As the current Gunners squad can attest, pressure at Arsenal is nothing new.
With Mikel Arteta’s side looking to hold their nerve in a title battle against Manchester City, expectation has always weighed heavily on the Gunners’ squad.
This was especially true during the latter years of Arsene Wenger’s reign, when fan unrest began to boil over amid constant debate and noise on burgouning social media channels and networks.
Rob Holding on dealing with pressure at Arsenal
For former Arsenal defender Rob Holding though, this pressure never quite penetrated the dressing room, all thanks to the legendary ex-Gunners boss.
“I think it was all just outside noise that didn’t influence the players,” Holding tells FourFourTwo when asked what it was like to play under Wenger during a time when the pressure was cranking up.
“We never paid attention to it.”
Holding was signed by Arsenal from Bolton Wanderers in 2016, two years before Wenger ended his 22-year stint in charge in north London.
“During my second year, when there was all this pressure from the fans, he had been dealing with it for years since he last won the league in 2004,” he adds.
“That was the pressure of being at Arsenal: you had to win.”
Holding would remain at Arsenal through a transitional period which saw Unai Emery last for just 18 months as Wenger’s successor before Mikel Arteta took over in December 2019.
The former England Under-21 international left the club in 2023, but of the three high-profile managers he worked under at the Emirates, who was the most tactically demanding?
“I’d definitely say Mikel was the most tactical in terms of attention to detail,” Holding admits. Emery’s tactics were also really good and I enjoyed playing under him.
“With Wenger, all of the players already knew the system and how we had to play, so we didn’t work on it that much.”
