Advantage Gibbs

Good evening, you googly Goons

I'm gonna get right to it, Clichy is out with a knock and Gibbs is starting tomorrow/today. Even though Clichy has been a main stay in the squad I am not too concerned about his absence. Last season Clichy went out at one of the most inopportune moments of the season, and he was replaced with Gibbs who had the gaff of all gaffs, slipping versus IOU and dooming the Arsenal to yet another trophy-less season. Was it his fault? Not really...I think we all felt bad for him instead of mad at him. We all make mistakes. Fortunately, Gibbs was able to get a good run of matches, gain match confidence as well as important experience. Tomorrow we'll see what he learned.

In many ways I feel more comfortable with Gibbs. I like that he is a midfield convert; in particular a central midfielder. Gibbs often gets deployed in the midfield for the Reserves but plays through the middle for the U21 England team. Clichy, on the other hand and as far as I know, has always been a left back. Clichy is a fantastic defensive presence but let's be honest here...even before his back injury last season he could have been directly responsible for many of our leaked goals eg going too far forward in an attempt to intercept a pass to the wing, only to be caught out on the counter. Clichy is a left back; only a left back.

In contrast, Gibbs is green to attempt these intercepts. It probably has to do with him knowing that a mistake for the 1sts can be fatal to his career; he already has his one major blemish vs IOU so he likely won't be as cavalier as Clichy in the tackle. I don't think Gibbs will lunge to tackle the ball unless he knows that he will get the ball cleanly and without mistake. Now, moving forward Gibbs is far better than Clichy. Utilizing his experience as a midfielder he is far better at crossing and seeking out those little spots that advance him forward in the attacking play eg supporting Nasri, then distributing through Cesc (last season) Clichy simply lacks this intuition, this vision to find those spots that some midfielders are just able to see. Clichy's crosses are often so poor that both @ArsenaLIND and I look at each other with awe and disgust. The same can be said for Sagna's service, and our rolling of our eyes when Eboue is right back and he places lovely crosses to our strikers. Love them or hate them but our starting left and right backs are world class but lying in their wake are two great defenders who are a bit better moving forward, crossing the ball to our attacking partners. It's really great that Arsene has these different options of play/style, and the competition for a starting XI place can't hurt, either.

In the end, I'm happy and anxious to see Gibbs get a go tomorrow. I think he will do really well, and I hope he is involved in an assist, or even a goal. At the end of the match we will all be able to express our opinion on whether or not he has done enough to keep his place. If i had to bet, and with talk from Arsene supporting Gibbs' development I would not be surprised if Gibbs and Clichy are rotated regularly from here on out. Competition is healthy and may the best left back win. Advantage Gibbs.

ArsenaLOS