Arsenal plunged to their second defeat in four days after Manchester City came from behind to beat the Gunners 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday evening.
The North London club have been in excellent form lately and have gone 14 games unbeaten in the Premier League before their shock defeat to Everton in the midweek.
Walcott gave the visitors an early lead with a cool slotted finish, but Leroy Sane tied things up in the opening minutes of the second half. The Citizens dominated the possession there after, and Raheem Sterling completed the comeback with 20 minutes to go.
The Emirates club were were defensively disciplined and offensively dangerous in the first half and the prospects of closing the gap on League leaders Chelsea were very rosy. However, a dismal second half display where they were behind City in every aspect of the game meant that the Gunners lost their second game in a row after taking an initial lead.
Most of the Arsenal players carried on their abysmal form from Goodison Park but one player in particular was on the receiving end of some strong criticism from the fans, that being Brazilian defender Gabriel Paulista.
Gabriel Paulista has started back to back games this week and Arsenal have appeared defensively vulnerable in both those games. City’s lack of a focal point in attack gave him and Koscielny lot of decisions to make when marking players, and in the second half he started to get beaten defensively.
When Arsenal needed composure on the ball after they went 2-1 down, he wasn’t there to be that rock in the center. Mustafi is sorely missed at the minute. The fans were less than impressed with Gabriel’s performance and were quite ruthless on his overall display.
Here are some of the reactions from Twitter:
He might get a few run-ins during the festive season
https://twitter.com/Folahan_MG/status/810571538932101126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Not particularly a disaster, but a really bad game
Another disaster at the back is @gpaulista5 …he's always have one or two mistakes in him
— Mr Akinwande® (@MrAkinwande19) December 18, 2016
Agenda against Cech needed now.
Mans concedes too many goals.
Also we need to sell Gabriel Paulista. Not a defender.
— Rah (@neneroni) December 18, 2016
Look pretty tenacious while playing as center-back
Someone should please tell Gabriel Paulista to calm down. He is pressing that panic button too early…. #Bbcfootball
— Shanu 'Shai' Afolami (@shaiontheprowl) December 18, 2016
Gabriel paulista is really poor to me.
— Not Dixon ✖️ (@TheN0xID) December 18, 2016
No pun intended, I guess
https://twitter.com/ArsenalDavey/status/810563292511039488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Villarreal to be exact
https://twitter.com/Demilade_OG/status/810559733761449985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He was until few weeks back?
https://twitter.com/JordinhoJordan2/status/810559130629013509?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/Giroudesquee/status/810557952461570048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Well said. He was definitely poor, but fans needed a scape goat
People are sooo biased, #Gabriel was not at fault for the goals, #Ozil is a CAM not the entire team. Team Effort was disjointed. We go again
— down_under_gooner (@downundergooner) December 18, 2016
Oh come on, now Monreal too?
I still dont understands the place of #Gabriel and @_nachomonreal in that our recent line up
— Dhyttue Platt (@dhyttue) December 18, 2016
Never seen a bad brazilian footbaler before like gabriel paulista, man is awful!!
— SNIPER (@SHAURI_10) December 19, 2016
I don’t agree, Sorry
https://twitter.com/Gabriel_Agofure/status/810554278817464321
#Arsenal why do we concede goals just after half time , it must be down to focus and concentration ohh and #Gabriel
— David Rogers (@rodrogers9) December 18, 2016
No Comments
Now I kno why a player cost £35m+ while another cost £12m n both play in same position #Mustafi #Gabriel
Meanwhile no Santi no creativity https://t.co/ntEPEqrscw— KRS Anozie (@tijochris) December 18, 2016
#Gabriel really nice guy but never been up to it in the #Premiere league so far as playing football is concerned. !
— David Rogers (@rodrogers9) December 18, 2016
