Gabriel Magalhaes did not start Arsenal’s first three games of the season, and various rumours circulated concerning his being benched. Some of us gooners claimed Mikel Arteta realised he couldn’t rely on him because of his mistakes and bad judgement.
Gabriel returned to the team in the Premier League on Match Day 4 (we are now on Match Day 8). In these games, our Brazilian defensive beast has shined. Arteta’s decision to drop him initially appears to have been a wise one as it may have motivated him.
Last season, the ex-Lille man was one of our most dependable players, appearing in every minute of our league campaign as we pushed for, and nearly won, the Premier League. He has progressed from strength to strength since joining us.This season, he and William Saliba have been unforgiving to opposing forwards in our defense.
All credit goes to Saliba for silencing Erling Haaland in our 1-0 win over Manchester City last weekend. Nevertheless, the Frenchman couldn’t do it alone. It is his relationship with Gabriel is what ensured we were rock-solid defensively to keep the clean sheet. Gary Neville even stated after last weekend’s victory how important Gabriel is if we are to win the league:
“You know what’s more important than that? The two centre-backs and Rice,” said Neville as per the Mirror. “They will not win the league if they don’t have the two centre-backs and Rice.”
To be fair, he has been in excellent form since returning to the starting lineup in our 3-1 win over Manchester United.
After the international break, we will face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and we are hopeful that the 26-year-old can maintain his good form in defense and prevent players like Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson from scoring against us.
Gabriel Magalhaes is currently one of the top defenders in the English Premier League and is vital to Arsenal’s title credentials. At least I believe that, but do you?
Sam P
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We might be able to replace Magalhaes with Kiwior, but I don’t think our other CBs are as dominant as Saliba in the games
If Saliba gets injured, I’d prefer to play Magalhaes as the sweeper-CB and let Kiwior play left CB
Sometimes I find statements like “ A certain team can’t without so and so “ lacking in sense because this statement can be true of virtually any team in the world. Every team in the world,even those considered to have elite depth simply have players without equal replacements and losing them for considerable periods of time will no doubt affect their performance negatively.
The most obvious example is Rodri for City. You don’t need rocket science to understand that his absence has negatively affected them. You could also argue that they have no like for like replacements for KDB,Haaland,Dias and Ederson. And what if Real Madrid lost Bellingham and Vinicius; what of Liverpool without Salah and VVD. Arsenal is no different from any other team in the world to the extent that it has key players that are simply irreplaceable and you can only hope they remain injury by managing their minutes and hoping for luck (if you believe in that). To that extent,I find it pointless to say Arsenal could struggle without some key players when this is true for virtually every team in the world.
*can’t win
*remain injury free
Very good points indeed
I must commend the writer for a bold attempt to explain Gabriel Magalhaes absence in the first three games.
Magalhaes reason for absence from the starting line up in the early stages of the campaign, must have been the biggest puzzle in modern football.
The Brazilian on the eve of breaking into the best national side on the planet to be suddenly dropped is still beyond me.
The irony that he was selected and bought by the gaffer had only makes it more confusing,
The Ukrainian seems to have improved defensively , that may work in the favor of the now Brazilian International who has to relentlessly face the music.
As for the pundit Gary Neville, his mouth is like a Spanish machete.
Even if we keep those players fit plus 12 points with 3 games in hands,we won’t!
Clear **