Mikel Arteta has an incredibly talented squad at his disposal at Arsenal, which he coaches meticulously to master the fine details.
The Gunners endured a difficult 2024/25 season, which saw them miss out on silverware, after being plagued by injury issues.
Numerous issues presented themselves to the North Londoners throughout the campaign, including problems with their lack of creativity and dynamism in the final third.
Regardless, Ben White believes Arteta is an excellent coach who focuses on the small marginal gains, and Arsenal are primed to bounce back next season if they spend wisely in the transfer market.
Ben White says Gabriel Magalhaes doesn’t score from set-pieces in training
A key facet of Arsenal’s attacking play, which often makes up for their lack of creativity, is the threat they pose from set-pieces.
However, after Gabriel Magalhaes was ruled out for three months with a hamstring injury, this threat disappeared.
The Brazilian is the Gunners’ main weapon from dead-ball situations, and even with Arteta and Nicolas Jover’s forensic coaching in this department, Arsenal became less effective at capitalising on the numerous corners and free-kicks they won without their imposing centre-back.
The North London outfit undoubtedly spend hours on the training ground to perfect their set-piece exploits, although White has provided a fascinating insight into this.
Asked in an interview with Sky Sports about Arsenal’s set-pieces, the right-back revealed that Gabriel doesn’t score from them in training, despite doing so in countless matches in recent seasons.
“Yeah, it is crazy isn’t it [Gabriel’s set-piece threat],” White said.
“It’s almost like we aim for him every time. Yeah, he’s obviously a monster and gets into those positions because he’s clever, but I think it’s more just the brute that he is. He gets in there.
“It’s weird because he doesn’t really score in training that much. But obviously on a game day it’s completely different.
“You’ve seen loads of people try and mark him, and it’s impossible because there’s too much space and there’s other things going on to free him up, and he obviously puts them all away as well.”
Gabriel Magalhaes’ injury cost Arsenal in the run-in
Arsenal were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain at the semi-final stage, with this the closest they got to attaining major silverware this season.
The league had already gone by the time Gabriel got injured, but the Gunners certainly could’ve done with the 27-year-old for their European exploits.
While Jakub Kiwior performed admirably in his absence, the Brazil international’s threat from set-pieces was a significant loss to Arsenal’s attacking game.
As well as this, Gabriel’s leadership and physical presence in Arteta’s team’s backline certainly would’ve helped against the likes of Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Sometimes the outcome of the season is defined by crucial players getting injured, and that was certainly the case for Arsenal this term.
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