Arsenal midfielder was criticized for being 'immature' before Man City
Gabriel made at least two mistakes in the second half of the 12th round of the Premier League match at Emirates Stadium. In the 57th minute, the Brazilian center-back was crushed and forced to drag Erling Haaland in the penalty area. The referee blew a penalty, but then VAR stepped in, determining that the Norwegian striker had been offside before.
In the 72nd minute, Gabriel made a mistake in the middle and let Bernardo Silva win the ball. After that, the ball passed Erling Haaland, Ilkay Gundogan, and then Jack Grealish placed his heart in the far corner, raising the score to 2-1.
Wright said Gabriel's mistake caused Arsenal to collapse in the second half. "Arsenal was lucky to escape the penalty because Haaland was offside, but Gabriel's subsequent pass went nowhere," the former England striker commented on Premier League Productions.
According to Wright - who played for Arsenal in the period 1991-1998, Man City "set a trap" for Gabriel to fail and then immediately poked a slot for Haaland to exploit the space, after winning the ball. "For me, this mistake came from being a bit naive and inexperienced. But Arsenal is the youngest club in the Premier League and will make mistakes like that. Gabriel didn't know he was trapped by Man City," the name said. The 59-year-old player added.
Meanwhile, the legendary Alan Shearer criticized Takehiro Tomiyasu for making a serious mistake that caused Arsenal to concede first, although the game was not bad. In the 24th minute, when Jack Grealish put pressure from behind, the Japanese defender returned lightly. Kevin de Bruyne took the opportunity to finish one-touch over the head of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, opening the scoring for Man City.
"De Bruyne judged the situation well, but it was a serious error from Tomiaysu," British newspaper Sportmail quoted Shearer as saying. "I'm not sure if Tomiaysu saw De Bruyne. Otherwise Tomiaysu wouldn't have had good positional awareness, but it was also De Bruyne's world-class finish."
Interspersed between the goals of De Bruyne and Grealish was Bukayo Saka's equalizing penalty kick at the end of the first half. But Man City still left the Emirates with a distinct victory thanks to Haaland's goal in the 82nd minute. In this situation, Arsenal's defense continued to make mistakes when they approached slowly, so that the Norwegian striker still had time to finish his right foot diagonally across the corner. though help the ball early beat error.
After the game, Arteta was disappointed when Arsenal's defense made mistakes on all three goals, while the attack squandered at least three obvious opportunities. The Spanish coach also compared the championship race to a marathon and expects Arsenal to improve in the coming matches.
The defeat at home made Arsenal lose the top of the Premier League table to Man City for the first time since the third round. However, the "Gunners" still have the right to self-determine the championship by playing one match less than the opponent. In the next two rounds, Arsenal as a guest of Aston Villa on February 18, then marched to Leicester's field on February 25.
