Conor Cody speaks on Gabriel and Saliba’s partnership
The Leicester City centre-back Conor Coady has recently come out and spoken on Gabriel and William Saliba’s centre back partnership on Football Daily on BBC Radio 5 Live and spoke on how from the outside it looks like almost the perfect partnership.
Coady said this “Yeah I think it goes a long way for somebody like Saliba who’s played with him all last year as well. I think that goes unnoticed a bit in football a bit, partnerships and relationships”.
“Sometimes people look at it and think, he should be able to play there or he should be able to play centre-back with anybody, but sometimes when you’ve got a partnership and a relationship together, you understand how the other player plays, you understand his movements, you understand that he’s always going to cover your back.
“So, if the ball’s in an area and the ball gets played over my head, he’s always going to be there for me. That goes a long way in football, so bringing him back into the team has obviously helped.”
And personally, I’d have to agree, Gabriel and Saliba have formed what seems like an unstoppable partnership and whenever they’re playing beside each other you get a sense of trust and security towards each other. They both know where each other are going and meant to be, and they have build up a partnership that to me looks like the strongest in the league.
Saliba just himself has insane stats, playing 40 games, winning 30 of them, drawing 6 and only 4 defeats in his time in the Premier League, which when you really look at it is incredible stats, and with Gabriel next to him, it makes him 10 times stronger and more comfortable. Centre back is a harder position that people realise and it’s their jobs to keep their defence in line, Gabriel and Saliba do that perfectly, working alongside either White, Zinchenko or Tomiyasu, our defensive set up seems stronger than ever.
Arsenal fans will be praying that we can keep both of them fit throughout the season because if we lose either one, we could be in real trouble, they’ve both created a strong set up at the back and I worry that if we lose one of them, it could really unbalance the system. But as things stand they’re both performing well and have created what looks like an unbreakable partnership in the red and white.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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I believe they are the best PL center-back partnership. However, as Arteta attempted to show at the beginning of the season when Gabriel was dropped and White played the right CB position while Partey played the right back position, they may not be the best pairing for every team structure against any opponent.
MA’s experiment seemed to fail but that doesn’t mean that something else could not work; i.e. an open mind in terms of lineups and player positioning should be maintained in the ever changing landscape of top level football.
Of course, if too much tinkering is done, the club may become disjointed in its play and otherwise great players become unsure of their roles leading to mediocre or poor results.
He dropped Gabriel because there was lots of interest and rumours regarding his future. Once it was clear that he was going to stay he started to play games again.
Possible. We never really know everything going on behind the curtain.
This is massive to have both Gabriel Magalhaes and Saliba tied down to long term contracts, due to the fact that they are just getting started, it is indeed scary to see how they will be in a couple of years time.
As a doubt they are perfect for each other their individual qualities an understanding of each other makes them the best partnership in the league, the Brazilian has been immense, more often than not he’s the one faces the music due Zinchenko which offers nothing defensively., while Saliba impact on the team has been nothing short of sensational.
The two are task with dominating position and forcing the opponent into low blocks, if my stats is right, Saliba has the highest touch and passes in the league followed by Dunk from Brighton
The perfect partnership? I always compare anything with out Invincibles, so are they stronger as a pairing and individuals?
I still believe that Sol is the strongest of the four, closely followed by Saliba, while Toure and Gabriel come out equal.
So, no they are not the perfect pairing in my opinion, but are very close – not Invincible level YET!!
If I could have the choice of all four at their peak, it would be Saliba and Campbell, with Toure and Gabriel as their back ups and cup game pairings.
O course, at this moment in time, they are the strongest pairing in the PL…. in my opinion and as part of the best GA defence in the PL.
Agree with your assessment entirely, but I think they form fairly similar partnerships – Gabriel, like toure, is extremely aggressive and plays on the front foot, while saliba is less so, more like Campbell (I think that’s right – Sol was probably slightly more aggressive than saliba).
Sol was a better athlete than saliba (incredible really how quick he was for his size) but probably a little less composed on the ball, without being poor at all in that area.
Anyway, I think that’s typically a great situation, to have one highly aggressive CB and the other being more composed and willing to stand off at times. Adams-Keown, terry-carvalho and ferdinand-vidic, all had a similar feel.
Great partnership on their day, but I think Kiwior will replace Gabriel in the not to distant future, possibly as early as next season.
It depends but do think Kiwior’s talent has gone somewhat under the radar and under appreciated, he’s been impressive imo. If we can add another up and coming right footed CB to the mix think we’re insanely stacked defensively.