Arsenal scraped through to the last 16 of the Europa League against Benfica last night but one player who didn’t impress supporters was Gabriel Magalhaes.
According to Stats Bomb, the Brazilian failed to make a single tackle or block during the 90 minutes, and supporters on Twitter were critical of the defender’s display following the 3-2 victory in Greece:
This guy was shambles last night …Ceballos and him were awful?
— Wajir’sTweep (@Wajirstweep) February 26, 2021
He was shaky
— k (@68kurutsi) February 26, 2021
Worst defender for us yesterday
— CherryBlossom + Bowser’s Fury (@Ch3rryBl055om) February 26, 2021
His form has dropped, but he is a good player
— Otubaga Jokotade (@slimomotee) February 26, 2021
Definitely not his best game
— microwave (@alek0741) February 26, 2021
Not impressed by him after the injury, bit low on confidence and very shaky.
— Muhammad Kamran (@guners4life) February 26, 2021
6/10 performance. Hopefully back to his start of season form ASAP
— The Fantasy Plonker Podcast (@Fantasy_Plonker) February 26, 2021
Have more trust of pablo mari.
— Muhammad Kamran (@guners4life) February 26, 2021
Gabriel simply didn’t do the basics well. He was caught out of position a number of times, while he also mislaid eight passes on the night. The 23-year-old will need to put in much better performances if he is to keep his place in the starting eleven.
With Pablo Mari having started against Manchester City last weekend, there is a good chance that the Spaniard will be recalled in Gabriel’s place when the Gunners take on Leicester on Sunday afternoon.
It is concerning that we haven’t seen the best of Gabriel since his return from a spell out with the virus and it will be hoped that this is only a brief drop in form.