NOBODY Does What Timber Does

I love jurian timber Cameo against walls when he came on with about 20 minutes to play he gave Arsenal so much to get over the line of those final 20 minutes B interesting he added it in a way that I don't think a lot of us expected in this video I'm going to break down what he did how he did it and why Michel artetta trusts him so much but let's start by going into his numbers and some of them are really impressive in the two-nil win he played 22 minutes he came on a left back for Alexander zenchenko and he had a pass completion of 90% with nine of his passes completed out of the 10 attempted six carries there as you can see with three attempted take on two of those attempted take on were successful take on 14 touches in total and he even managed a shot at goal that did go quite a way over the bar but listen he's having efforts on goal we love to see it you might be looking at those numbers thinking yeah they look pretty impressive lots of carries in there very good pass completion rate obviously only gave the ball away once in terms of in possession he's taking players on we know some of those moments of skill we saw you think that's all great but when you look at it just like from a distance for a second they're all attacking stats they're all they're the kind of stats you look at look at if you're talking about a Winger or a central Midfield or a number 10 maybe even a striker but this is interesting because we're talking about a center back/ right back/ left back who could play across the back four and was probably brought on to shore up the game a little bit so I look at some of the defensive numbers and as you can see from FB ref I got nothing there's nothing it's zeros across the board from tackles in the defensive third to interceptions to blocks to whatever it is you're looking at clearances he didn't make a single one of them those his defensive numbers were zero across the board and again he was brought on at tunil up probably to shore up the game for zenchenko CU of course he's more defensively sturdy options in zinchenko he had no defending to really do so score data backs that up okay one ball recoveries in there and I did look at some other data on sofa score that told us he did win two ground jewels and two aerial Jewels but again you look at sofa score's data for average positions and there he is as much in the almost right half space right inside Channel right wing position as he was at left back and of course he did play at left back and a lot of those moments came from Corners set pieces and circumstances B just showed you you got into some really good attacking areas too so why is this important why are we mentioning all this and why is it kind of important in relation to the subm for zenchenko because I don't know about all of you but when that change was made zenchenko came off Timber came on I thought this is sensible okay preserve the clean sheet see out the game we've actually spent a lot of the game without the ball we actually did concede quite a lot of possession towards especially in that second half and you're thinking okay sh it up you know it's important that we have our best defenders out on the pitch in that moment but it wasn't what he added out of possession because as you can see a lot of the defensive numbers are redundant he didn't do anything it's what he added in possession in terms of composure in terms of a Class A press resistance and a I think a sort of willingness to get on the ball and settle things down that we all knew he had but I don't think any of us thought that that substitution was with that in mind I want to show you two two key moments that happened in the game this first one you'll remember it is trossard throwing the ball back to jurrian Timber in the 93rd minute I mean this is the composure he's showing so late in the game and as you can see that we're in this situation where if he loses possession there's five wolves Players let's highlight them there's five wolves players ready to go ready to pounce and you know what you Nick could goal in the 94th minute there's five minutes of added time we never know could get really nervy but they're all ready to go and he's got with him a few options really could go back to Gabrielle but you've got celebra and white who are there too again we're a little bit outnumbered in this situation and you'll know the moment I'm referring to because when the ball comes from him from trossard takes a touch and then turns in between two players press resistance bro breaks through the two players are trying to Nick the ball off Timber and the game opens up for him now In fairness and I should say this he ends up actually losing the ball later cuz he does a bit too much but in that moment it was terrific I bet T was loving it especially when you can add that at nil nil in a k game maybe against some of the better teams to open up the match and give Arsenal's midfielders a little bit more room to play because you've invited teams on with the press and you've taken how many have we highlighted there 1 2 three four five players out the game all behind jiren Timber as he's running forward with the ball cuz he looked after let's show that moment once more the ball comes from trossard and then just lovely cuz he just lets it come across his body a little bit and then just a really really quick turn and dash through the two players it was brilliant to watch it wasn't the only moment I loved from jir and Timber as well let's look at Timber's dribble because what he's got here arsenal of course at this point I think it's come from a set piece sacka has the ball erar is there to support he always gets close to sacka in these situations and we know that Ben White down that right channel would be making this overlap Timber does it too saca's got the ball Timber makes the dart cuts in and goes round two players we'll try to show a little bit slower let's have a little look at it in quarter speed cuz Timber makes his start here sacka rolls it in that Defender goes with him but he sells him there you go and then on his left foot drags it he does it so so quickly he's taking two out the game again the defender gets across makes a recovery tackle he win a corner but you just saw two moments from him you're thinking you look like a Winger here you don't look like a center back/ fullback you you're moving like a Winger in that area and you're moving like a press resistant six in that area of the ball area of the pitcher we in the 93rd minute of the game and it's so good to see that from Jan Tim just makes me think when you look at the attacking numbers that he put up in that 22-minute spell and you look at the defensive numbers which are basically nil and of course the itest tells you did have some defensive moments you did have things to do that maybe weren't Quantified by stats but just tells that yes artetta might have thought of him you know coming on to sort of sh things up defensively but massive part of what Timber did was add some composure add some class and just settle things down for Arsenal and it makes you think think when we're talking about inverting fullbacks or touchline Wingers he's just shown in two moments there he can do both you need me to invert and get us playing I can do that you you need to show some quality some some Pace some drive out on the wing out in wide areas I'll give you that too this might be one of the most complete defenders in the league certainly from an attacking perspective and I'm so excited to see what artetta does with him in terms of how he uses him as well and not so much just the positions but actually the amount he does I think this Cameo was so so encouraging not just because of what he did but the fact that he was used the tool and we'll take you back to what artetta said around the end of July where he said we're going to have to manage him this is Jan timber in the next few weeks especially because of the load he has been able to do in the last few months compared to the next two weeks is very different but we are very excited he is a leader he loves to be on show and a big presence in everything that we do highlight everything not just a a good defensive Outlet not just someone who can give us something different at fullback Center back in every phase of play I think you saw that even in a 22-minute cameo but what I love about that and the reason I bring this quote up is they're talking about managing him now you got to think we're going to the last 20 minutes of a game against wolves opening day the premier we're only 2-0 up we're not 4-0 up in cruising and he could have turned to Ricardo califur just on it for 42 million just played the Euros but didn't go too far in it um and could play left back Center back that might have been the option to go with but the fact he turn to jurian Timber is super encouraging for a few reasons a it shows he trusts him in All Phases of the game I think that's a big thing and of course we haven't seen that much of Timber but but the trust is absolutely there he also tells us that his knee is fine I know I mentioned that quote where they're talking about managing him and you know getting him through those next few weeks remember he didn't play the last three games of preseason against Liverpool Lyon and lusen he played the Bournemouth and man united games which you know were obviously a lot earlier in preseason so he's maybe not quite got up to speed but look at him ready to go and his knee looks absolutely fine and I also wonder whether this was about giving him some minutes ahead of Star team against Villa where of course they play with the leers and Leon Bailey been in great form in 2024 is Timber actually an option you use in that area being right fitted might match up really well but also isn't a uh what's the word he's not a compromise on what we've been doing with zenchenko inverting and getting into those really good areas of the pitch and controlling the games the way we have been so that makes me wonder that too I think this Cameo was super encouraging in many many ways the fact he even got an appearance the way he played and what it might mean for Arsenal's upcoming games as well great to see why don't Jiran Timber it wasn't all perfect of course of course there were moments where you thought maybe he's overcooked it here maybe he could have done a little bit better there but this is a guy who in 22 minutes performed like that did all that and gave us a highlight reel in a game where we were sort of pretty comfortably leading it was really impressive I can't wait to see more of this guy let me know your thoughts on jwan timber in the comments section below hit the like button if you enjoy this video and I really encourage you all to go watch the latest Gose podcast where me Nick and Choy discussed everything Arsenal could do tactically better to go ahead and win the league because it's looking like this season could be the year that we do it many many thanks everyone catch you soon