What will become of Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs – Part 1
Even the optimist has now resigned to the everlasting phrase “Next season”, after a humiliating defeat to Stoke City on Sunday that ended even a mathematical chance of Arsenal’s outside title aspirations this year. Another year has failed and another year
is being looked forward to. This defeat to the “Rugby” team, as Wenger puts it, was the final straw and displayed everything that has gone wrong for the Gunners this term and why they couldn’t table a serious title challenge for the elusive Premier League
crown.
The match against Stoke provided a rare opportunity to Kieran Gibbs, the deputy left back for Gael Clichy, after the latter complained of a hamstring problem prior to the match. This marked Gibbs’ 18th seasonal appearance in the Arsenal shirt
this year but only the 2nd start in the domestic league. This was one game that the 21-year-old would never want to recall. He was poor defensively, contributing to Stoke City’s goals and unlike the surging forward runs that we are accustomed to
see when Clichy plays, Gibbs offered no such fire when going forward.
The ex-Wimbledon player, Gibbs started his career as a midfielder, but the young Englishman was transformed by Arsene Wenger into a top quality left back early into his developmental years. The back injury to first choice left-back Clichy, back in the second
half of the 2008/2009 campaign, marked his arrival to the big stage as he racked up an impressive 21 appearances as a left-back, in a stint that displayed high levels of skill that a talent like his promised.
Last season in November, Gibbs suffered a serious metatarsal injury that ruled him out for the rest of the campaign with only 7 appearances to his name by that time. His impressive pre-season 2010/2011 campaign saw him attract the eye of the England manager
who called him to the national squad in August. But times have faded since then and the Englishman has had little to revel in.
While Gael Clichy has established himself as a first choice left back due to his impressive performances; racking over 250 appearances for the English outfit, Kieran Gibbs has suffered from lack of playing time and a decline in opportunities. Gael Clichy
is one of the few leaders of the Arsenal squad and Wenger will not want to waste his talent and leadership qualities by putting him on the bench.
Most of the playing time Gibbs has received was in the FA cup and the Carling cup with 10 out of his 18 appearances coming in those two competitions. His performance in the match against Stoke City was by no means satisfactory where he was caught off position
on many occasions and was severely out muscled by the physical stoke front line. He looked like a player who has been suffering from lack of consistent playing time and a decrease in confidence levels.
Article continued in Part 2…