Gabriel Paulista: No Entiendo

[blaze_of_glory]

Wenger talking about how they identified Gabriel, and how they go about identifying players in general these days.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/30/Arsène-wenger-gabriel-paulista-signing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... ta-signing</a>

 

[Jury]

"We try to teach him the important words like ‘Offside’, ‘Look at the linesman’ and ‘Anthony Taylor is a c*nt’.”

 

[Iceman10]

Apparently our lad doesn't speak a word of English.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31054979" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31054979</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Then why doesn't he pay £15m more for John Stones.

Gabriel definitely looks like he'll be a star player for us at some point but my interpretation of that by Arsène is that he's just suggesting he's cutting corners. If Stones for example was available at the same price as Gabriel, would he have still signed him? Doubt it.

Cutting corners means signing a player who doesn't speak English now? So we should give a miss to the next Messi or Ronaldinho now based on them not speaking English? I'm not saying Gabriel is the next Messi or Ronaldinho of course but speaking or not speaking English is not going to be enough in saying we are cutting corners in signing Gabriel instead of John Stones. Language has nothing to do with ability/potential and he should have basic command of the language by the beginning of next season anyway.

Not totally your fault though in highlighting this as if it is an issue that has never been encountered before in bringing in a player from abroad. AW was obviously managing expectations in the press conference but IMO he went a bit overboard in doing so. It's pretty difficult for AW though in protecting himself from how the media pulls apart every word that he says, often taking things out of proportion.

 

[Jury]

So StatDNA (our £2m scouting robot) basically emails Wenger the name and stats of players that have stood out (statistically), and he then follows them up. **** it, if it works, then great! As he says, you can't have eyes watching every game that takes place all over the world. 2015 baby

 

[Rex Stone]

Is John Stones even all that? Stunk up the place for Everton when he's played this year.

 

[SiMamu]

John Stones is too similar to Chambers, both are right sided CBs too.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Yeah, both can operate at RB too. Chambers > Stones from what I've seen. I do rate Stones but, delighted with our pickup of Chambers.

 

[Mastadon]

Pretty obvious that Wenger is taking the pressure off the player by saying he needs an adaptation period. Can't be easy to come into a new country and league where you don't speak the language in the middle of the season. We already have starting players Gabriel might be in and out and his performances might not be all that straight away.

 

[ScotVieira]

Now Sky sports has made an issue of the 75% rule with some moronic spew off Phil Thompson as usual insinuating asking "is it because it is Arsenal?"

these idiots never made any noise about the rule when MORONho sign his Brazilian.

This is the end of the road between Sky sports and I. I'll watch my football online henceforth!

 

[Iceman10]

Phil Thompson has obviously forgotten Coutinho then with regards to the 75% rule. Very petty with the £10m transfer fee threshold for automatic work permits coming into effect this summer anyway.

 

[a_fourteen]

So StatDNA (our £2m scouting robot) basically emails Wenger the name and stats of players that have stood out (statistically), and he then follows them up. **** it, if it works, then great! As he says, you can't have eyes watching every game that takes place all over the world. 2015 baby

System must've crashed the day we signed Andre Santos.

 

[ArsenesNO1Fan]

We didn't have StatDNA when we bought Carlos

For all the investment StatDNA doesn't sound like it gives many stats that Whoscored doesn't

 

[Bigbludfire]

Apparently our lad doesn't speak a word of English.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31054979" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31054979</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Then why doesn't he pay £15m more for John Stones.

Gabriel definitely looks like he'll be a star player for us at some point but my interpretation of that by Arsène is that he's just suggesting he's cutting corners. If Stones for example was available at the same price as Gabriel, would he have still signed him? Doubt it.

Cutting corners means signing a player who doesn't speak English now? So we should give a miss to the next Messi or Ronaldinho now based on them not speaking English? I'm not saying Gabriel is the next Messi or Ronaldinho of course but speaking or not speaking English is not going to be enough in saying we are cutting corners in signing Gabriel instead of John Stones. Language has nothing to do with ability/potential and he should have basic command of the language by the beginning of next season anyway.

Not totally your fault though in highlighting this as if it is an issue that has never been encountered before in bringing in a player from abroad. AW was obviously managing expectations in the press conference but IMO he went a bit overboard in doing so. It's pretty difficult for AW though in protecting himself from how the media pulls apart every word that he says, often taking things out of proportion.

That's not what I was suggesting. I was suggesting that he signed a player with known faults because he's cheaper. I don't think you'd find a single football manager in the world who'd turn down a world class player solely because they can't speak a certain language.

A more viable option in my opinion would have been signing John Stones for example, who could be a very valuable investment. That being said, I do think Gabriel will be a very good player for us

 

[say yes]

We didn't have StatDNA when we bought Carlos

For all the investment StatDNA doesn't sound like it gives many stats that Whoscored doesn't

What on earth are you basing that on?

 

[VancouverCanuck]

@Bigbuldfire What you're saying is Stones has a much higher ceiling than Gabriel. I haven't seen that myself but then I'm not a scout.

And I wouldn't call not being able to speak English a flaw. It's a limitation for sure, and a short term one. There a not a whole lot of vocabulary you need to play this game.

 

[clockwork orange]

Hard to judge him on this match, but I'm satisfied with the way he performed. Promising.

 

[Jury]

All he needed to do today was understand a few words of English to get by. He did. Nah, he did a bit more than that tbf. Encouraging that he wasn't involved in any madness. Nice confidence builder for him.

 

[cannonade]

Just feeling his way out there. Didn't look uncomfortable, but he was cautious. Got stuck in when it was needed, that's good sign. Once he settles, he's going to be a good one.

 

[clockwork orange]

Just feeling his way out there. Didn't look uncomfortable, but he was cautious. Got stuck in when it was needed, that's good sign. Once he settles, he's going to be a good one.

That's what I liked most too. Kind of what I was hoping for hard as nails when required.

 

[VancouverCanuck]

Seems to have really good recovery pace, as seen on those youtube videos.

His only mistake of the game was when he misjudged the flight of the ball when Kike's header hit the post. Good to get that first game out of the way.