The resurgence of Gabriel Magalhães by Aziz
At the beginning of his Arsenal career in the 2020/21 season and the season(s) that followed, I wasn’t convinced that Gabriel Magalhães was a top defender or he was even going to be one for us.
I wasn’t even sure if he could make his career at Arsenal this long, albeit he has only stayed with Arsenal for nearly 4 years by now.
Below are some of Gabriel’s high-profile calamities in his Arsenal career:
●I remember his first away goal for Arsenal against Fulham on 12 September 2020 in his debut season. He started with a bang. Didn’t he?! (See the clip:)
●Then, he had his 2 “Kodak moments” in a single match against Liverpool at Emirates on 3 April 2021: And Arsenal ended up losing 3-0 to Liverpool. We continued to be Liverpool’s whipping boys! (See this clip:)
●Again, I remember very well his “stupid” sent-off against Manchester City at the Emirates on 1 January 2022, in which Arsenal ended up losing 2-1 despite starting the game so well before his dismissal that changed the dynamics of the game. The hoodoo against the Cityzens seemed to have no end! (See the clip:)
●On 27 August 2022, Gabriel had another inconsistent game against Fulham when he gifted possession to big Mitrovic, who ended up scoring for Fulham. Fortunately for him and the team, Gabriel himself scored a late winner 5 minutes before the final whistle. Calamity spared this time! (See the clip:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiTbN4oZ9qQ)
●On 1 October 2022, Gabriel conceded a penalty after a clumsy tackle on Richarlison, in which Kane equalized but Arsenal ended up winning 3-1 at Emirates, thanks to Jesus and Xhaka’s goal. This time our “noisy neighbours” were kept quiet for another time and all the streets of North London were red and white as usual! (See the clip:)
These few incidents above, among many (with Gabriel), proved to me at the time how unpredictable and unreliable a player he was.
He had such sinusoidal patterns in his performances, capped with variations and defects, to say the least.
His decision-making was as erratic as the weather in the middle of the Amazonian jungle.
Then came the beginning of the 2023/24 season, when the rumours surfaced about Gabriel that he could be sold. I thought Arteta had had enough of him, just like I was.
At the beginning of this season 2023/24, after the aforementioned rumours of his exit, Arteta used him rarely and sporadically in the first three games of the English Premier League (EPL).
In the games against Nottingham Forest (12 August 2023), Crystal Palace (21 August 2023), and Fulham (26 August 2023), Arteta paired William Saliba with Ben White as central defenders, while (strangely, in my opinion) using Partey as an inverted right-back (RB), with Timber then Tomiyasu and Kiwior as inverted left-back (LB). Arteta used Gabriel as a late substitute in these first 2 games of the season totalling only 24 minutes: against Nottingham Forrest (4 mins) and Crystal Palace (20 mins).
To put this into perspective, Arteta had only played Gabriel for 24 minutes in the first 3 games of this season (against Nottingham, Crystal Palace & Fulham).
Gabriel was restored to the starting lineup to partner William Saliba at the centre of defence against Manchester United in the 4th game of the season on 3 September 2023, in which he played the full 90 mins and Arsenal won 3-1.
They say the rest is history, and the boy hasn’t looked back since!
Since then, he hasn’t been dropped by Arteta in the team’s starting lineup in the games that followed, and he has become one of the consistent performers alongside Saliba, not only in defence but in all areas around the pitch and he has capped with scoring some important goals on the other side of the field.
According to premierleague.com, this season alone, Gabriel has scored 4 goals in 25 appearances (2 as subs). The total number of goals he has scored in the EPL so far is 14 since he joined Arsenal in 2020/21 from Lille.
As highlighted by WhoScored.com, he and Saliba have now started 17 matches in a row and 23 of the last 24, and neither Liverpool nor Manchester City boasts such a settled centre-back partnership, and Gabriel is among the seven most in-form defenders of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign as of 05 March 2024.
Let’s give credit where credit is due: this season, Gabriel’s performances after being put back in the starting lineup have been immense and changed many people’s opinions about him as a player, including myself. His meteoric rise since he was signed by Arsenal in 2020/21 proved wrong those who doubted him.
Gabriel has improved a lot as a player as underpinned by the above evidence.
Of course, we all know that football is a team game. You need everyone’s contribution to achieve results.
Every player in this Arsenal team counts and contributes to our current in-form status in one way or the other:
●Raya, in the goal, has his contributions (and distributions) that make us better as a team, and Ramsdale is a good shot-stopper and has deputized Raya so well so far when called upon.
●Trossard, when played, can give you some crucial goals with his clever movements and skills, and the same can be said about unfairly underrated Kai.
●Nketiah, Emile Smith-Rowe, and Nelson are important members of the team and are “ones of our own.”
●It’s hard now to pick who to start between Kiwior and Zinchenko on the LB when the latter comes back from his persistent calf injury, and it’s going to be a good conundrum for the manager.
●Tomiyasu and Partey will cover for White and Jorgi, respectively, whenever needed.
●Jesus and Viera are also back from their respective injuries. The former, when he is fit, can be a nuisance to any defenders and can score goals as well, and the latter is a “very talented boy,” according to Arteta. And we will need them all during the final push for the trophy (ies).
●When Timber is back from his serious ACL injury, he will be like a new signing for us as he has only played a single EPL match vs. Nottingham Forest for just under an hour since he was signed from Ajax in the summer of 2023/24.
●Saka, Martinelli, Rice, and captain-marvellous Odegaard are our “poster boys” of the team, and hard for the team to do without them at the moment.
●However, we should not overlook the importance of Mo Elneny, Karl Hein, and Cedric in the team: they put the team first before themselves and never moan their lack of game time to the media or anywhere else outside the club.
Having said that few would argue otherwise that the pair between Saliba-Gabriel as central defenders is such a non-negotiable if Arsenal has to win a major trophy(ies) after waiting for so many years, as pointed out by WhoScored.com that this partnership is the best in the league at the moment.
We hope he keeps this form until the end of the season. Fingers crossed!
COYG!
Aziz Senzia
A Gooner Fan in Tanzania
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