Thank goodness for the U21 Championships. With no World Cup or Euros, June can be a frustrating month, for starters nearly all the players and managers are on holiday so any transfer rumours are completely made up by the media, who lead you on with sensationalist headlines only to let you down when it turns out they have no concrete evidence for their stories.
However England’s young Lions (copyright Sky Sports) have filled that football void and it is pleasing to see two young Gooners involved. We know all about Theo and thoroughly expected him to be a danger at this tournament. Though I do feel, given he is a regular with the full national side, he could have been given the summer off. After all he is going to be involved at the full World Cup next summer, so effectively is going two years without a holiday. It is that sort of lack of planning from the FA which leads to England wilting at major tournaments. How many times have we lacked stamina in big matches?
Right, moan out of the way. On a brighter note, Kieran Gibbs’ performances get better by the week. I don’t know what it is with Arsene and left-backs but Gibbs looks set to eclipse both Clichy and Cashley Cole. I hope too he replaces Cole in the full England squad next year, the irony of which would be satisfying given it was Cole’s greed that freed up the left back slot for Clichy and now Gibbs to flourish in the first place.
I also feel that such is Gibbs’ progress we could let Clichy go. I know selling our young players isn’t always a good idea but given money isn’t exactly in great supply around the Emirates at the minute, why not cash in on Clichy and give Arsene some extra cash to buy that defensive midfielder we need?
Gibbs seems to have recovered from his nightmare slip against United in the Champions League. That would finish a lot of young players off, but the fact he has recovered from it shows his strength of character and has convinced me he can go on and become first choice left back for club and country next season.
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gibbs is up to playing lb for sure, but if we sell clichy we then lack cover at lb. that’s been the big problem this year. when people get injured their replacements haven’t always been up to scratch and it would be nice even if just for next season if we could have two good left backs!
I agree Gibbs does look one hell of a player better crosser than Clicy aswell.
We need to keep Clicey for another season
We should do a deal with Man city Torre in exchange for Cash and Richards i think Richards is young powerfull and still learning and think he would be better deployed as a holding midfielder
@ryan
Remember we have Traore back from loan at Portsmouth heading into the new season so we’re not short of left backs.
I think maybe Gibbs could benefit from a similar season long loan at a Premier League team, he’s certainly up to it, but I feel that he’s not ready to be Clichy’s replacement just yet.
so what happens when gibbs gets injured? we will have a lot of players missing due to ANC. as for gibbs looking like a good prospect thats exactly what he is.
clishy is the finished article. gibbs blunder gainst manshytes is his learning process and he will make a lot of those errors so he sn ot ready yet in 1 or 2 years time he will take over that slot. getting rid of clishy is a bad idea.
its good thing plastic bloggers like you dont run Arsenal FC
While I do think that Gibbs is up to the task (being our #1 left back), selling Gaël would make no sense. We need the experienced players we have; those who have been here at the club for several years (is it 6 or 7 years for Gaël now?) and those who have crucial important leadership roles within the team. All of which Clichy has, and that’s something we don’t have alot of at Arsenal. He’s also a very likeable person and a good english speaker.
Last season Gaël wasn’t up to his best form, and I wanted him to be dropped in favor of Gibbs for about a month before Clichy’s injury, but Gibbs isn’t up to Clichy á la 07/08, so I say let Clichy rediscover his form.
That will be a Big mistake! The lad is good but he isn’t just ready yet. The mistake against MU clearly exposed that. Winning the CL and the Championship is not a kindergatten deal. You need men to execute that. 4 me, the hype about Vermeleen, Bassong etc does not excite me. Gallas and Toure’s experiences are very critical to winning these championships.
Had Gallas and Clichy played against MU in the CL semis, that would have been a different ball game, dont u think so? Lets not tout these ideas of selling experienced players for kids or we just confirm Morinho’s claims of Arsenal being a football academy.
Keiran is a good young prospect, but let’s not get carried away! Clichy is a full international, only 23 years old, world class, and was voted on the premier league team of the season last year by HIS PEERS. Have you noticed how whenever he played, Ronaldo had a shite game against us? The boy has jets in his feet, is brave, challenges wingers immediately yet has the pace to recover… and hasn’t even reached his prime yet! On top of that, he’s a top man, always says the right thing to the press, loves the club, and is a dedicated and hard worker. In other words… exactly the sort of player you want to build your team around, NOT get rid of just because you have a young English prospect behind him.
No, clichy is the polished article. if you think gibbs is going right then fine. that means clichy knows he is not alone, so that pushes him. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPETITION FOR PLAYERS. I READ somewhere that gibbs would consider a loan move but i think that would be a big mistake. if he goes for six monts say, then clichy gets injury for 4 months what happens? we limp on for 6 months when we have a born arsenal player, it’s senseless me thinks.there is a place at arsenal for gibbs in the first team. ease him into DM gradually while clichy is ok, if anything happens to clichy, gibbs goes there.unless a new dm arrives but still dont part with gibbsy.
Traore’s not a left back, we should keep Clichy for at least a season, and even then Gibbs will only be 20. Although he’s better at attacking than Clichy (the team could learn how to cross from him and Arshavin) and also more positive when closing down the right winger than Clichy who tucks in a little too much for my liking.
There’s a rumour that Gibbs may be going on loan to Burnley. That’d be a great move IMO, Vermaelen got signed today and Wenger said he can play at LB. Also, I’m sure Wenger would put a clause in the contract that says we can recall him.
Gibbs and Traore are not good enough to play LB for a whole season. We need to keep Clichy. Its ludicrous to think such a young player is up to the demands of CL, EPL, FA and League Cup football.
Do not even dream of asking for Clichy to leave the club. We all know that our biggest undoing has been a lack of depth especially when our senior, experienced and talented players get injured. So why is it that when we begin to build some depthin the squad should one say that another be sold? I am a big fan of both Clichy and Gibbs and was vry excited with Gibbs performance over the games he played last season. Even the terrible incident during the Champs League game against Manchester but that was not his fault. so for heavens sake it doesn’t matter whether we have two or fifty left backs in fact the more the better.