Gabriel’s English lessons appear to be going well with the player confirming he stipulated to his tutor straightaway that they teach him the basic lingo of a Premier League defender.
Talking to Arsenal.com (in Portuguese) about his debut against Middlesbrough last weekend, the Brazilian revealed a few of the phrases to make it into his lexicon:
“In relation to understanding my team-mates, I always wanted to be tuned into what [Laurent Koscielny] was doing so I could try doing the same. I tried to listen to him as well, to listen to a few words.
“In my [English] lessons I always ask the teacher to teach me the main words we use on the pitch, like “defend, leave, go back”.
“I had no difficulty with my defensive partner. We understood each other really well, and the most important thing is that we managed to win the game.”
Arseblog News looks forward to him progressing to Theo’s regular post-game patois of: ‘At the end of the day, you know, it’s a game of two halves, you know, and I always give 101 per cent, you know…so credit to the lads…”
The new boy also revealed that aside from a few pre-game nerves he was actually pretty calm about performing in front of the Emirates crowd.
“When I was told I would play I felt really calm, then on matchday I was still calm. As soon as we got to the stadium I felt butterflies in my stomach because I think it is normal for every player to feel that way. The day you stop feeling nervous is the day you should stop playing football.
“I had that feeling but as soon as I stepped on the pitch it was all gone. The feeling in my stomach went away. I saw that wonderful crowd, that great show, that beautiful stadium and the game became quite relaxed.”
Good for him.
Has to be the first time an Arsenal player’s first English words in an interview were anything vaguely similar to “defend, leave, go back” rather than “bomb forward up 2-1 in the 80th minute and embarrassingly concede a goal on the break.”
Bodes well.
You can already see he is looking to also assert his authority. They way he wacked his head after a mistake and his Skeletor Keown look tells me he is that nutter we’ve been waiting for.
Funny how he didn’t want to emulate the defender who won a world cup.
Yeah, its that Keown resemblance we have been missing. Bring it on, Gabriel..
He was just talking about his partner for the day, who was Koscielny.
Because the boscielny is the best defender in the league. By a few miles too.
Love the relaxation, bodes well )so long as he doesn’t get too relaxed!).
One of the best debuts I’ve seen for a long time.
Eats, shoots and leaves – Andrei Arshavin
I really loved that little Russian. What a goal against barca, probably my favorite arsenal win of all time. And who can forget the 4 at anfield? I think he’s deserved every single pie he’s ever eaten.
You had to love the little Russian, from January when he signed up until the end of the following season he was brilliant, it’s a shame things didn’t work out in the end but he definitely left his mark. The 4 against Liverpool were awesome, his first goal against Blackburn, his screamer at OT
Here-here. Replays of the goal against Barca still make me stand up and cheer.
I always thought he is a bad fit with arsenal due to his small size. (remember the invincible who are all quite physical?)
Years later, we have another small size attacking player named santi. It was then that I realised that size matter, but your desire and heart matter more. AA just lost that spark as a player.
A wombat!
Bodes well.
Gabriel, Who’s best cb in league? “Laurent koscielny of course”
What is it with Blogs and now News Hound having a go at Theo? Sheesh!
Are you trying to say Theo isn’t even more boring than Aaron Ramsey in interviews?
Because if you are, I demand you provide us with the evidence and the proof and some more evidence.
To be fair, to quote Theo’s favourite beginning to every sentence, at the end of the day, I’d say they’re about equal.
It can actually be against the rules to say ‘leave’ in a football match. Law 12 “A player must be cautioned for unsporting behaviour if the player verbally distracts an opponent during play or at a restart.” You usually have to qualify the call with your name otherwise it can distract the opposing team.
I hope somebody has communicated this to him on the back of this interview. That said I’ve never played at a level where more than half of the players aren’t natural English speakers so maybe referees give them leeway with regards to this.
Sunday League rule that, no?
Can’t shout ‘LEAVE IT!’, gotta put a name on it.
He’s actually one of the better spoken footballers, in my opinion. If you want witty repartee I’m afraid you’re looking in all the wrong places.
Bugger, meant to be a reply above.
Correct, it’s a Sunday League rule. Calling intructions to a teammate is not verbally distracting an opponent. The only time you might see this called is when there’s no teammate around and it’s obviously intended to trick the opponent. Referees (at least at the higher levels) are trained to consider a player’s intent as well as his actions.
Looking at the majority of referees in the current P.L, you could be mistaken for thinking that they haven’t been trained at all. That they just breezed in by chance.
The level of reffing in the P.L is often shite. They gotta get their act together and fast.
When is video coming in? Its about time imo, far too many mistakes by inept officials. The P.l will loose its credibility unless they get a grip and soon.
True, but you also need to consider that the level of refereeing below the PL is even more shite.
Video assistance will come soon; or as soon as the TV folk realise that it provides an opportunity for sponsorship. ‘The refs asking for help from the video referee (should’ve gone to specsavers)’
I remember my teacher saying you can’t say ‘leave it’ but couldn’t take him seriously since he was still wearing suits made in the 70’s.
If you are a true Arsenal fan that actually lives in London then you’ll know the squad is a true representation of the supporters. Unlike those scums in Manchester who’s fans fund then from Asia.
Forever COYG!!!
I went to Asia. There were people in Arsenal shirts everywhere I went, every street I was on. It made me happy, that I should have something in common with people on the other side of the world.
Every club has international support and that is a good thing. Can we not use it as a stick to beat each other with?
Funny that, my son lives in Thailand and he reckons that they are all Man Ure supporters. How so?
As a fan from Asia, I’m not offended at all. I just think that that is dangerously close to the line crossed by the small group of Chelsea fans, no?
Its just fun to take the piss out of Utd for having no fans actually in Manchester 🙂
One of my favourite experiences of watching a Man U game (there isn’t much competition) was in Malaysia in a McDonalds of all places (2009). Went in to grab a Coke and happened to see the pre-match build up was on – within minutes the whole place was swarmed with Utd fans who packed out the whole of Maccas as if it was a pub, and proceeded to watch their side get stuffed by Fulham. Good times!
Well said, and imo what happened in Paris on the metro wasn’t close to the line but way, way beyond it. I have lived in London all my life. Most all Londoners are multi racial and glad to be so, however the idiots that are not, are usually Johnny come-lately(s), in my experience……
Leave? But he’s only just arrived! [Shit, is that the queue for the cloakroom…?]
^^^What the hell are you on about^^^
I was deliberately misinterpreting the word “leave” for comic effect, then humbly acknowledging the feebleness of such humour by intimating that I would get my coat and implying that, in order to retrieve it from the cloakroom, where coats are often deposited at night clubs and the like, I would have to join a sizeable queue, such is the quality of the humour generally on display in the arseblog news comments section. This was a cheeky comment, if you will, as I generally enjoy the quality of the humour here a good deal. So, herein, I was sort of making… Read more »
why single Theo out for the samegeneric post match interviews just about everyone does? cmon
it was boro for god’s sake
Cheeky Theo dig, as per 😉
Gabriel, that’s a girl’s name.
Gabrielle.
Dreams can come true…
http://www.byrneholics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Capture-116.png
Do not feed the troll.
Comment:Gabriel; merely an Archangel.
Like this fella a lot. Got a really good feeling about his future.
“He’s come in ‘ere, but he ain’t done nuffink yet. Saturday will be tuff, but we’ll go there and give it 110%, run around a bit, an’ I fink we’ll nick it”
*arahnd
Im sure he knows the essential english fuck off fuck you you manc twat
Theo really does say “you know” a lot. Like a lot a lot.
¤Szcseny. ¤Chambers¤Rhino’¤DeAbereu¤Monreal. ¤Coquelin¤Cazorla. ¤Walcott¤Ozil¤Sanchez. ¤Giroud.
“Are you injured?”
So we’ve seen him do fairly well with Koscielny considering its a debut.
It bodes well. Koscielny could not partner Vermaelen and vice versa.
Gabriel should match with Per too.
Finally we may have a player who can rotate through Meterscielny.
This has been an issue since start of season (if not last where we were incredibly lucky not to sustain too many injuries in this area)
I don’t think there was a problem with Koch and Verminator. I think he just could handle the prussure of being a captain.
Poetic shit.
Speaking of which is anyone else getting the before and after colon picture on their iPhone under the comment box for ads? Like one is a colon crusted with shit and the other is clean? Why the fuck am I seeing this? And no I haven’t been searching for John Terry on Google!
In no time Gabriel will call the ball uptown funk and won’t give it to ya!!! Don’t believe me? just watch! COYG 😀
1 Enoch 10:9
And the Lord said unto Gabriel: ‘Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates’
Love your moniker, coooool….
Not quite sure I get the Theo patois reference
Theo’s patois reminds me of this Key and Peele video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l9SDAqAV3U
He looks good. Rather kosielnyesque. I can’t help though but wonder how young Stones went to Everton under our noses. He’s an Adams in the making. Hoping he can still well be a gunner in the near future.