Matteo Gabbia went back into the side on Sunday afternoon as AC Milan won and kept a clean sheet against Hellas Verona.
Milan returned to winning ways at the Stadio Bentegodi after two defeats in a row against Napoli and Udinese, with zero goals scored and four conceded. The three points earned coincided with the return of Gabbia, back after an operation to resolve a hernia.
The Gabbia factor
Gabbia’s presence wasn’t just symbolic as his importance was evident in two key moments of the match. In the 75th minute, the Rossoneri thought that they had doubled their lead when the centre-back headed in, but Santiago Gimenez was adjudged offside in the build-up.
A few minutes later, the No.46 was then decisive in the defensive phase, with his sliding tackle preventing the ball from going into the net after Edmundsson and Orban were targeted with a low cross.
What’s truly impressive is the win-loss record when he’s not on the field. With him on the pitch, Milan have lost only once in the league, managing to win 15 games and draw nine. Without him, the Rossoneri have won four of eight matches, losing the remaining four.
The average points haul in matches where Gabbia is present is 2.16, while in his absence the figure drops to 1.5. After the game, though, he denied that he has any kind of talismanic presence in his interview with Sky.
“The defeats without me are definitely a coincidence. Today’s match wasn’t easy, and things are always tough on the pitch. Today it was important to get back to winning ways, get the three points, and we have to be happy about that.”
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Am I the only one who found him quite bad? He was poor and very slow in building up from behind, didn’t look solid at all
BECAUSE YOU IDIOT TOM, WITHOUT GABBIA WE LOST
No Tom, I agree with you. Gabbia plays well when Tomori and Pavlovic reduce the amount of crosses/passes into his area, otherwise he is average and not dominant. Gattuso wasn’t using him, and that is saying something, considering the terrible options Italy has at the back.
we may have the fastest CB on the league in Tomori & the strongest too in Pav,
but from all the CB’s we’ve, Gabbia is the smartest CB, there’s one important ability in defender called “read the game” just look at Baresi, not fast nor muscled but smart
Not smart enough to gain a spot in the mediocre Italy defense!?! He gets duped too easily by defenders and too often. You’re giving his ‘smarts’ waaayyyy too much credit.
Wasn’t gabbia injured when they announced the squad? Hes been called up to the national team before as well so I’m not really sure what your point is here.
Thisi is a three man defence not a one defence so if you are going to give a compliment give it to all three not one…
This type of articles is what destroy unity among the group silently because if tomori and pav should read gabbia being praise all the time for a group work how will that make them feel.
#STOP THIS NONSENSE
They don’t read this. You think Tomori spends his evenings commenting here? 😀
Gabbia will never dazzle in defence, but both Pavlo and Tomori looked more confident with him around.
It’s the same effect Kjaer had, you need someone with a head on their shoulders, otherwise the defense looks like it did without him. He certainly makes a difference for the positive, his positioning, vision and passing is what makes Gabbia indispensable in the back 3.
A lot of people dont see it, and most of the time its people who don’t watch games or have never played in defense. Gabbia like kjaer have the same traits that are not told by numbers but by seeing the game.
The gamers only look at the pace attributes in FIFA or whatever and say players are bad if they’re not fast enough. Kids these days… 🤦♂️
if Baresi is too high for him, maybe kind of Pique, a slow defender but he play w/ his head not only w/ his foot + leadership