Mathieu Flamini believes Gabriel proved a lack of English is no barrier to playing well after the Brazilian glided through his Arsenal debut.
The January signing, who was partnered with Laurent Koscielny, looked assured on the ball and alert in the tackle as he helped the Gunners keep Middlesbrough at bay in their 2-0 FA Cup 5th round victory.
Reflecting on his new teammate’s first outing, Flamini noted: “He played very well and he found his place in the team. It’s a very good beginning. The English game is very physical so it’s very good for him because he’s learning very quickly.
“He’s not talking English at all so we’re just trying to adapt with him. He played very well so sometimes you don’t need to speak English to find your place in the Arsenal team.
“He’s a very good character and a very good boy so we’re trying our best to make him part of the team and I think we’re doing well because he had a great game.”
Even a second half yellow card was deemed acceptable by the Emirates faithful who greeted his assassination of Boro’s Adam Reach (video here, 1.10 onwards) with howls of laughter.
Arsene Wenger was similarly impressed, telling Arsenal Player after the game: “He did really well and you see there’s some great potential there, some good focus, good urgency, good desire to defend.
“He made a great recovery tackle in the box and I believe it’s very positive for a first game. He played a little bit with nervousness but overall he had a good performance.”
Loved his reaction when he conceded the corner.
Telepathy…
yeah, i remember him banging his head repeatedly with his hands…..as if telling himself…”you should be smarter than that”….lol…..right attitude!
We don’t want him to be too good a boy, at least not on the pitch.
One game only, against a Championship side, but a great start. Let’s hope he carries it on so the excitement continues.
Absolutely loved the way he banged his head when he conceded the corner. Also loved the way he took out that guy that was breaking at speed. Slum mentality.
Fuck off.
He’s already better then the entire Man Utd back four
you mean back 5 😉
No no no, it’s their back 1. De Gea
Scz out
/sarc
My sons team is better than the man u back four
And yet we couldn’t beat them… in fact they beat us.
if this is him ……”playing with the handsbrake on”?….i am sold!
welcome to the team pal!
I think the early signs are good. He looks fast and skilful.
I really liked his passing. He hits the ball with real purpose and there was quite a zip on many of them.
What I like about him most is he’s that rare breed of tall powerful defenders, but with pretty good pace. I like what I’ve seen from him and I have a sneeky feeling he won’t be taking a lot of shit from Diego Costa (Spain vs Brazil striker issue what not). Let’s hope we finally break that hoodoo against Chelsea, and costing them the title. The only sad part is it’ll be City to benefit, but heck it’s a lesser of two evils as it is.
I like him. He seems very unfussy with little to no flair, exactly what I want to balance the superabundance of flair in the attacking mid. He’s not a spectacular player it seems, he’s a grafter and a doer. I’m excited. And yeah I loved he Toure style reaction … animated and OTT when he fucked up and he started bashing his head. Love him!
Considering the potential for disaster in this game, if he’d been anywhere near us conceding or losing this game, the talk would be very different. Without our talismanic Mert, the defensive line was coordinated, kept possession very well, Chambers ahead of him had the freedom to go and attack and Gabriel wasn’t exposed, and his basic instinct to clear our lines was reassuring. He deserves credit for a fine debut.
He certainly does, and although everyone’s already S’ing his D, Santi did a fine job next to the positionally wavy Flamini. Yes it was a championship team and I wouldn’t be as comfortable if he was playing that deep against a top PL team, but both his and Ozil’s willingness to play as outlets for the defense yesterday helped calm things down and reduced the number of giveaways in the middle of the park that hampered us so. It wasn’t gegenpressing, but Santi has shown countless times against the best teams that if he wants to keep the ball, he’s… Read more »
Dont let’s get to carried away guys.Yes he looked assured and nervous at times.he had a very steady game.but remember who we played.Stars of the night, the three midgets
Flamini says “very” a lot!
I like u Gabriel .you are better than martesakar
Kudos to the scouts for this find.
Very well done indeed. They don’t usually get the credit from us.
It’s hard enough to play with new teammates where you’re trying to remember everyone’s names. To be in a new country, where you can’t speak a word of the language, must be really difficult. He made it look easy, looks good for the future
The benefit of a player comfortable in his position at last. Still too early to tell but signs are very positive with Gabriel. Considering all the hiccups and own goals Koscielny took adjusting in his first season now long forgotten by some fickle fans who can only think of him as always a good player. Players need time to adjust. Giroud has had a lot of stick throughout his time with us. he is a quality player and into double figures with only half the games to play for this season. Gabriel looks to have all the attributes to be… Read more »
Gabriel looks like good business by Wenger – a step up from a Squid or a Silvestre, finally someone to give the BFG competition for his starting position.
Also – the Flamster played well.