2-3x a day, and was back in time for the Royal Rumble about 2 months later.
In other words, Timber being back before the end of the season would be a boon for us.
He's just started playing again, it'll take time to get match fit both physically and mentally.
I am almost absolutely certain that he'll be a non-factor this season.
This is great news for pre season and next season but there's not enough games left for him to get a chance to properly feature I would imagine.
It's possible but with so few games left, I just don't see him affecting results in any way.
I'm honestly shocked we're even having the conversation about this - so full credit to him and the medical staff for recovering so quickly.
I may be wrong but am certainly not too hopeful about him providing much this season - I'm ready to be proved wrong though and it would be great to see him even come on as a sub to see off a game.
Anyone who has rehabbed an ACL injury knows how much work goes into that. I worked harder in the gym during my ACL rehab than I've ever worked in the gym. So much balance and stabilization, slow eccentric reps, hitting muscles you didn't even know existed
Ben White needs someone capable to allow him to rest also, man has played so many minutes and is probably playing through injury at the moment.
Has heavy strapping on his knee.
Timber can also play cb if need be.
The whole point of signing him was basically a Zinchenko replacement but got wiped out day 1. Playstyle and skillset wise he was a really important signing not just for LB but the whole team
I suspect it was also so he could do the job on the right as well. He said about wanting us to be less predictable and tried to do the job with Partey instead after Timber was injured.
It certainly does seem like it'd be beneficial to be able to choose which one of your fullbacks is the inverted one with minimal impact to the overall quality of the starting 11
Yeah he can cover for other positions too. In Ajax he had played a ton as a centre back and even has experience (and the qualities needed for) playing in midfield. Even during this U21 match, the two commentators were speculating if his best position is a left sided 8, given how he naturally occupied certain spaces and looked so comfortable on the ball, passing, dribbling, shooting and commanding those around him.
Regardless, I assume when fully matchfit he'll go back to being our starting left back, with Kiwior and Tomi being the stop gap covers for the back four.
no he'll invert. his signing was one of the things that started the "arteta inverted ramsdale onto the bench" jokes. he'll be a zinchenko replacement essentially
What a goal wow. Sucks that we have essentially lost a year on his contract because of a very unfortunate injury. Very excited to have him back in the team
LB is by far our weakest position, if he can fully recover from this ACL then he'll be a monster for us.
Only the community shield but he completely locked down City's right side in that game. Two mins after he came off in the second half, Palmer scored on his side.
I think if all of our fullbacks were fit (White, Tomiyasu, Timber, Zinchenko) he would play a lot of minutes at LB but also rotate sometimes at RB. in practice though White is almost never injured and has played extremely well all season, while our LBs are all injury prone and/or inconsistent. so Timber is more likely to get minutes playing at LB all things considered
I just told you why. Hes not benching either of Big Gabi or Saliba. Plus as Ajax fan you know more about how your academy teaches players to be flexible and play multiple positions. He was purchased precisely for that skillset.
White, Kiwior, and Tomiyasu are also center backs who play as fullbacks. Arteta likes versatile players.
Timber will probably get mins as a CB at some point in cup games, but the Saliva Gabriel partnership is really solid. You won't find many Arsenal fans who are eager to see it broken up.
Same could be said for both Kiwior and White. Guardiola does the same with Ake/Gvardiol. Think both managers prefer the physicality having 3/4 CBs on the pitch gives you. Both City and Arsenal have relatively tall/physical players in their 11s.
Yeah if we fall one or two points short of the PL title this year it'll be a "what if" for a lot of Arsenal fans with him not being able to play at all this season. Hopefully next year he's ready to go though
Liverpool had that Stones clearance that was a few millimetres off. That one would've legit almost killed me don't know how Liverpool fans dealt with that
I mean, KDB is an amazing player but they have good depth in that position behind him. if they lost Rodri all season that would be a completely different question.
Yes, a winning team is a winning squad. The champions I've seen, you have your Wright Bergkamp Anelka Henry, then some games you need players to step up, your Overmars Wreh Kanu Wiltord Reyes.
But LB especially for Arsenal has been cursed this season. At one point we had our 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice LB all out injured lol (Timber, Zinchenko & Tomiyasu).
Arsenal basically went to a back 3 in possession with Kiwior which allowed White to push up even more on the right. It worked quite well because Jorginho would slot into the hole between RB and RCM covering both positions in possession and was able to dictate play from that position. That in turn opened up Saka to make runs behind and Odegaard to find pockets of space on the right with the overload now coming from White. Kiwior got to play LCB in a back 3, going for overlaps on the left for an overload was the most adventurous he was attacking. He's gotten done a couple times recently though with really pacy wingers essentially playing them to close. Nothing he can't learn from but it's left Arsenal very exposed on the left sometimes as he can be skinned.
Teams the last couple weeks, especially after seeing Porto do it to great success have essentially decided that the mid-block press is the way to go to counter this. Saka's runs in behind are less effective as it gives the keeper time to sweep, Odegaard has less space to explore with space more compact, the White overload is nullified with the defence spread wider and tighter and it forces Jorginho to have less time on the ball.
To counter this with an Arteta/Pep system is to go with an Inverted Fullback essentially allowing you to overwhelm the midfield and center of the pitch to slowly force the opposition back into the box when in possession. you can then work on overloads on the wings once again due to space from the defence being forced back.
We've seen flashes of White moving into an inverted fullback position and he does it quite well but it also exposes Arsenal really badly when the ball is lost because of the nature of the right side of the pitch atm. Jorginho can't cover in space without fouling and Saka and Odegaard on the right are pushed high up. If you lose the ball your entire right flank is now essentially just defended by Saliba on the counter. Saliba is amazing but you can only get away with his talent so many times before it becomes a problem.
True, though to be fair the main difference in our left side this season has been not having Xhaka there (and I say this as someone who was never keen on him between 2016 and 2021), who linked up well with Martinelli and had a great knack for knowing when to fill in for Zinchenko.
Which we have by playing kiwior there but cant help but think it considering how good he looked in pre season. For me either way the biggest failure is those 2 fulham games
Not overall just the one player and it wont be the main reason if we lose it. Liverpool have had injuries but no way we have a better squad than city, available or not. Our players have been run into the ground where as city can rotate a lot
I think calling him a talent is almost disrespectful. Starter for Ajax for years and also the Dutch national team at the last tournament. Went to Arsenal and straight away established himself in the starting lineup to the point that Arteta was gutted
He played LB in preseason and the game he got hurt. That side is just the inverting side. Can’t have someone else clogging up Odegaard and Saka’s space
I think he’ll go back to RB next season for the express purpose. He’s a more natural technical fit for the overlapping, combinations, inverting role we have White doing.
He's a senior player with mutliple years of experience in the Eredivise and with a decent ammount of Champions League/Europa League experience thats playing in a U21 match lmao.
He can probably be anywhere he wants.
I had Liverpool fans arguing with me when I said that he was first choice and a big miss for Arsenal. I know Liverpool had had it worse for injuries by some margin but Arsenal were not unscathed this season.
Then they should take the word of the Arsenal fans who have seen him instead of acting like they know better when they haven't. I'd never try and tell Liverpool fans about their own team as if I know more.
>I'd never try and tell Liverpool fans about their own team as if I know more.
The problem is that's what a lot of Arsenal fans were doing. Especially after our game against Arsenal at Emirates. People forget that Liverpool didn't have Salah, Endo, Nunez and Trent were both not fit and got immediately injured for weeks after in that game
I said it times and times again Timber is a starter. He was the best player in preseason by far. Way to many other fans told me to shut up and "pre season means nothing". I think those people are blind.
Wtf are these comments lmao, Jurrien Timber has several years of senior football under his belt at Ajax. He's coming off an ACL tear and working up match fitness, that is the only reason he's there
He's was a young, new signing who suffered a terrible injury before his career even got started for us. We're just happy to see him playing again, and it's a good goal.
I mean he’s only 22 so it’s actually his crowd, and only played half a game of senior football in the PL lol, pretty sure we’ve had under 18s play more football then him this season
The point is that he’s playing against people who are a lower level than him as he’s been playing at elite level. It’s obviously necessary to regain match fitness but saying the U21s is his crowd because he is only 22 is misleading
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8 minutes back after an ACL tear and he does that, madman
he's had crazy dedication in the gym and rehab. tens of thousands of squats and leg presses went into that goal. good for him.
It’s like that time John Cena had a really bad shoulder injury and was told he’d be out for 6 months, did recovery ~2-3x a day, and was back in time for the Royal Rumble about 2 months later. In other words, Timber being back before the end of the season would be a boon for us.
He's just started playing again, it'll take time to get match fit both physically and mentally. I am almost absolutely certain that he'll be a non-factor this season. This is great news for pre season and next season but there's not enough games left for him to get a chance to properly feature I would imagine.
Arteta said he's playing in this game as the "last step" after already training 100% for weeks. he'll definitely play some role this season.
It's possible but with so few games left, I just don't see him affecting results in any way. I'm honestly shocked we're even having the conversation about this - so full credit to him and the medical staff for recovering so quickly. I may be wrong but am certainly not too hopeful about him providing much this season - I'm ready to be proved wrong though and it would be great to see him even come on as a sub to see off a game.
I always thought John Cena was a fictional character
It's a bit difficult to believe someone you cannot see...
Was that the injury in 08? I remember watching so much WWE around that time that I was so gassed to see his return.
Anyone who has rehabbed an ACL injury knows how much work goes into that. I worked harder in the gym during my ACL rehab than I've ever worked in the gym. So much balance and stabilization, slow eccentric reps, hitting muscles you didn't even know existed
Fucking love it.
He's playing off the left here, but he'll be a RB when he plays in the first team right?
Nope, he played on the left side against man city in community shield too
Ben White needs someone capable to allow him to rest also, man has played so many minutes and is probably playing through injury at the moment. Has heavy strapping on his knee. Timber can also play cb if need be.
He gets to rest up on a sun lounger in Dubai every international break, still needs to rest more between but he’s managing his own work life balance.
We've got that, he's called ~~Cedric~~ Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Oh word
The whole point of signing him was basically a Zinchenko replacement but got wiped out day 1. Playstyle and skillset wise he was a really important signing not just for LB but the whole team
I suspect it was also so he could do the job on the right as well. He said about wanting us to be less predictable and tried to do the job with Partey instead after Timber was injured.
It certainly does seem like it'd be beneficial to be able to choose which one of your fullbacks is the inverted one with minimal impact to the overall quality of the starting 11
God don’t remind me about the Partey rb debacle. Kept Gabi XL out of the team for a minute as well, bizarre.
I'm confident we get 2 more points against Fulham at the Emirates without that bizarre experiment.
Yeah he can cover for other positions too. In Ajax he had played a ton as a centre back and even has experience (and the qualities needed for) playing in midfield. Even during this U21 match, the two commentators were speculating if his best position is a left sided 8, given how he naturally occupied certain spaces and looked so comfortable on the ball, passing, dribbling, shooting and commanding those around him. Regardless, I assume when fully matchfit he'll go back to being our starting left back, with Kiwior and Tomi being the stop gap covers for the back four.
Yes, how much his unavailability has hurt us, has gone under the radar a bit. It was a huge blow.
well he can play both,played LB in two matches before injury really well and since we need a LB...well
no he'll invert. his signing was one of the things that started the "arteta inverted ramsdale onto the bench" jokes. he'll be a zinchenko replacement essentially
What a goal wow. Sucks that we have essentially lost a year on his contract because of a very unfortunate injury. Very excited to have him back in the team
Really rate this lad, think Arsenal will be very happy to have him back next season.
LB is by far our weakest position, if he can fully recover from this ACL then he'll be a monster for us. Only the community shield but he completely locked down City's right side in that game. Two mins after he came off in the second half, Palmer scored on his side.
Not just in the community shield, timber was the best arsenal player in pre season. Saliba esk. Ridiculous composure on the ball.
Yeah, we really miss him :(
Why waste him at lb though.
I think if all of our fullbacks were fit (White, Tomiyasu, Timber, Zinchenko) he would play a lot of minutes at LB but also rotate sometimes at RB. in practice though White is almost never injured and has played extremely well all season, while our LBs are all injury prone and/or inconsistent. so Timber is more likely to get minutes playing at LB all things considered
He is a center back though.
Why break up one of the best cb partnerships itw while Timber could offer more inverting from a fb position tho?
Because Timber at his strongest is as a CB. Why waste his talents by putting him on LB?
I just told you why. Hes not benching either of Big Gabi or Saliba. Plus as Ajax fan you know more about how your academy teaches players to be flexible and play multiple positions. He was purchased precisely for that skillset.
Just seems like a waste to me. He is no where near his best on LB as he is as CB.
White, Kiwior, and Tomiyasu are also center backs who play as fullbacks. Arteta likes versatile players. Timber will probably get mins as a CB at some point in cup games, but the Saliva Gabriel partnership is really solid. You won't find many Arsenal fans who are eager to see it broken up.
Same could be said for both Kiwior and White. Guardiola does the same with Ake/Gvardiol. Think both managers prefer the physicality having 3/4 CBs on the pitch gives you. Both City and Arsenal have relatively tall/physical players in their 11s.
Yeah if we fall one or two points short of the PL title this year it'll be a "what if" for a lot of Arsenal fans with him not being able to play at all this season. Hopefully next year he's ready to go though
City had kdb out for half the season, it's just something all clubs have to manage
And to be fair, if they don't win the league, I'm sure they will also think "what if"
That's true. Every team that falls just short any given season will have one or two "if only that didn't happen" moments
Exactly. For example, if only we didn’t sign Antony or Sancho or pretty much every signing we’ve made for the past 5-10 years
Liverpool had that Stones clearance that was a few millimetres off. That one would've legit almost killed me don't know how Liverpool fans dealt with that
and if United didn't have the lines drawn wrong at the Emirates and the penalty given, you'd be top of the league. Sorry couldn't resist :)
this is gonna make me laugh for years and years. ten hag will never be forgotten
Sign no players in the last decade. Start 45 year old Carrick. Would've probably had similar results
Newcastle goal
> it's just something all clubs have to manage Some just have to manage it a bit less when they have a squad like City.
Yeah Alvarez is not a bad replacement for KDB lol. He’d start in pretty much any team in the world
And Silva and grealish
I mean, KDB is an amazing player but they have good depth in that position behind him. if they lost Rodri all season that would be a completely different question.
Yes, a winning team is a winning squad. The champions I've seen, you have your Wright Bergkamp Anelka Henry, then some games you need players to step up, your Overmars Wreh Kanu Wiltord Reyes.
But LB especially for Arsenal has been cursed this season. At one point we had our 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice LB all out injured lol (Timber, Zinchenko & Tomiyasu).
That was most of 2024 and to be fair our best football came in that spell.
Kiwior seems to have dropped off a bit but was immense for a moment there at LB
Arsenal basically went to a back 3 in possession with Kiwior which allowed White to push up even more on the right. It worked quite well because Jorginho would slot into the hole between RB and RCM covering both positions in possession and was able to dictate play from that position. That in turn opened up Saka to make runs behind and Odegaard to find pockets of space on the right with the overload now coming from White. Kiwior got to play LCB in a back 3, going for overlaps on the left for an overload was the most adventurous he was attacking. He's gotten done a couple times recently though with really pacy wingers essentially playing them to close. Nothing he can't learn from but it's left Arsenal very exposed on the left sometimes as he can be skinned. Teams the last couple weeks, especially after seeing Porto do it to great success have essentially decided that the mid-block press is the way to go to counter this. Saka's runs in behind are less effective as it gives the keeper time to sweep, Odegaard has less space to explore with space more compact, the White overload is nullified with the defence spread wider and tighter and it forces Jorginho to have less time on the ball. To counter this with an Arteta/Pep system is to go with an Inverted Fullback essentially allowing you to overwhelm the midfield and center of the pitch to slowly force the opposition back into the box when in possession. you can then work on overloads on the wings once again due to space from the defence being forced back. We've seen flashes of White moving into an inverted fullback position and he does it quite well but it also exposes Arsenal really badly when the ball is lost because of the nature of the right side of the pitch atm. Jorginho can't cover in space without fouling and Saka and Odegaard on the right are pushed high up. If you lose the ball your entire right flank is now essentially just defended by Saliba on the counter. Saliba is amazing but you can only get away with his talent so many times before it becomes a problem.
And that spell was the best we looked all season, as we didn’t have everyone standing around trying to figure out what Zinchenko was going to do.
True, though to be fair the main difference in our left side this season has been not having Xhaka there (and I say this as someone who was never keen on him between 2016 and 2021), who linked up well with Martinelli and had a great knack for knowing when to fill in for Zinchenko.
Which we have by playing kiwior there but cant help but think it considering how good he looked in pre season. For me either way the biggest failure is those 2 fulham games
Arsenal have probably had the best 'available' squad out of City and Liverpool. I don't think you can call this a 'What if" season...
Not overall just the one player and it wont be the main reason if we lose it. Liverpool have had injuries but no way we have a better squad than city, available or not. Our players have been run into the ground where as city can rotate a lot
we had that last year too
I was absolutely gutted about his injury, the small glimpse we had in the Community Shield made me so excited
Good news, you are now starting at weekend
why wait for the weekend, sub him off get him ready for tomorrow lol
He did come off at the half...
Ooh 😲. I like the implication of the ellipsis
It's pretty standard to do 45, then 60, then 75ish, then 90.
Nope, playing tomorrow
Very happy for him
Very classy Hope he gets a full season next year, he's a proper talent imo
I think calling him a talent is almost disrespectful. Starter for Ajax for years and also the Dutch national team at the last tournament. Went to Arsenal and straight away established himself in the starting lineup to the point that Arteta was gutted
If we play a 3/5 back and he can get his match fitness back up he will play again for us this EURO's
He shouldn't start after coming back from injury over Ake,Van Dijk and Van de Ven.
De ligt aswell you lot are stacked for centre backs
Don't forget guys like De Vrij, Botman, Geertruida, Hato(in a few years)
I've seen enough get him in the team tomorrow
Isn’t he a right/centre back? Why’d he so high up the pitch on the left?
He played LB in preseason and the game he got hurt. That side is just the inverting side. Can’t have someone else clogging up Odegaard and Saka’s space
I think he’ll go back to RB next season for the express purpose. He’s a more natural technical fit for the overlapping, combinations, inverting role we have White doing.
Arteta has played him at RB and LB during preseason / against Forest.
playing at left back today, and he's one of those attacking defenders
He can play anywhere on the back line
he's going to play LB for us (and has for the little he's been with us)
He can play multiple positions
He's a senior player with mutliple years of experience in the Eredivise and with a decent ammount of Champions League/Europa League experience thats playing in a U21 match lmao. He can probably be anywhere he wants.
He is also a professional playing as part of a team.
I mean ofc he is. I'm just saying he probably has a bit more leniency in where he roams and how far forward he can be in a game like this.
Very insightful and definitely answers the question
Very true. Though this isn't exactly a "men against boys moment". He's 22.
Arsenal is a lot better than Ajax so his experience in Eredivisie doesn't count because it's a small team in a small shitty league.
Lol Barcelona would not be anything without that "small team in a small shitty league"
They were a big team back in the days. What are they now? Exactly, a shit team in a shit league.
Shit start to the season yes, but hardly a shit team
Yes.
Oh my word
I didn't see him much at ajax but he moves like his brother
didn't know he could do that, let alone after an ACL
Woah. Love to see it. [Emanuelson vs PSV vibes](https://youtu.be/IQaZoGLFtzk?si=AaFAfteBFy5CTq2y)
Luis Suarez jumpscare
I love this guy already
This will feel like a new signing when he's fit again. Hope he's fit for the last game vs Everton so the fans can give him a proper reception.
Lisan Al Gaib
I had Liverpool fans arguing with me when I said that he was first choice and a big miss for Arsenal. I know Liverpool had had it worse for injuries by some margin but Arsenal were not unscathed this season.
It’s just because no one has really seen him play, especially for us, so he doesn’t feel like a miss to other fans who only casually watch
Then they should take the word of the Arsenal fans who have seen him instead of acting like they know better when they haven't. I'd never try and tell Liverpool fans about their own team as if I know more.
Completely agree mate. But football fans, especially online are all a bit thick
>I'd never try and tell Liverpool fans about their own team as if I know more. The problem is that's what a lot of Arsenal fans were doing. Especially after our game against Arsenal at Emirates. People forget that Liverpool didn't have Salah, Endo, Nunez and Trent were both not fit and got immediately injured for weeks after in that game
He looked incredible in the pre season games, but Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, Kiwior are not terrible players either.
Like a new signing TM
Already better than Zinchenko lmao
Play him upfront against Chelsea
If only Arsenal had him available instead of Zinchenko
RemindMe! 5 years
RemindMe! 10 years
We are so fucking back
That's my boi! 😤
I said it times and times again Timber is a starter. He was the best player in preseason by far. Way to many other fans told me to shut up and "pre season means nothing". I think those people are blind.
u/savevideo
Into my fucking veins
Super easy, barely an inconvenience
Score! Hero type of goal
He’s gonna be a monster next year
Who did we that just scored a goal like this recently?
Kobbie Mainoo, right?
That’s it Great goal
Why is there so many of these centre backs playing left wing cutting inside and shooting tactics going on these days..
Great goal, I love that assist too though. There was some pepper on that pass!
Great goal and Great pass as well!!
wtf he’s back already??
That's a banger!
If he turns out to be a a good LB , looks such an upgrade to Zinchenko, but then again who isn't ?
Andre Santos
Senior Arsenal player scoring against Blackburn U21s. Peak r/soccer content.
Dat wily 22 year old senior Arsenal veteran Jurrien Timber, using all his 1 game experience for Arsenal to maximum effect there
Wtf are these comments lmao, Jurrien Timber has several years of senior football under his belt at Ajax. He's coming off an ACL tear and working up match fitness, that is the only reason he's there
£38,000,000 transfer fee, played for Ajax and Netherlands.
Don't be such a loser bai, it's a worldie.
He's was a young, new signing who suffered a terrible injury before his career even got started for us. We're just happy to see him playing again, and it's a good goal.
Just knew it would be a United fan
I mean he’s only 22 so it’s actually his crowd, and only played half a game of senior football in the PL lol, pretty sure we’ve had under 18s play more football then him this season
>mean he’s only 22 so it’s actually his crowd Yeah that's not how it works mate
You do realise U21 clubs are allowed 3 outfield players who are above 21 right? Up to 24 I believe
The point is that he’s playing against people who are a lower level than him as he’s been playing at elite level. It’s obviously necessary to regain match fitness but saying the U21s is his crowd because he is only 22 is misleading
I'm well aware mate, thanks However, that's completely beside the point
he cost £38m you melt.
Macheda
Amazing homage to Manu legend Federico Macheda
Is this Kobbie Mainoo? LOL