While three of the four positions in Arsenalâs defence appear nailed down â Bacary Sagna is surely, as Arsene Wenger pointed out, the best right back in the league, with the excellent Laurent Koscielny and Thomas Vermaelen forming a solid partnership â there remain doubts over the Frenchmanâs preferred choice at left full back. When one of Andre Santos and Kieran Gibbs have lined up there for the Gunners, it has mainly been by default due to the other being injured. Many agree that in football the consistency in your line-up should come from your defence, as when a permanent three/four/five at the back (or 10 in Stokeâs case) are selected itâs easier for them to blend & gel, and give the team a unity to build upon. However, Santos and Gibbs offer Arsenal different things, and itâs a possibility that, with neither particularly edging the battle, Wenger may well select his left back based on the opposition, and which player suits the specific game more. Will Wenger make his choice based on the player playing the left wing position? If a player like Yossi Benayoun was selected, one who was more likely to cut inside, perhaps the more eager-to-overlap full back in Gibbs would be selected to keep width. On the other hand, Santos prefers to come inside and at times acts as an extra midfielder, so might tread on the toes of a roaming wide player like Benayoun. With Gibbsâ apparent inability to put together a string of games proven by his unavailability for the game against Wolves, doubts remain over his fitness and this may well be the factor that gives Andre Santos the position full-time. Technically, Santos is superb â the typical Brazilian âlateralâ who likes to use the ball â and he often drifts inside to exchange passes, win the ball and help Arsenal keep the ball and win the midfield battle. Santos is also similar to Koscielny and Vermaelen in that he likes to nick the ball away from attackers to start counter attacks â the move for Aaron Ramseyâs miss against City was started by Santos nipping in to win the ball. This enthusiasm may occasionally see him commit fouls, but more often than not itâs vital in helping Arsenal attack from the back as they love to do. On the other hand, Gibbs is perhaps the complete opposite of Santos as a full back. He loves to overlap the winger, make runs down the left hand side and whip balls into the area. Heâs always full of energy and attacking runs, and is also fairly handy at winning aerial battles. Here you would perhaps compare him to Bacary Sagna, who, like the Englishman, likes to overlap the winger, cross into the area and use his physical excellence to bomb up and down the wing. Perhaps, then, Arsenal would be better off to pair Sagna with Santos to give them variety, rather than having two similar full backs who offer pretty much the same thing? Variety is a big part of Arsenalâs game â the very different Yossi Benayoun and Theo Walcott gave a vital variety on the wings against Manchester City, and they may well strive to achieve the same conglomeration. === Adapted from a Sabotage Times article - but it gave good food for thought. What's your opinion out there Arsenal Universe??
I don't want to choose at this stage. Neither has had a run to identify strengths and weaknesses well enough. As always its good to have variety in the squad- not that it gets used - opponent by opponent.
Based on what I've seen so far I don't think either are good enough. This might change for Santos should he get a run of games but every time Gibbs starts to do well he gets injured.
no point choosing unless we have a choice. let us choose based on who is on form when they are both fit. or whoever is performing better in training. also remember that Gibbs is a lot younger and will improve much more.
The biggest problem is both players have been out constantly this season through injury. Our main concern is having a constantly fit left back that will play well throughout the season. Whenever you have constant changes in defence, it affects the harmony of our backline. Since we've had Sagna back, we've looked massively better. If we can get a Sagna clone on the left, then we would have a solid back four. As it stands, if both Gibbs and Santos continue to be in and out the squad through injury, it will only lead to disharmony of our back four. Gibbs is starting to worry me about his injuries. I'd rather have a solid and steady left back than have an exciting one that plays now and again......
Gibbs for me all day of the week and it isn't even close. Gibbs is England's future LB - I rate him very highly.
A month ago I would've said Santos but i've been really impressed with Gibbs. Seems to have made massive improvements and if he keeps on improving could our left back for quiet some time.
It doesn't really matter if neither can play more than 2 games on the trot. We need a constantly fit left back!
Indeed. Been harping on about this for a while. I'd love a reliable LB who plays week in week out. Again I will play the Leighton Baines card, though you can guarantee the second we sign him he'll pick up a fookin' injury...
We all know that Gibbs is injury prone, but was Santos injury prone before he joined us? Is it just him getting injuries or has he too got a case of the Darren Anderton's.....
Hopefully just bad luck with Santos but how many times have we said that with our squad?! I don't think the fact he was woefully out of shape when he signed for us helped. I imagine Wenger would have wanted to build up his fitness/introduce him to English football far slower than he did. Gibbs is a proper Anderton/Diaby etc. Players with bags of potential but seemingly doomed to never fulfill it due to injuries.
How can you call Santos injury prone? he has a bad injury after being overplayed by Wenger. I think Santos is a type of player that needs 2-3 games to get into the grove. His 1st game for us was poor and then he gradually inproved and was actually playing very well until his injury. I like Gibbs too and after a few of quite a few games in the team was performing well. Im happy with the pair of them.
I didn't call him injury prone. I said based on what I've seen I don't think either are good enough. One is talented but always injured whilst the other hasn't featured enough for me to judge him positively. I do like how over-excited Santos gets whenever we score though!
The big question is do we take the risk with Gibbs or get another LB like Vertogoen who is versatile and can also play CB and Midfield? I really like Gibbs but he gets injured far too much. We need a solid and relable back 4 but if Santos gets injured, we do not have a reliable LB if Gibbs is to be the reserve....
Gibbs is better already, and has huge potential to improve even more. It's a no brainer. He's also english, and will inevitably replace Ca$hley Cole as England left back.
This is Santos' first year in the league. Next year he will be more used to the pace and hopefully fitter. He looks a better bet than Gibbs - for now.
Gibbs. He has more energy and has more pace to recover. Santos is good and we can even use him as a LW if needed, but Gibbs for me.
They are both good, without either being excellent. For me it would be Gibbs, he's going to improve, but I do like Santos, he's skillful and has got an eye for running at players. I just hope that they can both stay fit.
Santos is also makes more tackles than any other player in our team, and cuts out more passes than any other player in our team It's your fault Piskie - you put me in stats mode after the pass completion rate stuff on Ramsey!
