‘Tripping over his own feet’: Pundit says £27m Arsenal player could barely keep his balance last night

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Arsenal were absolutely dismantled by Manchester City on Wednesday evening, and while City are known for their ‘death by a thousand passes’ style, they proved at the Etihad that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Indeed, City beat Arsenal via a series of long balls through the middle to both Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, exploiting the Gunners’ high line and the weakness of their centre-backs.

Rob Holding has come in for plenty of criticism in recent weeks, but this time around it’s Gabriel Magalhaes who is receiving the most flak.

Indeed, speaking on Off The Ball, David Meyler has been critical of Arsenal’s £27m defender, stating that he was at sixes and sevens during the game, claiming that he could barely keep his balance at times.

Gabriel was all over the place

Meyler gave his verdict on the Arsenal defender.

“The way Arsenal tried to press, they pushed high, we know how good Ederson is with the ball, and he clipped this ball into Haaland and he rolled Holding. That’s where De Bruyne’s goal came from too. Gabriel was at sixes and sevens, he was almost tripping over his own feet, time after time this happened and when Arsenal tried to put pressure on they just played that long ball to De Bruyne or Haaland,” Meyler said.

Couldn’t deal with it

Gabriel really couldn’t deal with the threats posed by Haaland and De Bruyne on Wednesday, but, in all honesty, it’s hard to blame him.

The Manchester City stars are two of the best in the business and when they’re in their groove, even the best defenders in the world can’t deal with them.

Gabriel couldn’t keep up with the City attack, and while he should’ve done a better job, he was handed an almost impossible task here.