I suggested a while ago that Arsenal needed to start the Brazilian centre back Gabriel next to Laurent Koscielny a bit more, in order to get the defender up to speed and the central defensive pairing settled in preparation for the very difficult looking double header against Barcelona in the Champions League.
We don’t know if Arsene Wenger was thinking along the same lines, or if the ill advised sliding tackle and subsequent red card for Per Mertesacker against Chelsea last month was the cause, but the German has lost his place to Gabriel at the minute and that makes me feel a lot better about our chances of keeping out the pace and trickery of the terrible trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez.
Before that, however, the new defensive duo of Arsenal will face another stern test against a fast and efficient attack when Claudio Ranieri brings his high flying Leicester City side to north London on Sunday. For those Gooners who might be looking forward to the game with a lot of nerves and not too much confidence, I have some good news for you in the shape of some remarkable stats reported by Metro.
Would you believe that the Gunners have conceded just one single solitary goal this season when Gabriel has completed the full match and he has done that seven times so far. Liverpool, Newcastle, Man United, Southampton and Bournemouth twice have failed to trouble the scorers when Gabriel has played and only Everton have got one past him.
There was a report on Just Arsenal yesterday about our defence compared to that of the other title chasers. It was pretty positive stuff and when you consider that most of those stats came from games with the BFG playing and would probably be even better with Gabriel.
But will it see Arsenal win these key clashes with Leicester and Barcelona?
I have already decided to not bother with the transfers any longer.
The board have given wenger a target each year top 4. thats it no more no less, if the top 4 is under threat he will spend money otherwise he will work with what he’s got.
we can shout and stamp our feet but we are not a big spending club, we are a big earning club but there is a difference.
I will predict our top 4 place will be under threat next season, then we may buy 1 signing to help thats it, so shut up pay for your ticket and get used to it
Nothing about the article then? Just trolling?
Why spend more to balance the team??? why?? Kroenke needs money to buy new ranch, and Wenger being his trusted agent follow that? Remember not only that !!! Arsenal ticket price is highest in the world but the club is NOT highest ranked in the world. Wenger followers are blind and stupid bunch, we just hope that Liverpool, and Dortmond do something for the ticket price, coz Arsenal fans are the nicest people, that not only pay the highest price but suffer to watch Flamini play like a 3rd tier player and yellow carded in 8 minutes!!! Don’t worry Wenger and Kroenke got everything under control.
@ezap
I see you collected all the negative talking points about the club in one post. Good boy…
@NY_Gunner
Same to you I see you never see any wrongs in the way Arsenal Owners and Manager do, charge you 97 Pound to watch the likes of Flamini, and Giroud shooting blanks.
Remember just one thing, Barcelona with superstars upfront like Messi, Neymar, and Suarez not charging this outrageous price, same goes for BAYER and Real.
So, shut it you guys deserved to be miserable.
@epop
Learn to string together a coherent thought into a legible sentence or paragraph, and then get back to me…muppet
We should keep him in our back line..he is doing a good job..yes he makes a few mistakes but its teeth he is doing less and less mistakes. and when he does does do a mistake he is first to go chase it down.
keep Gab in per place now on the bench
Just check out the best clubs in the world now….
If fit , they always go out with strongest-first team ,then if needed using subs which could make difference or to rest the best players when the job in the game has been done.
Sorry but Gabs is not 1st team material yet.
Not a rocket science – It’s just simple as that!
gabriel looks dodgy at times he needs to cut out the mistakes. he always has a good mistake in him in each game i’ve seen him.
p.s if arsenal can’t beat leicester at home they don’t deserve to win the league, forget the champions league arsenal won’t go through.
@bashman
“Every” player has a mistake or 3 in them each match. It’s all about seeing that those mistakes do not lead to a loss…
We all knew Gabriel is a starter for next season. It’s a bit unfortunate what happened to BFG but he would’ve lost his place eventually to ease Gabriel in for regular starts and a future first option. I hope he can stay disciplined enough vs Barcelona and with him in the centre next to Kos I feel a lot more certain about a positive result vs Leicester, who beat City because their CB pairing was comical all game.
For me Gabs is more comical then BFG.
So…
Am glad the dude is getting game times finally, better late than never I suppose….does he look unflappable? NO….does he make mistakes ? YES..and frankly he will no doubt make some mistakes that will cost us hence some of us has been screaming he should have been getting games way back…to give him confidence and allow him and Kos get a better understanding of each others games….he is aggressive, has pace and good recovery so I never understand why it took so long for him to be a permanent fixture at the back for us…as for Leicester City, am quietly confident we can do them, so long as we are not playing Flamini in the DM role cos Drinkwater and Kante will be having a field day going past him…
Remember when Koscielny started for us, he was a bag of nerves and made massive blunders. It took him about a good season to adapt now he is world class I reckon or at least touching. Gabriel is passionate and I like that bout him, he is quick and if he does make a blunder he is quick enough to get back. Where as with BFG, once the ball is past him there is no hope.
@BigGun
For real…I used to call him”Mr. Owngoal” But he’s turned into my current favorite player…
“At least touching” ? No. He IS world class !
It’s fair to say that 99.9% of the fan’s have been shouting for Gabriel to replace Mertesacker, since the start of the season.
No disrespect to BFG, but it’s time for him to take a back seat amongst the fringe players.
Gabriel has made some mistakes and so has Koscielny recently, but Overall, they are easily our best pairing for the CB position.
As for our game’s against Leicester and Barcelona,
Hopefully Coquelin will starts both,along with Elneny.
Ramsey could either be pushed back out to the wings or he can start from the bench, he could do with a little rest, as he is due a hamstring injury.
Hopefully Flamini will only be used for the Fa cup game’s from now on, along with Mertesacker ?
Not really….
Would be great to rotate 4 good cb players.Unfortunately we don’t have them.
Let’s say Gab has potential and he need games to gain confidence…but there’s always place for him in training sessions and he could come in as a sub…
Gab’s stats mentioning in this article means a sheeet…past tense!
We should always go with proven and first choice back 4 from the start…always take out the strongest team!!
Why is so hard to understand,every serious team does it?!
Stats mean nothin, wat if leiceister score 5,6,7 with gabriel in defence, would that mean gabriel is bad defender. So, please stop referring to statistics. We are arsenal, We play our way, that’s what matters.
Stats don`t lie!
Atleast you’ll know where the money for the 2016 summer transfer window went already.
Yes good news, Kroenke got the 500 M ranch, and I hope Wenger goes to hell.
This game more than any other game will decide who wins the title. Wenger better come up with a better tactic than playing from behind bc with all the pressing leicester do, that won’t work. Also we better play Theo up front like last time or else we’re truly screwed
@Dennis
We play Theo up front to start and Huth will have a field day with him…
Not before Theo has left him dead for pace 😉
@Twig
I see everybody has been paying too much attention to Vardy, Kante and Mahrez. Huth is the reason for their improved defense. But hey, let whippet loose…
Well let’s judge Gabriel with a run of at least 12 games then we will know If it is real deal or not..you can not sign a player a year ago and have just 4 starts so no judgement here fellas..confidence gets with games and some arsenal players been here for years and have not improved..no names.
Leicester will not be scared of us.
They will respect us because they respect our wc players, manager, we are a top 4 team
but they have belief in themselves
I may get thumbs down for saying this but I honestly think they have more belief in themselves than our players have in their selves
We need to beat Leicester to start changing that
@Davros
Plus we are the only team that thumped them heavily on their home ground so far this season.
True!
Same tactics on sunday,and we’ll do it again.
Why should you get thumbs down?
It’s true you’ve been saying.
People complaining about Koenke buying ranch instead of focusing that the failure to achieve is from our Manager. Any businessman invest money and wants to profit from it, is not it? Please do not take your attention away from the reality. Managers ask Owners for money to invest in their teams or strengthen them. we have 2 windows ( one in winter which is to add one or 2 players to make them go all the way to the final line in case of being in ECL places ) and summer when you bring 2 or 3 players to start a new season and challenge..we do not do this or to make it clear our coach never does..PEP, ANCELLOTI AND BIG COACHES ALREADY ASKED THEIR SCOUTS TO FIND THE PLAYERS they consider will help them to win titles..WE DO NOT..so stop blaming the owner…we need WC ST , WC DM AND WC CB addint to Ozil, Sanchez and Chech then we can call ourselves TROPHY CHALLENGERS..Nice dream
Koscielny and Mertesacker have not lost a single game when played together
Flamini has never lost a single game at the Emirates
Arsenal has conceded just a solitary goal when Gabriel has played 🙂
Yep!
I don’t see why not see him as a sub for the rest of the season,he can come from the bench instead of Merte every game after job has done.
I’m telling you he’s still not confident to be regular starter…
And personally i think Gabs is accident waiting to happen.
We rarely score beyond 2 goals,we seem to be tøothless than ruthless!!!