After a long wait, Gabriel Paulista made his debut in the FA Cup fifth round clash against Middlesbrough and in all fairness, it was a satisfactory debut for the Brazilian. He received a lot of passes from Wojciech Szczesny and Laurent Koscielny and he looked very assured on the ball. There were the odd errors (expected) like when his poor control led to a corner and when he misjudged the flight of the ball for Kike’s late header that clipped the post.
He even had a pre pre pre pre pre pre pre pre pre pre assist for Olivier Giroud’s first goal as he received the ball from Szczesny t to and passed it to Mesut Ozil. That ball went on to get a touch from every player on the pitch before it rattled the net.
It was good seeing that the club did the right thing to find a center back to replace Thomas Vermaelen after his sale to FC Barcelona. With Koscielny injured at certain durations of the season, Arsene Wenger has deployed Nacho Monreal, Calum Chambers and even Matt Debuchy to play alongside Per Mertesacker.
In the wake of Arsenal’s victory over M’Boro, Kieran Gibbs was on the news and he spoke about Gabriel Paulista’s communication challenges,
He doesn’t speak any English at the moment but it was the same with Alexis Sanchez when he came to the club and look at him now.
“It’s a bit like pointing and shouting because in training Steve Bould goes through it with him. One of the Spanish boys then translates, so he knows what to do.
“That’s where it starts from. It’s so important to get a good understanding. It won’t take him long.”
Even Wenger has openly talked about Gabriel’s communication issues but it’s what you get for not getting a player in the summer. Preseason would have allowed a lad like Gabriel to acclimatize to life in England as well as learn the language and with each passing month, the progression would be there for everyone to see. It’s going to be quite interesting to see how Wenger would manage the situation but we all that he’s one injury or suspension away from getting into the mix.
Communication plays a big role, especially with defenders but football is a universal language and I believe that Gabriel will do just fine. With more competitive games under his belt, he’d be improving and it can only better his overall game. Gabriel’s stats on WhoScored currently reflect his exploits in Villarreal and he averaged 3.5 interceptions (per game) and 4.5 clearances (per game). His debut against Middlesbrough was comfortable and I’m pretty sure that he’d get his chances between now and the end of the season.
Sayonara.
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