There is a common misconception that Ben White is a footballer who doesn’t like football. It has been repeated so often over the past few years that over time it has become accepted as fact by the outside world.
This is not true. Not completely. White doesn’t really like watching football, but he definitely loves playing it. He loves sports, competitiveness, challenges on the field, the feeling of winning and pushing himself every day and every session.
Everything else about the game? White is not overly fussy. What about the brutality of elite-level competition? This is his passion. “He trains almost every day like he’s playing the Champions League final,” Mikel Arteta once said of the £50 million defender.
“I know people say I don’t like football,” White says. “I go home and football is not on my mind. I can be a normal person, relax. [But] “It’s very busy when I’m here.”
At Arsenal, White is loved by the coaches for his relentless desire to win. It’s the competition that fuels his belly, the thought of dueling his opponent and coming out on top. Even at home, he says, his competitive attitude prevails.
“I want to win everything I do,” he says. “Mistress and I play a lot of games at home and I won’t let her win. “I remember being young and always wanting to win, playing aggressively and doing everything I could to win.”
These competitions he does with his wife Milly include the Uno card game and stick-ball competitions. He jokes that if he starts losing, “the ball will disappear.”
For Arsenal, White is one of Arteta’s warriors. He regularly plays with pain – “It’s so important to be there [and] “I’m there every week,” says the player who brings a much-needed street edge to the field.
Arteta recently talked about training his players in the dark arts of football. The master of sneaky moves and cynical fouls, White is perhaps the only player who does not need extra homework. An example would be if he suddenly loses his runner. Rather than let him go, the 26-year-old will happily take him down.
“If I don’t do that, they’ll probably score a goal,” he says. “We’re going back to doing everything to win. “I know I can’t stop everyone, and I know I’m not the best one-on-one defender, but I can do things to help the team in game situations against wingers.”
Last weekend’s defeat against Newcastle United, where White came up against Anthony Gordon, was an example of this. “We received instructions before the match about which processes should hurt us and he was one of them. My job was to stop him from rolling inside, so I had to stay as tight as possible otherwise I would foul him. Otherwise he’ll come in.”
White’s guile extends to set pieces, where he is tasked with being as troublesome as possible. This usually involves blocking the opposition goalkeeper and he is the man who attracts the defenders’ attention in the six yard area. “There are all kinds [going on],” he says. “Standing on your feet, your elbows. It doesn’t matter. I just need to stand in front of you and see what happens.”
None of this is to belittle White’s technical ability. You can’t be an Arsenal regular under Arteta without tactical awareness, passing range and a willingness to receive the ball in tight spaces. In recent weeks, he has demonstrated these qualities by stepping inside from the right-back position and effectively playing as a midfielder.
White downplays the importance of change, although there’s no doubt it’s a complex role. He didn’t say it himself, but others in Arteta’s squad have not been as good at adapting to the unique demands of the position.
“There were a lot of instructions about where I needed to be, when I needed to be there,” he says of the latest change. “I think when Mikel is your manager it makes things easier for you. I think most players can play in that position because if you want to play for Arsenal the important thing is that you are technically very talented, strong and fast. I think most players can do that.
“I’m comfortable playing there, but there are completely different things to look at. When you play centre-back and right-back like me, I just have to look forward; I never worry about what’s behind me. [role] It’s a completely different part of the game.”
Last season, White started 36 of 38 Premier League matches as Arsenal mounted an unlikely title challenge. He says the team is better this season. Before Monday’s trip to Sheffield United, Arsenal had won six league games in a row.
“We have improved greatly,” White says. “I think it would have been very different if we were in the same situation this year. There is nothing to lose. We will go out there and do our best and try to perform like we did in the last few games.”