Kieran Gibbs MUST play against Schalke (Drop Santos Now!)

Posted on November 05, 2012 by admin

There are many Arsenal rumours this morning (notably in the Telegraph) saying that Kieran Gibbs has returned to full training and is nearly ready to join the first-team, despite not even making the bench for Saturday’s visit to Old Trafford.

The youngster last played for Arsenal in the away win against West Ham, and Gooners will not be surprised that Arsenal have only one outright win in the five fixtures since he was replaced by Andre Santos, and that was against winless QPR!

It seems that Gibbs has taken a bit longer to return to fitness than previously predicted, with Wenger saying before the Norwich loss three weeks ago. “Kieran Gibbs is out for Saturday because he went off against West Ham. He’s not healed yet. He has a little chance to be ready for Wednesday and a bigger chance for QPR.”

After Santos’ ABYSMAL showing against Manchester United, fans are yet again calling for him to be dropped, in fact even before this game many Gooners were telling Wenger to play Vermaelen at left-back rather than put Santos in the starting line-up. How right they were……

So I am saying that (even if he ISN’T fit!), Gibbs should be returned to the starting line-up, and hopefully we can get back to winning ways again…..

MEGAN FOX talks to Dolphins with ACERTags: Gibbs, Man utd, santos
Category Arsenal Injury News, Arsenal News
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Jenkinson and Gibbs have proved their worth to Arsenal

Full backs: by SV

I have already today commented on one positive aspect of our game against Sunderland and I would now like to comment on another: our full backs. The abilities of both of our current starting full-backs have come under severe scrutiny by pretty much everyone. There were many (sorry, there ARE many) who do not think that Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson can yet cut it at the top level.

But I believe that Saturday’s match against Sunderland should have given even their harshest critics something to think about. I though Kieran Gibbs especially was excellent. It wasn’t quite a flawless performance, as he was occasionally caught out of position and had to be covered by Vermaelen. However, this happens to every full-back, no matter how experienced or skilled. The nature of the position, where you have to venture up the pitch to help with the attack, is always going to leave you with moments when the opposition are counter-attacking, and your still in their half.

And the other aspects to Gibbs’ game were very good. One on one, I didn’t see him lose a battle all afternoon and he played with heart and energy throughout the ninety. He is, in my opinion, rightfully starting ahead of Santos. He has improved steadily since the beginning of this year, and long may it continue.

Moving on to Carl Jenkinson. Jenkinson was equally as effective if not as tidy in defence. He too played with a great deal of heart and rarely stopped running. It must also be noted that he was facing decent (not great, but decent) opposition in James McLean. McLean is a powerful, quick and skilful player…who Jenkinson kept in check well. I was not so impressed with the way Carl attacked, however, as he seemed nervous whenever he got the ball. You could tell when he had it that he was thinking too much about his next move and, as a consequence, always went for the easiest pass out, which was not necessarily the best one. Sky Sports, for once, summed up the performance well, describing it as ‘tentative’. I hope that more game time and experience will give Jenkinson the confidence he needs to be successful. I’ve always said that he has the tools to be a top player, he just needs culturing.

Overall, I would have to say that I was happy with our full-backs and indeed our defence as a whole. While I concede that lacked lustre offensively, I believe that the reporters talking about the ‘same old Arsenal defence’ are spouting lazy journalism. Throughout the match, there was only really once when we were really cut open by Sunderland, and even that only really lead to a half chance.

That’s it from me today, but I’ll try and get my own (delayed) analysis out later.

Till then.

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