Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Serge Gnabry and Other German Things

After Serge Gnabry scored in Arsenal’s 2-1 win against Swansea, and as such, has managed to gain some well-deserved attention (Piers Morgan finally found out who he was). It has been obvious for a while that he, along with various other Arsenal youngsters, really have the potential to be world-beaters in a few years time.

I don’t know how many of you paid close attention to the NextGen series last year, but the Arsenal youngsters played some fantastic football en route to the Semi-Finals. They could’ve easily gone a step further. The Chelsea team who knocked them out were not even close in terms of skill, but had clearly been playing together for much longer as they were beautifully gelled together. I had the privilege of going to Arsenal vs CSKA Moskva at the Emirates Stadium, and was taken aback by how advanced some of the players were. I would trust Hector Bellerin to play in the Premier League already, Chuba Akpom, if nurtured correctly, has the potential to be a Drogba-esque presence, you’ve all seen what Thomas Eisfeld can do, Deyan Iliev reminds me of Szczesny and all the others players had very strong points indeed. Arsenal won 1-0; the same margin which they’d beat holders Inter Milan by in the previous round, but deserved to be much further ahead. CSKA were forced to hold out for a respectful result. Gnabry beautifully controlled a through ball and slid the ball past the ‘keeper in a Cazorla-like manner. Arsenal never really had to defend; instead they just stroked the ball around the field.

I’d known about Gnabry before; an interview with him in the Arsenal magazine caused me to take an interest and track his career before then, but to finally see him in the flesh really excited me about his future. Therefore when he started against Stoke City, I had high hopes for him.

Certainly, he made a few mistakes, but I felt that those mistakes weren’t down to lack of talent, merely a desire to not be selfish caused him to make decisions which he wouldn’t have made at the level he normally plays. He was looking to give the ball to other players, which is fantastic, but his natural talent suggests that he can keep for himself a lot more often and he’ll reap the rewards. He had some fantastic moments as well; a nice one-two plus a long shot gave us all a glimpse of what we will be seeing more of in the future. In the week, West Brom were very difficult to break down, but Gnabry kept plucking away and could’ve easily had a number of assists.

But against Swansea, he really came into his own. He was still passing the ball too readily, but some of his dribbles and attempted one-twos really showed his class. He very nearly made an assist; his fantastic dribble past two players plus through ball to Giroud wouldn’t have been in vain but for a scuff by the Centre-Forward. Plus there was the little matter of his goal. After a lovely one-two between Ozil and Giroud allowed Wilshere to play the ball onto Giroud, Ramsey played a gorgeous pass to Gnabry, who slid the ball home in the same fashion that he did against CSKA Moskva six months ago.

The week that has just gone past will never be forgotten by the German youngster, and I’m sure they’ll be many others like it in the next few years.

Another German youngster whose week will be remembered was Thomas Eisfeld. Arsenal’s number 42 (doesn’t quite have a ring to it as much as “Arsenal’s number nine”) will be disappointed that he hasn’t made more appearances for the Arsenal first team in his twenty months at the Emirates, but has shown glimpses of promise in the lower-teams throughout his time here. Throughout the NextGen series he showed that he might just be able to emulate his German colleague Mesut Ozil in a few years time (I doubt he’ll achieve it as quickly as the twenty-four year old), and in various pre-season matches has created multiple chances, so surely it’ll only be a matter of time before he gets his big break and strings together a few league appearances; he should also earn a few appearances in Capital One Cup matches, early FA Cup rounds, Champions’ League matches where Arsenal are already through to the next round etc. before then, but a player of his mentality will not be satisfied until he is the first-choice playmaker on Arsene Wenger’s team sheet. He has Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil to get through first, but time is on his side and with a bit of patience he could easily reach the heights of those two in a few years.

However, looking at the past instead of the future for a moment, he excited Arsenal fans the world over with his goal against West Brom. After a certain Serge Gnabry made one of his trademark runs, cutting through the centre and passing to Nicklas Bendtner, the Dane made a lovely pass to Eisfeld who deliciously controlled the ball and calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net with composure far beyond his years. He showed yet more composure in tucking away his penalty in the shootout, and was one of the men of the match.

Eisfeld and Gnabry have both showed that they warrant occasional places in the first team already, and I wouldn’t recommend betting against them making more than “occasional” first team appearances in the future.

 

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