Former Arsenal player Alan Smith believes that Gabriel is becoming an ‘issue’ for the Arsenal team. He believes that Gabriel is too emotional for big matches. Therefore this is an area of concern for Mikel Arteta’s team. The Gunners lost their place at the top of the League after their defeat to Manchester City. However they are hoping to redeem themselves and reclaim their spot. They will be traveling to Villa Park this weekend and there would be hoping for a win. Gabriel had a match to forget against Manchester City. His loose pass is what lead to City’s second goal. He was also fortunate to avoid conceding a penalty after he pulled down Erling Haaland in the penalty box. The former Arsenal player thinks that Gabriel gets overwhelmed in big matches and this is an area of concern. Arteta may have to consider pulling him out of the starting line-ups.
Gabriel is to become an issue for Arsenal in future
Smith have expressed his concerns about Gabriel. He believes that the player could cost them some big games in future. Therefore this is something that the manager would have to look into after the end of the season. Alan Smith commented,
“Gabriel would be a concern for Arteta in the future. He can be so emotional on these occasions and that can affect his game, If you look at Saliba, you hardly notice him because he’s so calm. He does the simple things really effectively.”
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Smith further continued,
“Whereas Gabriel catches the eye for a number of reasons and I think it’s something Arteta will consider if he can rely on him going into these big games. That’s an issue for Arsenal I think.”
However, the former Arsenal star does not think that new signing Jakub Kiwior is ready to replace Gabriel yet. Therefore a new centre-back should be signed to replace him.
Ian Wright is also critical of Gabriel. He believes that the player was fortunate that Haaland was offside. Otherwise, he would have conceded a penalty. That would have been more embarrassing for the Gunners. The player have been making amateur mistakes in big games. This is not good news for the Arsenal team.
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