4 – Gabriel’s Injury A Blessing In Disguise?
Koscielny missing? Mertesacker injured? Surely Gabriel was the only stable defender we could rely on to start the season in style? Well, not exactly.
From what I’ve seen so far this summer, Holding and Chambers look comfortable in the defensive area and without jumping to conclusions look ready to put a shift in.
Against Manchester City, the only one at the back I was worried about was Gabriel and without the reliable rock that is Laurent Koscielny the Brazilian looks out-of-place.
Never knowing when to go and claim the ball, Gabriel hasn’t inherited the leading defender role well since the news about Mertesacker, and nothing about his performance against City changed my mind.
If you didn’t already know, the centre back went down in a nasty looking fall jsut two minutes before the final whistle and ended up leaving the stadium on crutches.
The signs don’t look good and if Wenger was hesitating over a new signing coming in at the back then he’ll have definitely hit that panic button now, just five days before the season starts.
I’m not saying Gabriel getting injured is good, far from it! What I mean is that out of all of our options we were only going for him to start on experience rather than actual form.
At the Emirates on opening day vs. Liverpool is a pretty big way to make your competitive debut at the age of 21, but that looks likely to be what Rob Holding is doing.
He’s slotted in well at centre back following his £2.5million move from Bolton, and the familiarity of England Under-21’s teammate Calum Chambers has helped him to settle in at the club.
Put your money on those two starting together on Sunday afternoon, it’s a big test and he knows the world will be watching – here’s your chance then kid!