Thread by @nonewthing

The exact reason why Gabriel is not good enough is that he is a 6'3 giant that goes into duels/situations and it is a toin coss if his team benefits from it.

Someone that athletic should naturally exude more control and calm than anyone else on the pitch. But he doesn't.

It is hardly a measurable trait and harder for people to figure out when you are playing in one of the best tactical setups in the league which is why it took me so long to realize it.

That lack of control will result in your team getting into difficult situations and people

won't see who got the team into that situation in the first place.

When you are trying to study/evaluate defenders/defending, try thinking of actions/inactions in terms of situations—what position they put their team in.

If you try to go too granular, you will not decipher who has responsibility or needs to take it. All you will be seeing is the opponent getting into shooting situations without any idea as to what the defence can do about it.

The goal that we scored, who won the ball from City?

All through this season, you will see Ben White engage in actions that has a direct impact on our final third play. Gabriel often directly dominates the opposition box from setpieces but as MiniShubz would say, he doesn't even dominate his own penalty box like that.

I'm not trying to start an agenda or pick a new scapegoat or something. I am not the guy for that. I'm trying to tell you what I honestly think.

Gabriel will get better as he understands defending better over time but it's our own incoming title challenge I'm concerned for.

For us to challenge for the title, we will need to take a bit more risk offensively. That risk will be worthwhile with the right offensive quality. It will translate to more goals than most opposition will get out of us.

But the margin for that risk is worse with Gabriel still

at this same level.

I know we'd love for him to improve rapidly but I honestly don't see that improvement happening anytime soon and I am a very optimistic individual who has predicted lots of improvement for the likes of Saka, ESR, Partey, Odegaard and the team in general.

I sincerely hope that I am wrong about all this. At least about the improvement. It can only favour Arsenal. But I know deep down inside myself that I'm not. And it's such a sinking, terrible feeling as it's not good for us.

But it's not so terrible because we've got another 6'3

giant in Saliba who is literally one of the most composed defenders I've seen and has every single advantage Gabriel has (except aerially but isn't really a thing of serious concern).

Gabriel looks so good for us because there's no proper competition for him.

Remember how we used to think Leno was one of our positives until Aaron Ramsdale came in?

Gabriel is a decent option, don't get me wrong. He is better than whatever else is currently available but once we hit title-winning quality, he won't be good enough anymore.

His age is not why he can't exert control. He is still one of the most athletic CBs around in the league. It's a trait that he should have that he doesn't and that takes a very long time to improve.

That very long time is exactly the problem.

We are going to challenge very soon

Listen to Juanma Lillo when it comes to players if you won't listen to me!