‘Terrible’: As well as Xhaka, Pundit says Arsenal’s 25-year-old player just isn’t good enough

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John Giles has been laying into some of Arsenal’s players after losing ground in the Premier League title race recently.

Speaking on The Stand With Eamon Dunphy, Giles took his usual potshot at Granit Xhaka after slamming the player on multiple occasions in recent weeks, but this time he lumped Gabriel in alongside him.

Indeed, the pundit stated that the 25-year-old, along with Xhaka, just isn’t good enough for Arsenal.

Not good enough

Giles spoke about Xhaka and Gabriel.

“He’s done a terrific job (Arteta), but at this stage of the season you need all the players going for you, particularly the experienced players. You mention Xhaka there, but Gabriel as well in my opinion doesn’t come up to scratch. Liverpool was the terrible one where Xhaka did what he did and he completely turned the game,” Giles said.

Harsh

We can’t help but feel as though this targeted criticism of Gabriel is very harsh.

Yes, the defender has his moments of madness, including a few recent poor performances, notably against West Ham, but by-and-large he’s been very good for Arsenal this year.

His performances have undoubtedly dropped since William Saliba came out of the team due to injury, but all in all, Gabriel has been very good this season.

Put it this way, you don’t challenge for the Premier League title in this sort of manner if you’re carrying deadweight at centre-half.

Are there areas of Arsenal’s squad that need improving this summer? Of course there are, but is centre-back a glaring issue for the Gunners? Not a chance.

Gabriel has been more than good enough, and any criticism of his ability must be born of recency bias.