Bad news on Gabriel: Kieran Tierney … magnificent!

Morning from a really chilly Dublin. Winter has arrived. Booooo!

Let’s begin with the unhealthy information, and one thing I can’t say is a shock. It was reported by James and David Ornstein in The Athletic yesterday (€) that Gabriel is about to overlook a big chunk of time with the damage he sustained enjoying for Brazil. There’s no particular time frame, but it surely could possibly be as much as two months, which is, after all, an actual blow.

It would spark loads of debate. Initially – who replaces him within the staff, and that’s one thing we are able to contact on one other day. The silver lining, should you can name it that, is that we do have good choices, however clearly lacking certainly one of your greatest gamers, and an actual presence on the pitch is at all times going to wreck you to some extent. Gabriel has cultivated a type of aura, defensively and offensively, which I don’t suppose any of the others have, for comprehensible causes. So past choosing somebody to play in that place, we miss these intangibles that are very arduous to quantify but additionally to switch.

Then the inquest into the way it occurred will happen, and as followers we’ll have a look at each attainable factor. I’ve seen it mentioned Gabriel was carrying one thing, and he ought to have instructed Brazil he wouldn’t play, however we don’t know that for positive. He has performed loads this season, off the again of an enormous damage and surgical procedure final season too, so was there scope for Mikel Arteta to play another person in a single or two of the video games he featured in? Would that even have made a distinction? We don’t know.

It was typical of our season that Viktor Gyokeres, who had additionally performed loads, picked up his hamstring pressure having had a midweek relaxation. There’s nothing to positively say that fewer minutes for Gabriel would have prevented this. Then there’s the questioning of him enjoying in what’s perceived as a ‘meaningless’ recreation, and look, I get the frustration when somebody will get injured in a pleasant, however clearly this recreation was not meaningless to Gabriel. Representing his nation and enjoying at his dwelling stadium, it was at all times going to imply one thing a bit extra due to that.

Bear in mind, within the final Interlull, Brazil travelled to South Korea and Japan, 10,000+ air-miles, greater than 24 hours within the air mixed, and he got here again advantageous. This time he simply needed to go down the highway and he picked up an damage. So, who can actually say precisely why this occurred and who’s guilty? It’s not one factor, it’s a mixture of so many differing elements, however maybe the underlying one as individuals strike out in all instructions is the quantity of soccer fashionable gamers on the prime of the sport should play.

You may blame Brazil, Carlo Ancelotti, Gabriel himself, Mikel Arteta, our coaching pitches, the pitch on the Emirates, whoever you need, however I feel the obvious factor is simply how arduous these gamers should work for membership and nation lately. The schedule is relentless, the sport is performed at such excessive depth these days too, and the truth is that there can be casualties alongside the way in which. We both handle the core concern of the schedule, or we be taught to reside with gamers getting injured. It strikes me that having constructed this massive squad, these throughout the recreation settle for that there’ll by no means be much less soccer as a result of which means much less cash, so the reply is, when somebody like Gabriel will get injured, you will have Riccardo Calafiori, Piero Hincapie or Cristhian Mosquera to fill that hole.

And though we really feel each damage concern so acutely due to our expertise (latest or in any other case), it’s not not simply Arsenal struggling. It is a rising concern throughout the Premier League, and I can’t escape the sensation that it’ll proceed to be an issue all through this season. I don’t have the gumption or inclination to look into it in depth, however I’d guess for the reason that lockdown and the way in which attempting to ‘catch up’ has impacted the schedules, there’s been a pointy rise within the common frequency and seriousness of accidents within the skilled recreation.

The Gabriel information was exacerbated by an replace from Germany’s supervisor about Kai Havertz who has, in accordance with him, had a little bit set-back in his restoration from the knee damage/surgical procedure. He says typically he’s doing nicely, and is predicted again in December, however any hopes he could be obtainable for this weekend appeared to have been dashed. It stays to be seen who could be again for the North London derby, so we’ll have to attend and see no matter scant info we get from Mikel Arteta when he meets the press on Friday.

For now, let’s want Gabriel a speedy restoration. He’s as a lot a fighter with regards to this sort of stuff as he’s on the pitch, so he’ll be determined to get again as quickly as attainable, however the essential factor is to get again 100%. Good luck.

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In the meantime, after Eire’s unimaginable late win over Hungary to succeed in the World Cup playoffs, Scotland went one higher final evening by beating Denmark in damage time to succeed in the match correct. And the aim that despatched them by way of? Scored by none apart from former Gunner Kieran Tierney.

Glad Kieran Tierney, Glad me. Glad Scotland ! 🥹❤️

— Prashant 🌊 (@prasshant.bsky.social) 2025-11-18T21:53:17.653Z

The BBC Scotland commentary on that’s nice, harking back to how the RTE lads went spare when Troy Parrott scored that winner. Actually, what a second for him (and Scotland clearly!), however you’d should have a coronary heart of stone to not love that for KT himself. After all of the damage issues he’s had, and I feel most likely continues to play by way of, to provide one thing like that assist ship his nation by way of is exceptional. He completely deserves to have the solar shine on him in that approach after so many weeks and months within the doldrums, coping with the ache and the rehab and the setbacks and all the remaining.

There can be many Arsenal followers annoyed by what has occurred on this break, however as I wrote the opposite day, there’s one thing particular about moments like these in video games that basically imply one thing. Eire confirmed it, Scotland confirmed it, and for a participant that is still an enormous favorite with so many Gooners, it was an Interlull to recollect.

Proper, I’m gonna depart it there for now. Keep heat, again with extra tomorrow.