Ben White Leeds
Posted in2021-2022-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Arsenal star defender Ben White eyes England success after returning to national team #ARSENALFC

March 26, 2022
A FORMER Albion star says pre-match curries and half-time fights have prepared him for another stint of international football. Ben White, who left Brighton and Hove Albion last year, has worked his way back into Gareth Southgate’s squad having not been involved since reaching the final of Euro 2020. The Arsenal defender didn’t play a minute of football in the tournament after replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold, winning his only caps to date in two warm-up games. White, who signed for Arsenal for £50 million in July 2021, is now back in the squad ahead of the upcoming World Cup, discussing his loan spell at Newport. “I don’t think I ever thought about playing for England then. I was just thinking I need to be good enough to play in League Two,” he said. “It was one of the best years of my life. I’d gone from an academy where everything is nice, and you have everything you want. And then you go there, and everything is completely different. You’re having a curry for your pre-match meal. “In my first game there was a punch-up at half-time between our own players in our own dressing room. It was a bit scary to be fair. I didn’t want to make any mistakes, that’s for sure.” After being released by Southampton at the age of 16, White said his career could have been derailed completely before joining Brighton. Former Albion star Ben White (right) and Manchester City forward Phil Foden “I didn’t know if I wanted to carry on. It was obviously tough not being wanted,” he said. “I wasn’t good enough when I was younger. I was a late developer. I was probably as tall as I am now but really skinny, gangly, couldn’t really run. “I went to Bristol Rovers on trial for three days. I only did two because we were literally just running up hills. Didn’t get a football out at all and it absolutely killed me, I couldn’t do it. “Then I got a trial at Leicester, they didn’t offer me anything.” After further loans at Peterborough and Leeds, White broke into the Brighton side last season. White played in Arsenal’s season-opening loss at newly-promoted Brentford before missing further defeats to Chelsea and Manchester City having tested positive for Covid-19. “The start of the season was tough,” he said. “The first game wasn’t ideal for me, I didn’t play very well and then I got Covid, so I was out for another two games. “It wasn’t the start I wanted but coming through the season now, I’m playing every week, the team is doing really well and it’s very positive.” White was criticised by pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher following his debut at Brentford. “I saw it, I think it was the first time I’ve actually been singled out. It’s never a nice feeling but it just gives me more incentive to go out there and do well,” he said. “You look at those two players and what they’ve achieved, particularly Jamie as a centre-half. “Some of it obviously you have to look at it and see what they’ve said and some of the stuff they said was true that game. “It wasn’t my best – obviously they’ve had amazing careers and hopefully one day I could have something like that.”
Sean Dyche Burnley
Posted in2021-2022-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Sean Dyche claims that battling draw against Arsenal was a ‘building block’ to survive in Premier League #BURNLEYFC

January 25, 2022
Sean Dyche believes Burnley's battling draw at Arsenal is something to build on as they look to move towards safety in the coming weeks. Burnley returned to Premier League action for the first time in three weeks to hold Arsenal to a goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium. The Clarets have seen a host of games postponed this month due to not having enough players available and fell to the foot of the table as their rivals were able to fulfil fixtures. Wins for fellow relegation candidates Norwich and Newcastle earlier in the weekend only heaped pressure on Burnley, but Sean Dyche’s side battled to a hard-fought point against a below-par Arsenal. “It is a building block, you want to move in the right direction, we just felt it was appropriate to get them right back to the basics,” said Dyche. “It gives us a nice platform to keep building on that performance because I thought the mentality and the performance was spot on coming to a place like this. “With all the situations around the performance today, it has been very, very difficult. We have only had a group we can work with in the last two days because we didn’t have the bodies. “We had to work hard when they had the ball and we did that, it is the mentality for me. We have had players missing, players training and two or three who were out there today who wouldn’t be in a normal set of circumstances.” Burnley's best chance in the first half came when Dwight McNeil’s cross-cum-shot was palmed behind by Aaron Ramsdale, who was almost caught in possession moments later with the hosts starting the game cold. Ramsdale then flapped at a corner as he failed to punch clear and relied on the recalled Rob Holding to spare his blushes. At the other, end Nick Pope saved well from Martin Odegaard with Ben Mee blocking Lacazette’s follow-up attempt. Burnley were lucky to keep a full quota of players on the pitch as Ashley Westwood caught Kieran Tierney late and high, earning just a caution when a red card could easily have been issued by referee David Coote. Arsenal were the side who stepped things up after the restart, Emile Smith Rowe forcing a fine low save out of Pope after a smart corner routine. There was never a siege of the Burnley goal, Mikel Arteta sending on Eddie Nketiah in the hope of adding more firepower to his forward line. Instead, the likes of Ben Mee and James Tarkowski held firm as McNeil had the best chance to win it for the visitors in the closing stages. But Burnley were still able to frustrate the home side and move to within four points of safety, with four games in hand over Norwich in 17th place. Asked about Burnley’s plans for the next fortnight, Dyche added: “We will find that balance, some need a break, some need training. The main thing is to try and stay well and hopefully over the next two weeks we start getting numbers back, fit and sharp.”