Gabriel: Page 20 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Gabriel

goon

I know what Clrnc means though to be fair, through the mistakes he looked like a good defender, albeit a little lightweight. But the talent was visible from the beginning. I'd take a similar start for Gabriel and Saliba.

Qwiss

Claudius wrote:
Kos had a tough first 3 months. Lots of bad decisions tracking players, silly fouls and cards. And then he settled and all was gravy

I remember Keown talking about his lack of leg strength too and that it had to be built up when he arrived.

Klaus

I do think Kos's debut season was better than he was being given credit for at the time. There was a lot of turmoil in that defence. Vermaelen was injured for the whole year, Squillaci and Djourou were just downright rotten footballers, and Almunia and Fabianski were making a mess of the goalkeeping job to the point where a 20 year old Szczesny had to be thrown in. We even had to bring back a 40 year old Lehmann briefly.

Kos and Sagna did a massive lifting job, which I think has to be factored in when people talk about inconsistencies. Kos seemed a bit overwhelmed at times but he made a better fist of it than anyone had a right to expect. It was plain to see he was going to turn out a brilliant signing.

Coombs

Gabriel has every chance of being much better than Kos in his first season. He has a better pedigree and has progressed rapidly at a younger age. His physical attributes alone give him a better chance than a journeyman like Koscielny, who was a real mixed bag in the PL for his couple of seasons. It was only with increased fitness and experience that he became any good.

It's only because it sticks it to the club that anyone would now claim we were too hard on him. He was mostly a disaster at first, getting sent off and giving away penalties, making massive mistakes, and generally playing like a relatively inexperienced, middling player from the lower reaches of Ligue 1/2. I'm not saying I didn't grow to love Kos, but Gabriel is a top Brazilian talent tipped for greatness. There couldn't be any two players less comparable, really.

Klaus

Coombs wrote:
It's only because it sticks it to the club that anyone would now claim we were too hard on him.

Explain that one to me. How does saying people were harsh on Koscielny in his first season "stick it to the club"? That makes absolutely no sense.

Coombs

Because Kos left in a disgraceful manner and looking back on his time with us with rose-tinted glasses is just another way of reframing everything about contemporary Arsenal in the negative. It's quite tiresome.

Klaus

That's quite the conspiracy theory. I think nearly everyone agrees that Kos did enough during his time at Arsenal to be one of the first names on the list whenever they decide to add more players to the mural, so why would anyone bother hyping up his debut season to make it reflect better on him? Such a weird idea. No one even mentioned the club until you decided that two and two equals nine.

QuincyAbeyie

I certainly don't think most Arsenal fans want Kos anywhere near that mural, unless you meant before he left in the way he did.

Mirth

Man Ornstein is just feeding on scraps now.

Klaus

Quincy: Yes, hence "did enough to get on there".

Clrnc

Wow that tweet 😆 Totally showed how far off he is right now. Sad to see

Clrnc

Very positive passing stats by the way

Captain

Kos was ultimately a dud. Gave good years of service but got his arse handed to him by decent players too often.

Claudius

Clrnc wrote:

Very positive passing stats by the way

Thanks for the chart. Helps explain why Kabak is hot property cos he’s strong defensively as well. Very reassuring. If you can’t have Upamecano, have the next best thing at 33% off.

lorddulaarsenal

Captain wrote:
Kos was ultimately a dud. Gave good years of service but got his arse handed to him by decent players too often.

The Wenger was strong in him

Wilson

Kos was arguably our best CB since Campbell (who was the best since Adams).

Gunner89

The only absloutely consistent defender past 2005 we've had is Sagna.

Man was a machine. He seems to have fallen off the radar but he was a rolls royce of a fullback.

His off days you can count them on 2 hands for the 7 years he was here.

More than half his time here was littered with crap like Almunia, Squillaci, Silvestre, etc.

I think we should have kept toure and get rid off gallas when they had that rift.

Claudius

In the couple of years before the World Cup he missed, Koscielny was one of the very best defenders in the league. He was just stuck in our circus.

Gunner89

Koscielny had periods where he was very good but he was never far from a mistake.

Doesn't come close to the best defenders like Rio, Vidic, Sol, Carvalho, Adams, Stam, King etc.

That said a 'good' not 'great' centre back who we might have won the league with had we had a better partner for him because peak mert was decent but not even in the 'good' category.

Gunner89

Claudius wrote:
Clrnc wrote:

Very positive passing stats by the way

Thanks for the chart. Helps explain why Kabak is hot property cos he’s strong defensively as well. Very reassuring. If you can’t have Upamecano, have the next best thing at 33% off.

I think Upamecano wouldn't have been sold for less than 55m-60m euros this summer or last summer.

He's available for 45m euros with his new contract (In the same way Werner signed one with a clause) but you can bet we'd be gazumped by City, PSG etc.

He's even younger than Gabriel but his rise has been rapid.

« Previous Page Next Page »