{"id":331403,"date":"2025-10-25T11:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T11:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/331403\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T11:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T11:09:11","slug":"he-sets-the-tone-for-everyone-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/331403\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He sets the tone for everyone else\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hailed Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es as one of the best central defenders in world football, praising the Brazilian\u2019s all-round qualities and his growing influence on and off the pitch.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Speaking ahead of Arsenal\u2019s latest London derby against Crystal Palace, which Gabriel could miss through injury, Arteta reflected on Gabriel\u2019s transformation since arriving at the club in 2020, describing him as a player who \u201cdominates both boxes\u201d and who has become a leader at the heart of the Gunners\u2019 back line.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you ask me what I want from my centre-back, I want somebody who dominates both boxes and masters that,\u201d said Arteta. \u201cGabriel can do that. He defends like a world-class defender, and he attacks like a world-class attacker. When you look at his presence, the way he leads the team, the way he talks to people, his body language, there\u2019s a lot to like. It\u2019s no coincidence that he has evolved into one of the best centre-backs in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arteta said Gabriel\u2019s mentality and belief have been just as crucial to his rise as his physical attributes and technical ability. The 26-year-old has become a key figure in both phases of play, not just as a commanding defender but also as a major threat from set pieces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis belief is tremendous,\u201d Arteta added. \u201cI can tell him to go and run to the first post, and he does it with conviction, energy and attitude. The team\u2019s belief in those moments is really high, and Gabriel is at the heart of that. He gives everything for the team, and that sets the tone for everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Arsenal boss also underlined the importance of defending as a foundation for success, echoing Sir Alex Fergsuons\u2019s old managerial maxim that \u2018attackers win games, but defenders win titles.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefending isn\u2019t just about avoiding goals,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cWe defend to attack better. The purpose of our defending is to create better conditions to go forward and to control games. That\u2019s the mindset we want: to defend with intention and to dominate in the areas that matter most.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arteta believes Gabriel embodies that philosophy perfectly, combining aggression and intelligence with a growing composure that has seen him develop into one of the Premier League\u2019s most complete defenders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s grown so much,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cHe\u2019s more mature now, more vocal, more consistent. And when you see how important top centre-backs are, you realise why they\u2019re so valuable. There are already a few who\u2019ve gone for huge fees, that tells you how crucial players like Gabriel are to what a team can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hailed Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es as one of the best central defenders in world football,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":331404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-331403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115434498448159186","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}