Serge Gnabry’s fine performances at the Olympics continued last night as he scored twice – including an injury time equaliser – for Germany in their 3-3 draw with South Korea.
The Arsenal winger was on the scoresheet in the Germans’ first game too, but his goals last night kept alive his team’s hopes of qualification for the knockout stages.
Gnabry has endured a difficult period in his carer. After making a real breakthrough in 2013-14, he suffered a serious knee injury which left him sidelined for almost a year. He then had a fruitless loan spell at West Brom where he hardly played at all.
The Olympics have given us a fresh glimpse of his talent though, and German manager Horst Hrubesch was quick to praise him while also throwing in a little dig at Arsene Wenger.
“He did really well twice, but that doesn’t come as a surprise to me,” he said. “Over the last two years he wasn’t always fully fit. What annoys me is that people at his club have never given him enough trust during that time.
“And you can see now what an important player he can be and at what level he can play at. He showed that to everyone and hopefully he will now get the opportunities at his club to play in that position.”
To be fair to the Arsenal manager, Gnabry simply hasn’t been fit but Wenger is a strong admirer of the 21 year old and these performances in Rio will do his chances no harm at all.
The player himself admitted he’s hard a hard time, saying, “I’ve had a couple of very difficult seasons and was injured for a long time. Now I feel nearly fully fit again, had a good pre-season at Arsenal and played two good games here in Rio.
“I hope that things carry on like this for me. I try to help the team, that’s why I’m here.”
It remains to be seen what Arsenal do about his contract, which runs until June 2017. He’s now inside the last 12 months, so a decision has to be made one way or the other soon.
If he continues to stand-out in Brazil, and returns to Arsenal in genuinely competitive form, he’s definitely a player we should be looking to keep.
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Thanks to @wolfl for the translation
Let’s hope we keep him and let no one…
…gnab him.
I think there is going to be a serge of interest in him after these performances.
Yup, like that one, good job.
Everyone wanted to see him succeed but it’s just silly to put any of that blame at the feet of Wenger. I may be mistaken but didn’t he turn up well overweight last summer? He’s been unlucky with injuries but most of the finger pointing has to be at Gnabry himself.
To be fair he was loaned out to Tony Pulis. Not hard to see why any player would come back lazy fat and disinterested.
Not just that, he was overweight because he couldn’t play due to injury, and he’s genetically predisposed to being chunky. But is sending him to Pulis and keeping him there was a huge huge mismanagement of our side. I do feel certain players have been mismanaged in regards to loans, Silva one and Gnabry was going the same way. I also think his ability has been forgotten. Kid’s scored about half the number of goals Ox has in 5 years. I think The Jeff will become something, but it’s clear certain players are easily forgotten about. Much as I like… Read more »
This is where we must admit our lack of behind-the-scenes knowledge.
You base everything on what you’ve seen or heard about in games, but if the manager puts so much faith in Jeff over those other guys, did you not think that maybe the Jeff displays much higher levels of ability in training? He’s just a better player with much higher potential?
Not saying heks sure a superstar. But a young superstar would not be subject to all the same loans etc as the rest of the young guys.
“Genetically predisposed to being chunky” ?!
WTF?!
Please tell me the intent of that comment wasn’t as racist as it sounds. Otherwise just disturbing…
Huh?
Looking for racists under the bed?
Any person of any race can be “predisposed” to anything you like, some more than others
Tony Pulis is to blame not Wenger, Gnabry was out for nearly a year due to injury so Wenger loaned him out to get some match minutes. Pulis is a dinosaur that knows NOTHING about spotting talent, Gnabry is far to good to play for a Tony Pulis team
Of all the managers to criticise for not giving young players a chance, Wenger is not one of them.
Tell me about it. Just ask Holding and Chambers 🙂
It’s true though that Arsène knows how to have his favorites even if they are not the best ones. Let’s hope Serge will get his chance! When someone like Özil trusts you, then you can be bad.
These sorts of comments pop up in various contexts, and they drive me crazy. Wenger’s opinion of a player’s talent or potential may be different than yours; it may even be that you are right and he is wrong (though he does spend a fair amount of time at this football stuff). But there is absolutely no reason to believe that he ever has played a “favorite” over someone he thinks is better.
From where has this idea of favoritism come from? Wenger sees these players on a daily basis and has a lot more information and knowledge than the average fan.
I would have said the opposite, but who truly knows the mind of Mesut?
Arsene is responsible for an awful lot of very questionable decisions at the moment, however I’m not sure this is one of them.
Not signing players yes you can point at Arsene. But not trusting his young players, not protecting them, not giving them chance well you are on something wicked.
I don’t really care if it’s right or wrong but I’ve always got time for some finger pointing at Pulis.
Nice to see Gnabry finding some form though.
He’s right, these performances in an under 23 tournament DO show that he should have been starting week in week out in the premier league despite being injured for two seasons straight!
I like Gnabry and pre injury he was making huge steps so let’s hope he can keep going now that he’s fit but what a nonsense comment that is from the German manager
But of a straw man argument there.
Being given a chance does not mean playing week in week out. Maybe the manage just meant being given a chance in not sending him to Mordor FC on loan with Tony Sauruon to be imprisoned on the bench, and if he’s not being given a chance by a man known to have only given about 5 your prospects extended playing time in his career, maybe to recall him earlier than planned.
That loan to WBA effectively wasted a whole year of Gnabry’s life.
Yes, I believe Hrubesch was talking about Pulis’ lack of faith as much as Arsenal’s decision to send him out on loan.
Comment: I think on the Gnabry situation, it was influenced by Terry Burton former Arsenal Academy coach (who coached Gnabry ) . He became West Brom director of football in 2014. I guess he’s the one who asked for Gnabry and Wenger trusted him.
If im not mistaken hasnt Gnabry come off the bench to score these goals at the Olympics? Although i do like the lad, wouldnt you say playing premier league football is abit harder than the olympics? And where is the managers trust to start Gnabry at that level?
To answer your question, he came off the bench in the first game but played the full 90 in the second.
He was a starter for the second game and scored a brace. It’s only the first game he started on the bench and also scored when he came on.
And as I can remember, Wenger did trust and start him in games (in which he performed really well) before his knee injury and subsequent setbacks.
At least, we are all excited by this Surge of Gnabry.
I am more concerned with our injury woes… Something has to be done before it spread to we the fans
Fuck you Horst. We’ve had him for years. You just recently came onto him. We know talent when we see it. Don’t join the Arsene-dissing bandwagon. Don’t teach your pop how to fuck.
Easy, tiger. Hrubesch is roughly the same age as Wenger, so he’s not exactly lecturing his “pop”.
He also couldn’t really have played Gnabry much more than he did, being the coach of the U21s and all that. When Serge came onto the Arsenal scene he was still in the U19s. I don’t think he’s dissing Wenger all that much, probably more thinking of the ill-fated loan to WBA (ie Tony Pulis).
And finally, don’t knock Hrubesch! He gave me one of my first big football-watching experiences, scoring both goals in the Euro 1980 final win against Belgium.
Can he play centre back? 🙂
I think Wenger is the reason why these people know that Gnabry is a good footballer. He is the one who bought him as an unknown somebody and went on to play him in the first team I think he was 16yrs so I don’t see why it is now Wenger’s problem that Gnabry is not playing at Arsenal. It’s Wenger’s way of dealing with young boys when they come back from serious injuries. I remember Ramsey went out on loan after coming back from long term injury.
Did you think sending him to Pulis was an intelligent move? Did you expect him to play and get the kind of coaching that would help him improve? Similarly, did you think sending Sanogo to Ajax, where they value silky technical skills, was a brilliant idea? Very few of our loan spells have worked well. Wilshere at Bolton was a stand-out exception because he’s the sort of player who flourishes in the tough-tackling Championship. Ditto Sanogo who, because he’s the street fighter type, got a few games at Charlton when Ajax had returned him mid-season unused. The vast majority, however,… Read more »
I like Gnabry. Even though injury has played a big part in his progression, I remember one game he took a free kick, hit a defender and knocked him out cold. That seemed to really effect Gnabry and I think he played with the hand brake on a little bit for a few games after that, then he got injured, and seems like now he has finally got that confidence back to play his game.
Hell Ozil even named Gnabry in his dream 5 a side team a while back
A fully fit Gnabry might allow us to play Sanchez as a centre forward.
Let’s be honest, some of these players that are being linked are inferior to Giroud in that position.
If we are gonna spend 50 million wouldn’t it be better on Draxler or Isco?
No. You can’t just have one centre forward for the whole season. One that’s not even going to be ready to start the season. It’s just absurd. Sanchez has played about 3 games in his whole career up front, he’s not suitable enough back up for a whole season.
One major problem with Alexis at 9 (and Theo to an extent) is, we’re not good enough at passing out from the back. Too many last-ditch hoofs that force contested headers instead of diagonals into space in the oppo 3rd. City were so much better at this not just yesterday but under Pellegrini as well. Lots for us to work on.
Arsenal are not good at passing a ball?
No not at all! I probably wasn’t clear enough in my first comment but in the City game we were below our usual Mertescielny level. “Lots for us to work on” referred to the Holding/Chambers/Gabriel trio. Elneny made their job easier in the 2nd half, but the link between our CB’s and DM’s needs to be more fluid. Xhaka’s still bedding in so we were too vulnerable to City’s pressing in the 1st half. This issue also showed up at times when our midfield broke down last season, but Laurent Koscielny had one of his best seasons and took responsibility… Read more »
Another ridiculous comment from a manager
Wrong snipe at the wrong person i would say. Arsene Wenger definitely has his faults, like everybody else, love him or hate him, but one of them is definitely not giving young talents a chance. He is definitely one of the best managers in world football at nurturing young talents. Glad to see Serge picking up form again. For me, he has always been an exciting prospect with a wow factor, like “the Jeff”, in my books. Unfortunately his development has been blighted by long term injuries, but he is still very young and hopefully he has turned a corner… Read more »
Is “Wrong Snipe” the brother of Wesley?
lol…
Amazing that we’ve got our own version of Kingsley Coman coming through. We must keep him at all costs!
Why would you acknowledge that he hasn’t been fit for two years and then say we didn’t show enough trust in him during that period?
Very odd comment from the German manager. We all know how good Gnabry is, but you can neither have faith in a player that is injured, or give playing time to a player just to get him fit, especially in our case as we have so many options in his position(s).
I can see him getting some play time this season providing he stays fit. I would have him on the right instead of, for example, Walcott…
Hrubesh was better at set pieces! A great poacher too! Ridiculous comments. Arsene has faith in Gnabry. There is no doubt about that.
I’m a huge admirer of Gnabry but I don’t know how the German manager can point the finger at Arsene considering that he himself wasn’t even starting Gnabry until Goretzka was injured against Mexico. Silly comments from the German manager considering that Wenger was the one who trusted him while he was 18 and played him week in and out until his unfortunate injury.
I’ve watched a good number of the olympics, and I have to say that Serge is definitely the player who most… gnabs… your attention. In all seriousness though, he’s been the best German attacker by a good distance – better than Brandt, Meyer, Selkie and the rest. He’s far outshone the Bender bros, who’ve looked really pedestrian. Truth be told, he’s also looked a hell of a lot better than the likes of Gabriel Barbosa and Gabriel Jesus. Hell, he’s looked more effective than Neymar, who should be the best player of the tournament by several country miles.
Quite an interesting juxtaposition last night between the Brazil/Iraq game and the Germany/Sth Korea matches. Gnabry looks the business (again) IMHO.
If he comes back over weight I’m no rocket scientist but you can’t blame arsene or that silly fucker pulis
Can’t speak to Wenger’s opinions, but I watched Gnabry play against Sth Korea last night and he looked very good. Perhaps, after a series of setbacks he’s finding the form that made him seem such a promising youngster? I trust Wenger will take notice, after all, it’s not like we are over-stocked with goal-scorers.
He is like a new signing
Can he play centre back?