Morning all.
This is from our young centre-back Gabriel Magalhães talking to Arsenal Media:
I think it’s one of the best periods of my life at the moment. I’m learning more about life every day with everything that’s happening to me. When you become a father, you change in many ways and I’m delighted.
I think the first season was tough, the second went better and the third is just starting now. My ambition is to play in every match. We know how hard it is to go through a season playing in every game but I’ll try to keep taking good care of myself to help Arsenal at all times.
Gabriel has had the odd brain f**t since joining Arsenal Football Club, what footballer doesn’t at the peak of his career let alone his age which at 24 years old is still young for a central defender playing for one of the top clubs in England. Virgil van Dijk had just left Celtic for Southampton at the same age, Rio Ferdinand hadn’t switched from Leeds to Man Utd at 24 years old and Sol Campbell was 27 years old before moving to a top club. I think Martin Keown was the same age when he joined Arsenal for a second time. I’m sure there are many other examples of central defenders not hitting their peak until their late 20’s.
William Saliba showed he’s not a freak of nature on Sunday as he made a few mistakes but he’s just 21 years old so it’s to be expected. Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus and Granit Xhaka make mistakes too yet they’re wise and older players. Footballers are human beings, they will make errors but when a central defender makes one, it seems to be highlighted more, especially if it leads to a goal.
Yes, Gabriel was silly to do what it looked like he did on Sunday but as has been said on here in the comments, if the officials spot the first foul committed by Bamford, perhaps the Leeds man would have been more focused on moaning to Chris Kavanagh, than rolling around the floor like he’d been hit with a lump of wood. Bamford should be embarrassed after his theatrics. But that strikers these days it seems, not all I know but put Son, Kane, Salah, Vardy, Saha etc etc in the same position Bamford was in and I’m 99% sure they’d have hit the deck. Just as Gabriel Jesus did when he felt contact made with his leg against Liverpool. Sky Sports call it ‘penalties won’ and they even have a league table for it.
I’m pretty sure Mikel Arteta will be aware of all his player’s weaknesses and together with his coaches, will be working hard to eradicate them from their game but when a club goes down the young team route, mistakes are going to made. In Gabriel’s case against Leeds, yes he was silly to give Kavanagh a decision to make because of his reaction but when one comes up against opponents who are trying to cheat their way to victory, it must be frustrating. I thought Rob Holding was brilliant in the way he took Gabriel away from it all.
The funny thing is though, the media are talking more about the Gabriel/Bamford incident than the Saliba handball, the Bamford penalty miss and his final unsporting behaviour after he initiated the entire goings on. The Mirror have a headline saying
“Mikel Arteta faces challenge over dressing room’s “petulant” nature after Leeds win”.
What a load of rubbish! The focus is on Gabriel of course and his previous two red cards but two is nothing really when one considers the standard of officiating and neither were were straight reds. Forgive me if I’ve got this wrong Daily Mirror, but Gabriel wasn’t sent off on Sunday either, not once Kavanagh realised he’d got his original decision wrong and for the rest of the game, our Brazilian played really well.
I guess it’s a sign of Arsenal doing well when the media start making negative headlines up.
Lastly, Beth Mead came runner up in the woman’s Balloon d’Or last night. She was robbed of first place by last year’s winner, Alexia Putellas. Next year Beth, next year.
See you in the comments.
Notice that the Women’s Ballon d’Or was won by a Barcelona player and the Men’s by a Real Madrid player. It’s always the same; you have to be in one of the spotlight clubs to win these gongs. Massive credit to Beth for coming second.
Morning Rico.
How’s the hamster\/
Gabriel needs to calm down a little. Learn not to react. Hopefully he will learn. Like it appears Xhaka has this season.
Bizarre that the ref gave a yellow to Gabriel after withdrawing the red. It looked like he didn’t make contact with Bamford. Surely Bamford should have received the yellow for diving? Possibly a red.
The only way to stop the diving is by banning the players retrospectively. The managers/coaches will tell them to stop if a 3 game ban is hanging over them.
Agree Alistair.
Morning to you, Pete, all.
Guinea pig Pete…
My point exactly re Gabriel. He’s young, he’ll learn. If he doesn’t I’m sure Arteta will have a think about moving him on.
Thank goodness the game didn’t go ahead without technology…
Lets get one thing straight.This witch hunt on Gabriel is being stoked up by the media.Make no mistake.The likes of Ferdinand etc.They’re trying to find the smallest chink in the armour,any perceived weakness they can to UNSETTLE Arsenal.In fact they’re having so much annoyance with it they’re going to ridiculous lengths.Previously it was Xhaka.
He’s only 24 yrs as a v.young CB .I’ve no doubt he will developer & be an absolute Monster for us.There’s a reason Juve,who know a thing or two about defenders are sniffing around him.When it comes to that part of the pitch ,they v.rarely make mistakes.
Positive Pete, agree. I don’t think Gabriel is perfect but what player is? The media hate to see Arsenal do well as do the pundits and presenters. Silly me for thinking they were meant to be impartial.
I’d so love for us to win the league to shut the idiots up.
Of course Rico..Guinea Pig…A mysterious creature that is neither a Pig nor from Guinea.
Going away to Leeds and getting a result is no small achievement. The crowd are restless and it’s an intimidating place.
For those that haven’t been to Elland Road I’ll give a taster. It’s been a few years since I was there, but I can’t imagine it’s changed much.
You approach the ground either from a desolate motorway sliproad or, if you’re brave, on foot from the city centre. The locals will insult you if they think you’re not a Leeds fan and if you’re unlucky they will attack you.
The ground is in a wasteland, with one wild west pub nearby. The ground has seen better days, reminds me of a run down 1950s stadium. If they had the money I’m sure they’d knock it down and start again.
In the ground the Leeds fans will throw whatever they can get their hands on at the away fans. Food, stones, coins etc. The atmosphere is noisy and aggressive. The players will get stuff thrown at them.
If you are lucky enough to win you then have to run the gauntlet of getting back to the city centre, or jump on to fan coaches. The coaches will be surrounded by Leeds fans and will have things thrown at them.
A thoroughly unpleasant place to go for visiting players and fans The Leeds fans are among the worst in the country.
I’d like to think Leeds has changed a bit since then Pete.
Good morning Rico and all.
I believe it was the linesman who made the original call on the Bamford/Gabriel fracas. Such a pity he wasn’t keeping his eye out for offside.
I know this is off topic, but does anyone agree with me that it’s time to do something about the touchline antics of coaches and other dug out occupants?
The disgraceful scenes at Anfield on Sunday went way beyond the reasonable and set a horrible example to players and coaches in lower leagues and children’s games. There is a feeling that what goes on in the Premiership influences what happens lower down the ladder. How long will it be before a ref will get assaulted and, maybe, seriously injured during a match?
Morning Gooners, great post Rico, the media are trying to derail us and by highlighting Gabriel they’re trying to influence referees and get him sent off, interesting that the media don’t talk about Xhaka anymore and he doesn’t get yellow or red cards anymore.
The most fouled striker in the Premier League is Jesus, he’s on 4 yellow cards why doesn’t the media have a discussion on that?
Both Jesus and Saliba are on 4 yellows, one away from a suspension, what’s the betting they miss Chelsea (a)….?
Afternoon Rico and all.
They should change the name of the Ballon d’or to The Ballon d’Barcelona
Morning Cicero. It’s not nice to see managers behave as they do sometimes but I guess it’s just emotions running high.
Thanks Kev. Good point re Jesus yet he’s hardly a dirty player. I wonder how many Kane is on, or Son, or any other cheating, diving striker.
Morning Geoff, Balloon d’Spain would fit…
Cicero, I agree with you about the coaches / managers on the sideline, why have an area marked for them when they keep going out of it. as much as we all get upset with the refs Klopp got way out of control against Man city, while Arteta even got in the way of a player trying to throw the ball back into play and how many other coaches / managers almost walk onto the field during play.
Pete your journey to Leeds sounds like most trips up north when I used to do the away thing. The worst experiences were at Leicester, Sheffield and Manchester for me . The famous orange with a razor blade at Old Trafford and sharpened coins at Filbert Street they could have sent decent ones but they were mainly pennies and the famous entrance to Leppings lane ,
I managed to avoid Leeds and it sounds like that was a bit of good luck. Strangely when you got past that middle ground it was not too bad in fact Newcastle was good fun.
Ballon D’or , not bothered , it’s a jolly for the good and the great which apart from a giant piss up for the top bods has no significance.
Gabriel is now target of the month , All the mouthy ex player pundits and their media mates are queuing up to put their oar in They have given up on Xhaka ,stopped calling Partey a criminal and now it’s get the back 4 either Gabriel or Saliba will do and if they can throw Jesus into the mix they know that it would derail us.
As for manager’s getting out of control on the touchline , I am sure that Arteta’s actions have bonded the crowd behind him as they recognise the passion which has been missing since the latter part of the Wenger years.
If you want an army to get behind you . “” Lead from the front “”
Gabriel, it’d be such a pity if he became a marked man similarly to how Xhaka was (or is) treated -by the referees and by our fanbase. Arsenal support is the best it’s ever been right now, (Emirates-wise) so right now no worries, but fans will soon be readjusting their expectations of Arteta’s Arsenal, and that is when a player could go from hero to zero in a blink of an eye. Right now we see a very good player, but a little hot headed at times, young too so will have the odd mistake. Mass anger or frustration could change all of that ..at a push.
I quite enjoy seeing Arteta celebrate on the sidelines. It shows he truly cares imo.
Welcome Tj, I think it’ll take something bad for the fans to change view, or repetitive giving away of penalties etc. The media are just trying to create something which isn’t there. It’s what they do and enjoy.
I don’t think the Arsenal fans will turn on our players so quickly after all the drama’s with Xhaka
Rico we all a little bit of theatre time to time but We expect our players to be disciplined and show respect for the rules so why allow coaches/ managers to break the rules and run up and down the sideline,
I don’t agree with that so much Geoff, didn’t Mourinho start that off at Porto.
He may of but then again should we except people like Klopp running down the sideline yelling and abusing the refs like that, not a good look
Unfortunately Rico, I don’t think the experience at Leeds has improved from what I hear.
@Potter Man Utd was always an unpleasant visit. Leicester, too I agree. Aston Villa fans seem to have an enormous chip on their shoulder.
Best places to visit: Liverpool & Cardiff. Relatively friendly and an amazing night out after.
I always enjoyed visiting Coventry, Middlesbrough and West Brom, Barnsley was a blast they all hated Man U more than us, Millwall was ok as well, don’t believe the media rubbish on them, West Ham was always worse. Tottenham is awful now, I wouldn’t go there if my ticket was free and Chelsea are a bunch of total cnuts, Derby was like visiting Kherson, the worst was Birmingham and Villa, horrible people
Wolves was pretty rough as well
Think I’ll avoid going then Pete.
New post up now
Kev, basically north of the Watford gap then? 😆
Morning Kev.
Yes agree about Coventry. Had some nice afternoons/evenings up there. The locals were pretty friendly. The architecture is a bit of a mess, but modernists may disagree.