Pulis Knew A Player - Gnabry!

[Albionic68]

Having seen glimpses of Gnabry for Arsenal I recognised him as a real talent and I was really chuffed when we landed him on loan. He couldn't get into the Arsenal side on a regular basis due to a combination of their team being pretty good back then and because he was struggling to recapture his fitness following injury.

He came for game time but regardless of his natural talents he just wasn't fit enough. And although I was chuffed we'd got him I never really saw the tactical fit. Game time was always going to be a struggle. There had been question marks relating to his attitude to training whilst at Arsenal. I think coming here on loan was the wake up call he needed and he clearly listened to it.

He's gone on to really develop his game and his fitness levels are streets ahead of what they were because he's applying himself. Cracking player who was a bad fit for us back then but he's gone on to be a good fit elsewhere. Right player+ wrong circumstances = poor recruitment at a time of poor football.

It was a match made in hell for the lad but in truth he offered little to a team built on playing in certain zones of the pitch and heavily reliant on set plays. I don't really understand why we went for him to be honest. Chuffed though I was I could never see how it was going to work as he wasn't what was needed for Pulisball.

Further to this if his attitude to training was as off here as it reportedly was at Arsenal there was no way he'd have been picked for a TP side either. There are at least two sides to every story.