Yeah he's been excellent all season except for a few blunders where he lost his composure. He's borderline world class when he doesn't lose his head.People underestimate what we lose without Gabriel, especially at this stage. Gabriel not only is a leader in defence, he's aggressive, vocal, assertive. He's also quick at making up ground but crucially he covers the area Zinchenko vacates superbly, I've said it before, I'm not convinced there's a single LCB that could do the job Gabriel's currently doing, it's almost an impossible job on paper essentially being LCB and LB for turnovers.
It was important to give Kiwior some gametime but you also see the consequences of it at this stage in his development and adaption period which will take some time.
Excellent analysis.
Hagn summed up my thoughts
Yes also a big worry for me with big games coming up in the EPL. we might drop points there.
Both should have hit it first time ffs
We also might not. Lol. If we named another team we'd have thrown away the tie. What do you think we are going to next year when we are in CL.
Apparently, they are on strike or something with the owner. Read it here.Surprised yesterday that was one of biggest games of season for Sporting and half os stadium was empty.
We are unlikely to be on top of PL, and even if we are, we will be playing for a tournament that means something. EL has zero meaning, what does it mean to be champions of the second tier of clubs in Europe; it was started for UEFA to generate more money.We also might not. Lol. If we named another team we'd have thrown away the tie. What do you think we are going to next year when we are in CL.
Squad manaagement over a season is the one thing with arteta’s management that still concerns meNext year can look after itself but this year we could win the PL, no guarantee we'll be in that fight next season.
We should have rested Saka yesterday and parked the bus. We'd probably have come away with a draw with a weaker team. Sporting didn't outplay us they just took advantage of our tactical naivety and inadequate game plan.