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Pundit not impressed by £38m Arsenal player’s positioning, he was caught out straight away

New Arsenal signing Jurrien Timber didn’t have the easiest game against Manchester United last night.

Pundit Ben Thornley gave an early verdict on the Dutch international while .

Mikel Arteta chose a strong side against their Premier League rivals but struggled to get going.

Jurrien Timber played at right-back and lined up alongside William Saliba at centre-back.

Manchester United did a good job of limiting Timber’s attacking output and the Arsenal defender was caught out a couple of times at the back.

Erik ten Hag selected a front three with a focus on pace and knocking the ball over the top of Arsenal’s high back line.

Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images
Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images

The likes of Timber and Saliba possess good recovery pace, but their starting positions often left them vulnerable.

The defender is still getting used to a new system and new teammates.

However, he’ll want to improve on last night’s hour-long performance before the season begins.

Arsenal signing Timber struggles against Man United

After Manchester United created an early chance, : “It’s a brilliant ball from Luke Shaw, both teams in these first five minutes just feeling each other out.

“[They’re] giving the ball away a bit, nobody’s really settled. And then that is a fantastic ball.

“Not great positioning I have to say from [Jurrien] Timber.”

Although it’s easy to focus on the negatives after a defeat, there are already some encouraging signs from Timber.

He’s a natural leader on the pitch and has already been seen handing out instructions to his new teammates.

His new teammates were happy with his debut against the MLS All-Stars and won’t be too concerned about his performance yesterday.

Photo by Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images
Photo by Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has already given his verdict on Timber’s outing yesterday against Manchester United.

He’ll know his team have plenty to work on in the next few weeks.

Integrating three new signings straight into the starting line-up won’t be easy.

That’s especially the case when the players coming in aren’t direct replacements, such as Kai Havertz stepping in for Granit Xhaka.

It will be interesting to see how Arsenal line up in their next friendly against Barcelona on Thursday.