Rio Ferdinand performs u-turn on Arsenal star, after initially being impressed

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Rio Ferdinand has admitted on his Youtube Channel FIVE that he has performed a u-turn in his opinion on Arsenal defender Gabriel after initially being impressed by the Brazilian – following his arrival at Arsenal last summer.

The 23-year-old was guilty of a number of errors on Saturday evening as Liverpool produced a spectacular second-half display to cruise past Arsenal 3-0 at The Emirates. Gabriel could not live with Liverpool’s attacking prowess.

Giving the ball away with a lazy pass to the left, Gabriel was directly at fault for one of Liverpool’s goals and his overall display was incredibly sloppy. That is, despite the £25million (Goal) signing impressing this season.

The ex-Lille defender has impressed largely throughout his first season in North London and given his age, he is likely to only get better. But Ferdinand was scathing in his assessment, saying he has changed his mind on Gabriel.

“They can’t sign a good centre-half,” Ferdinand said. “I watched Gabriel against Fulham and thought he looked alright – you can never judge a player on the one game – but he looked quite quick, aggressive and had a nice left foot.

“Then he just folds. It just doesn’t make sense, I can’t get my head around it. Is it the team, is there no protection? The defenders just look open and exposed and unable to deal with situations. They don’t make it pretty.”

TBR’s view – Is Gabriel good enough for Arsenal?

His performance on Saturday was abysmal. Towards the end of the game, it looked as if he had given up. But it was one bad performance in the midst of a string of good displays and Arsenal should not be concerned.

Every defender has an off day and Gabriel certainly had one against Liverpool. But throughout the season, he has probably been one of Arsenal’s better players. Certainly, Mikel Arteta has bigger fish to fry than Gabriel’s form.