Arsene Wenger said he was happy with Gabriel’s debut in today’s 2-0 win over Boro in the FA Cup.
Although the Arsenal defence didn’t have a lot to do, the Brazilian picked up a decent booking and made a couple of very good challenges, and the Arsenal manager declared there’s more to come from the former Villarreal man.
“It was interesting to observe Gabriel today,” said Wenger, “because he played his first game in a cup game that we absolutely had to win.
“He has shown three important qualities – great concentration levels, great urgency to defend and good pace, especially on the recovery tackle he made in the box.
“On the other hand, he played a little bit with the handbrake on because he did not want to make a mistake. From what I’ve seen there’s a lot to come from him because technically he is good at passing as well.”
The manager was also happy with the performance and the 9th home win in a row.
“It’s important that you play well at home because we have plenty of home games in the Premier League.
“It’s important that we feel strong at home because we have some tough opponents here. We still have to play Liverpool, Chelsea and Everton at the Emirates and those will be very important games for us.
“Today we controlled the game from the first to the last minute. They had one chance at the end from a header, but overall I’m pleased with the way we attacked, the way we defended and with the way we played together with a good focus for 90 minutes.”
Great booking, did better than I expected on that side of the defence. Encouraging, good passing, pace and foul.
I am sure I saw Flamini applaud that foul
And what’s up with Flamster and completly missing the fucking target.
Tje long searching highball to Sanchez especially caught me eye. He will be the new Sergio Ramos minus the red card record ofcourse.
decisive tackle took one for the team
e,ll do for me
With Kos and Gabriel in defense we probably have the best looking cb pairing the the league…
Are you serious? Gabriel is what parents tell their children is hiding under their beds! In terms of sheer ugliness he’s right up there with Tevez and Suarez.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, though. We’ve been wanting a tough ugly mofo in defence for a long time now.
Nice game for a debut. Let him build his confidence and understand how to communicate.
Love your name. 10/10.
Yes he did great – thought he’d be targeted or they’d run at him a lot but didn’t happen. Definitely a defender first and the dynamic with Killer Kos looked promising.
We are left to wonder how the league would have panned out if we had him from the beginning. (sigh)
he only has 37 caps for villareal, before which he was playing in the relative obscurity of the brazilian league. his emergence has been so rapid that i don’t imagine he was even on the radar of a club as big as arsenal even 8 months ago. people talk as though you just go and get a quality centre back from the supermarket. there are fuck all out there, and we’ve got 3 of them plus chambers.
So hard to find top centre backs with huge potential for reasonable prices for example mangala 35m, David luiz 50m. Wenger signs koscielny for 8m, per for 10m and Gabriel for 11/12m. 3 cbs for less than mangala! Arsenal and Wenger deserve huge credit for this
True talk. Wenger happy, I am happy, everybody happy. Unto the next round.
Don’t forget what he was able to get from Barcelona for Vermaelen, that’s just as big as the signings he’s made recently.
Think what Liverpool spent. 20 mill for Lovren who’s shit. 19mill for Sahko who’s shit.
Another 7 mill for Ilori who’s shit.
Trust Wenger
Also Sol for free and Kolo for something next to nothing.
Glad Wenger gave him a run today to get some action in England as we may very well need him in league matches before the season is over and now he has his debut out of the way. Wasn’t called into action too much, look a bit nervous with his touches/passing early on which is to be expected, but settled down nicely and you could clearly see the agility and physical prowess he has that Wenger has mentioned.
Squad dept looking very good.
arsenal fc champions 2015/16
oh no he didn’t. ….
Gabriel: You shall not pass. I shall pass.
Thought the lad did great. The only mistake i can remember was the conceding of the corner which he cleared with a great header. Plus the challenge in the box was top notch defending i reckon. keep up the good work gabriel!!
The way he hit his head after that mistake shows his passion
His performance was assured. I hope he keeps it up. He is much quicker than Per and should eventually displace the German
Pace is a useful attribute but not essential at CB especially with kos as the other half of the partnership. John terry is a prime example. Really don’t understand why so many people are insistent on writing off the BFG. Didn’t get over 100 caps for the world champions because he’s pony did he.
I agree. He wasn’t bought for his pace, he was bought for his height. Provided he gets back to winning headers then he’ll rotate with Gabby and Kos depending on the opposition.
You should probably check some stats before mouthing off like that
?
Think he was actually bought for his composure on the ball, but either way the point is that pace isn’t everything at CB. Especially when you have the roadrunner at RB next to you
I agree with you, but you’ve sort of said something complementary about John Terry so I have to vote you down.
perhaps cannavaro would be a more tasteful example. positioning trumps pace any day
Mash and Dennis I totally agree. Terry is genuine vermin – someone you wouldn’t want to employ even if it was to dislodge an almighty log from a u-bend. In purely footballing terms however, he is unfortunately a rather excellent example of how team balance, understanding and formation mitigate the need for a CB to have pace. I conceed that cannavaro may have been a more preferable comparison, but he doesn’t play in the same league. Serie A has a totally different style. He is class nonetheless however.
Pack it in!
JT is a cunt, end of!
Sorry, while I appreciate Per’s positive attributes, in my opinion his lack of pace make him one of the relative weaknesses in the team. If I were an opposing team manager I would always target Per as well as Callum Chambers (if they were playing) due to their lack of pace. I hope that Gabriel goes on and displaces Per…it will make the team stronger.
Not just that, but Per has forced us to play much too deep. Many times this season I’ve lamented the lack of another Koscielny. Now we have him. Per’s going to increase his levels of concentration to stay in the team.
What you have to remember is that playing centre back is usually a two man job. And for everyone who is slating Per for his lack of pace, what makes a great centreback partnership is not pace alone. Gabriel has a more Koscielny esque look about him. Vermaelen and Koscielny didnt work because they were too similar. Eventually Gabriel may take Per’s place in the team but the Mertiscielny axis of awesome is best for now.
Per with pace..
pace in a centre back is actually amazing. its rare to have great pace in cb, and in fact its one of the best tools a cb can have. i honestly think he will displace per but we will have to wait and see.
Sheesh. There is a mirror argument about the same thing at the other end of the pitch, but that bloke’s positioning, touch, and other strengths (including strength) has got him 7 in 10.
I’m sure everyone, including Per, would like for him to have more pace. But he’s certainly doing a job. They’re not Mertescielny for nothing. Before we get all rude insulting him and pushing him out let’s enjoy how he continues to perform and see what Gabriel’s got when the time is right, eh?
He looks sharp on the awareness level, great first match for him and iam just excited to see more of him
My brother and I had a good laugh seeing him just rock the shit out of that Middlesbrough player by putting his back to him and getting a yellow
Also liked seeing how unhappy he was with himself for conceding a corner.
Has a nice jawline too
He is the type of player we need.
He looks aggressive, he seems quick, and can pass the ball well. He could be our “dirty” player that can actually intimidate rivals…..I like him 🙂
He’ll be our superstar talisman
There’ll be sterner tests to come, but it was an assured debut performance. Even with that pesky handbreak on!
All hail Paulbeasta.
Issac Hayden is getting treatment in South Park and saying “the took errrr jobs”
I have high hopes for Hayden, he is a very good defender, once he shakes off his injury problems.
He still has a place, the way I see it we need one cover for each CB anyway and he can be the other one. Bit unlucky so far but hope he comes good.
I think Wenger saw how good Godin and Miranda have been since arriving at Atletico and decided to go for a South American Center Back in Gabriel. His playing style is really similar to them both.
Hand brake OUT!
i am of the suspicion that gabriel and martin keown share a mother. both possess a charmingly no bullshit approach to the game, fine taste in employers, and dat face. mrs keown, you’ve done it again.
Heh, gave me a good laugh 😀
All he need is a horse face to scream at.. Costa? or Terry?
10/10 for this remark. If only we could drag van nistelroy out to see what reaction he would provoke from Gabriel…
Thought the very same myself the first time I saw a pic of Gabriel, reinforced by watching him on the pitch. I love Keown’s analysis so erudite and quiet, the opposite of the man on the pitch, a beast!
Not worried about him playing “a little bit with the handbrake on” if he delivers quality performances like this every week! Solid no-nonsense defending is exactly what we need.
Flamini.
As I mentioned before, he is not the rubbish player many make him out to be.
Gabriel. Was surprised he was started. Thought he may come on. Did well and this is indeed encouraging for us. As many have mentioned, solid and no nonsense is what we need at the back. More importantly, he is a specialist where we have flirted with disaster first half of season playing unfamiliar players in the position to our detriment
Good win against a tough (IN FORM) team who could have been a potential Banana Peel.
Very positive result!
Wenger has made quite a big thing about Gorgeous Gabby Paulista’s inability to communicate. Is it that he only speaks Portuguese? I was hoping all the Spanish speakers in the squad would help him fit in.
If you speak one you can understand the other.
It’s like English and Scottish.
Loved that yellow card tackle and the last ditch one as well. definitely more to come from him.
expect BFG to up his game a bit 😉
He has that mean rugged look that goes with a tough center back. Arsenal looks more manly with him on the side.