Under Arsene Wenger’s revamped regime, Arsenal have finally changed the system pretty much for the first time since 1996. Arsenal have changed their formation from a classic 442 to more of a 4231 over the years, but our current three at the back system looks revolutionary for the Gunners.
It’s brought a new light to the team and whilst it has restricted the on-pitch minutes for players like Walcott and Bellerin, others such as Rob Holding and Kieran Gibbs are currently thriving in the system. Holding is a gem of the future and a player we all have very high hopes in, whilst as for Gibbs, he seems to have been sitting on the sidelines for some time now. However in the mind of the 27 year old, the change in system couldn’t be much better!
In a Daily Mail report, Gibbs is quoted saying: ‘After a few defeats sometimes you need to change. It opens up new opportunities for me and I’m happy to have got a few games under my belt. That’s always when I feel at my best, when I get a few games. I feel much stronger now.’
‘I think I can adapt to both [left back and wing back positions] to be honest. A lot depends on the personnel on the pitch at the time and how well we can adapt to each formation. We still need a lot of work on this formation, we haven’t been doing it for long, but we can learn quickly, especially in games like this. We are picking it up quickly.’
Gibbs has offered a good balance down that left hand wing, positioning himself well for both defensive and attacking moves. He is of course a predominantly defensive minded player, but he has no fear of going forward and found himself to be a source of many Arsenal attacks when he used to be the Gunners first choice left back. Gibbs started his career as more of an attack minded player before being moved back to the defence by Arsene Wenger, thus as a result he’s no stranger to making bursting runs forward.
The England international has a fair amount of pace in him and whilst his delivery in the final third may not be as good as a more attack-minded player, such as Alex Oxlade Chamberlain on the other wing, he is still capable of linking play or putting a decent ball into the box. The good thing about having defensive Gibbs on one side and the Ox on the other is that during attacks, Gibbs can provide more defensive cover to Arsenal’s back trio, effectively forming into a back four at times.
The 27 year-old is of course thriving at the opportunity of playing more minutes at Arsenal and there have been suggestions this season that if he cannot prove himself to be Arsenal’s first choice left back then he may have to leave the club. However if Wenger, or whoever is in charge next season, sticks to the current system, I see no reason why Gibbs would fall out of the team, unless the manager would prefer to have two more attack minded players playing the wing back rolls, much like the Ox is experiencing.
Has Gibbs done enough to warrant a first-team role?
AH
Glad the system fits him better and he’s getting a run of games. That being said I’ve never been blown away by what he brings to the table. What does he excel at exactly? Not the best one on one defender, that’s why Nacho is always ahead of him. As the article mentions, not the best going forward either with his final ball. He’s good some pace but that doesn’t do much good if you can’t directly impact the game with it. So meh no offense to him, but he fits perfectly into the category of “average”. Our club needs to upgrade across the board and if Gibbs is one of our 11 best then that is a big part of the problem.
Jardim with fabregas,mahrez,gueye,Barkley,,pepe,saed,isco… Please sign.
Also, benzema or belotti or Suarez… Offload deadwoods Ramsey,Walcott,giroud, Wilshire,elneny.
Lol that’s deadwood Walcott has 19 goals this season! You sir have no brains!
Your talking about deadwood and you want to buy that waste off space Benzema???
You need to get off football manager and get in the real world.
Gibbs, and Lucas Perez connection. They both have speed and good Football sense, and work together very well.
Gibbs is no doubt, a very talented lad. Play Gibbs on the left wing, and you will see balls being crossed in. Just like Antonio Valencia, for Man U.
Absolutely! Statistically speaking he outplayed and outperformed oxlade last game! Argue that all you want but it happened! I don’t know why people are joining this supposed hyped fad that oxlade just is amazing when statistically he hasn’t done squat in 5 years for arsenal. Stats do not lie oxlade will be off to Liverpool as the only reason he is getting any game time is because wenger does play players who resist signing when other clubs offer big money! I would trade ox in a heartbeat! Hell even Walcott is better!
I am the first to admit Ox has been a disappointment since he arrived. Especially if you consider his skill and talent with which he arrived. Having said that to me he has been very good as a wingback. To rely on statistics solely is rather dangerous in football. You only need to have watched the last few games to have seen Ox was one of our best players if not the best on the pitch no matter what the stats might or might not say.
A player might have a 90% pass completion and never lose the ball but if he only passes sideways and backwards you will never cross the halfway line if you have a team full of this player.
Always thought Gibbs has potential to be one of the best left back, he really put on a perfomance against Man utd. That speed on the wing, and his work ethic to attack and defend really gave Sanchez to focus on attack.
Surely Gibbs deserves more credit after his fine display beating man utd, and this is also credit to out Supreme Leader the Great Arsene himself.
Danny Welbeck has revealed he used to hate Arsenal team-mate Kieran Gibbs because their past meetings that gave welbz ahard time everytime being marked by Gibbs. Kieran Gibbs’ improvement at left-back deserves high praise at Arsenal, his positional sense is much better, he reads the game so well and is tenacious in the tackle. He has always been good going forward, but in recent games his fitness levels and strength have really shone through. And if he can overcome his injury issues, the world is his oyster.
All this thanks to our ONE AND ONLY ARSENE.
Lets win something convincingly and challenge for the entire season instead of a month or two like we always do before we start claiming big things or even signing the praise of a player who has played one or two matches this season.
The same problems remain just once gain papered over.
When things go wrong we will all be singing the same things about change so lets keep the pressure and protests up until we get the change that Arsenal need for it to be successful again, because if we don’t this season will be repeated over and over again..
Exactly. History teaches us not to get too excited at this point.
How many times have we seen some good games towards the end of the season in order to win the Wenger Trophy, a good start to the new season whilst there is no pressure, then the usual collapse when things get tough.
I’ve lost count!
For me, just because I express my happiness at beating Mourinho doesn’t mean it changes anything about my opinion of our clueless leader.
IMO, anyone who bases their opinion on Wenger’s need to depart on 1 game or even 1 season I can not take seriously. I base my opinion on the decline of our football, year after year, despite serious investment. Sure this year the squad looked particularly clueless and confused with no traces of the beautiful football Mr Cleuless promoted. But this season in by no means the first season we have a squad so poorly managed and so undisciplined.
This has nothing to do with Kroenke and is all on Mr Clueless.
Be realistic though and expect him to stay and expect the same results next season with no PL title and no chance to pretend we are competing for a PL title because like most years and this past year come next Christmas we will be out of the title race like this past Christmas.
You will only need to read the excuses the Mr Cleuless fans are writing today for his failings to know what you will be reading from them next year this time and there will be no mention of them that they actually thought “this would be the year”.
I think Gibbs might well be one of best options at the moment as a left wing back. When Gibbs first came on the scene I had high hopes for him because he showed a lot of promise. Our fearful leader, however, decided he made a mistake on Gibbs and his career has been essentially frozen since the arrival of Monreal who was a good investment in all fairness.
Although it is hard to teach an old dog a new trick, if Gibbs could become more useful going forward and to me, that means to develop a final ball he could be a good squad player and for the moment our best starter as a left wing back.
Gibbs is a Arsenal man and cares about the club. You always need these sort of loyal players at your club. For me he is a great addition to have in our squad.
He hasn’t been that good. Monreal was better in wingback position in the games he played. Gibbs has overall been another Englishman that hasn’t lived up to his potential. It’s quite sad because I rated him, but it’s not happening.