There were encouraging signs from Darron tonight. He looked more assured and involved than I've seen previously. Very nice technique on his passing and shooting.
But will the bench have time to miss him..
Gibson did play well. It would have been great if one of his dramatic shots had gone in. However, let's remember that it was a game against Rangers and let's not hype it up too much. I just hope he can build on it and give Ferguson more reason to pick him.
I tell you what the guy can certainly strike a football.
United's best player for the first 70 minutes and he was their only attacking threat on the night. Poor match though.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...i-2332653.html
Glimpse of Gibson's vanity won't impress Trapattoni
By James Lawton
Trust Old Trap to offer some career advice to the still relatively obscure Darron Gibson on an issue that is increasingly touching the professional lives of some of the biggest names in the game. Do they want to play, immerse themselves in the heart and the rhythm of a team, or are they as happy to grow rich without the steady beat of performance that can only come from regular competitive action?
On the face of it, Giovanni Trapattoni was merely suggesting that Gibson would be a far more valuable member of the Republic of Ireland squad if he spent less time watching the veteran Paul Scholes and the likes of Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick from the Manchester United bench or reserve team -- and more developing his talent on the field with the first team of another club, the only place that really counts in the mind of the coach. Gibson was indignant. He made his breakthrough in an Irish shirt at roughly the time he was beginning to score spectacular goals for United, and naturally the young man wanted it all, the glory and prestige and the huge wages that came with performing at the Theatre of Dreams and also a regular place in the team that Trapattoni took so close to the World Cup finals.
Increasingly, though, the likes of Gibson are required to understand that vital decisions have to be made at an early stage of their professional development. If you operate at a certain level where your raw talent does not command automatic acknowledgement, there is a question mark against that ability to have it all.
Wayne Rooney has invited huge pressure on himself by assuming that his status as one of the world's most gifted players was quite separate from the need to operate his private life with a degree of control and discretion, at least if he wanted to avoid the kind of public examination under which he was put between two notable European Championship qualifying performances for England. His club-mate Gibson's challenge, though, is much more grounded in the game he seeks to play at the highest level. Rooney, short of a meltdown in nerve and commitment, is the first name on the team sheets of his United and England managers, Alex Ferguson and Fabio Capello. Gibson is never likely to enjoy such treatment. His challenge is to impress -- game in, game out -- a man like Trapattoni that he is getting stronger, more aware of every situation that can challenge a young pro. The bench is not a place to proceed with such an education, nor the training ground. Real progress requires the real thing.
The key Trapattoni quote was: "I said that when younger players play more games or play always in the first or second leagues, it improves their personality, only this. There is no other problem. Gibson can stay in Manchester. It's not my problem. I will continue to call him up but I can't have eight players in my team who aren't playing for their clubs."
Of course he can have as few as two, especially if their names are Shay Given and Robbie Keane. But even here, with players of such established performance levels, there will soon enough be a question of sharpness, a worry about the effects of prolonged exclusion from the serious action. Given may prefer the opulence of Manchester City to the margins of the Premier League with, say, Fulham; he may draw some satisfaction from contemplating the virtues of a rich old age; but if his young City rival Joe Hart continues to project his talent and confidence, for how long will he be content in the twilight zone?
Gibson's current resolve to fight it out at Old Trafford will surely be ultimately complicated by the limited chances he has to inflict his competitive 'personality' on the knowing Trapattoni. Given and Keane have had ample opportunity to do so, but Gibson has had a few opportunities to blossom under most optimum conditions. So far this season he has to yet to appear in the United first team, a situation that is in sharp comparison to one of his rivals for a place in the Irish midfield, Glenn Whelan. While Gibson sat out the action the weekend before last, the Stoke City player was immersed in the greatest challenge facing any Premier League player -- he was attempting to make an impact on Chelsea, something he did with a driving performance and one shot which rattled the crossbar. Stoke was the club that was put to Gibson as a possible route to more regular first-team football and he was aghast at the suggestion that he could learn more in a team not noted for its sophistication than the one that includes men like Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
Trapattoni's point, of course, is that it is not merely a question of learning; it is doing, making the mistakes, but marching on with a greater certainty about what you have do when the pressure is greatest. That applied to Stoke cruelly at times when Chelsea were besieging their goal, but Whelan was notable for the relish and strength he brought to the battle.
Rightly or wrongly, Gibson creates the suspicion that he may be looking at his life and his football from the perspective of someone who believes the big tests have already been passed. He certainly offers an airy rejection of any suggestion that he would be better off in the Potteries learning how to win tackles rather than staying at United and winning games. But if this was a vanity, it was unlikely to impress Trapattoni. The old coach is plainly immovable on the most basic of points. Just as fighters must fight, football players must play football. Gibson wondered whether the old man was "having a laugh". If he is wise, he will not waste further time on such speculation. It would be as futile as spending too much time on the bench, wherever that happens to be.
Last edited by The Fly; 16/09/2010 at 7:11 PM.
Last season Darron decided not to go out on loan and it was a decision which was vindicated. This season he has made the same decision. Way too much is being read between the lines and with repetition being accepted as fact.
It might be the right decision to stay or it may prove to have little benefit to Darron's career.
Everyone said John O'Shea should move on. Year after year after year.
There's a real culture that has developed (post Rooney perhaps) of assuming that a footballer's peak is in his early 20s. And anyway, it's a long and brutal season in England. United could well do with him 3 or 4 months from now.
The only thing I have against Trap's quotes are that I do not see why a guy who is not playing regularly for his club can't Necessarily contribute for the Intl squad. Is it written in stone that you cannot have a good game unless you are playing regularly for the club team? James McCarthy plays regularly and he does not even get a call up. Aiden has always played and he has never scored. So to me it is apples and oranges. If I were manager I would put the team out there that I thought gives us the best chance to win regardless to current club life. Maybe that is what Trap thinks he does. And maybe he is right. But I personally do not believe we always have the best lineup in that we could have.
No Somos muchos pero estamos locos.
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I dunno stutts.. Firstly, i don't think it's comparing apples with apples when it comes to O'Shea and Gibson. O'Shea was deceptively clocking up apprearances.
Secondly though, it's not about the expectation of peaking early. It's more about depriving himself of an adequate "learning curve" to facilitate that peak. Fletcher could arguably be the exception to what I'm citing but again they bring differnt very things to the table.
I think to be the type of player Gibson has the attributes to be he needs games at this stage of his career. I can't think of a midfeild comparison off the top of my head (did Alonso leave Barca for Sociedad??) but the likes of Gary Cahill and Ryan Shawcross have reaped the benifit of a one step back to take two steps forward mentallity
Crucial to any learning obviously is game time on the pitch. He thinks he is/or can be good enough to get game time.
He looked good enough against Rangers to earn himself a few more opportunities.
But sporadic appearances just won't do it, even if it is Man U.
Bit in the Independent today. A bit sensationalist and overly harsh on Gibson in my opinion.
United midfielder fails audition to play starring role at Theatre of Dreams
Darron Gibson this week had the perfect opportunity to justify his angry, even derisive reaction to suggestions from Giovanni Trapattoni that, for him, Old Trafford might prove not to be a theatre of dreams but of disillusionment.
Along with nearly an entire team of young Manchester United wannabes, he had the chance to prove that he is doing more than marking time in the shadow of the club's big-name players.
Gibson did earn attention, with his trademarked speculative shooting, as United floundered against the steeply banked defence of Rangers in the opening Champions League action, but he was only deluding himself if he thought this represented significant progress in his attempt to win a more permanent place near the important action.
distinction
The truth was that even if Trapattoni subsequently attempted to dilute his remarks, the essence of them was far from convincingly rejected when United failed to create a single opening of anything like creative distinction against a team who came to Old Trafford so fearfully, they neglected to muster a semblance of attack.
Gibson fired his long shots and, in truth, they were the nearest United came to a breakthrough, especially one that whipped narrowly the wrong side of a post, but his manager Alex Ferguson later bleakly conceded his disappointment at the lack of real control and penetration displayed throughout his young team.
Gibson did what he was expected to do. But ultimately he did it without success and -- frankly -- convincing evidence that there was much more to his game than a strong shooting foot and a more than average streak of optimism.
What Trapattoni didn't begin to retract was the core of his argument: that Gibson needs more regular involvement at the top of the game -- he was getting his first start of the season on Tuesday night -- and that without it his graduation as a top player has to be in doubt. Gibson is not some raw apprentice now.
He will be 23 next month, an age when most football talents have been significantly formed. Against Rangers, Gibson displayed plenty of that optimism of youth, but not so much of that knowing instinct of a budding Roy Keane.
True, this is to the set bar extremely high, but then what does Gibson truly expect of himself when he turns up his nose at the possibility of developing his career in a place like Stoke City.
Gibson mocked the idea that he could learn more in the Potteries than in Manchester, but the reality in his current situation is that a real education is beginning to look elusive. Trapattoni's most bracing comment on this came with his declaration: "What I told him was that for him the action is not finished when he does not have the ball."
The majority of the time, it was against Rangers. Most depressing for Ferguson was that in the absence of stalwart midfield masters Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs United were guileless both on and off the ball.
Javier Hernandez was almost as invisible as an insipid, care-worn Wayne Rooney. Ferguson said that if he had one selection regret it was that he hadn't played Dimitar Berbatov, whose early season form has been promising to bring some sharp re-consideration of the view that he was becoming one of Ferguson's rare transfer follies.
"He would have that sharpness that might have been the difference with Rangers putting so many bodies behind the ball," said Ferguson. "We just didn't have enough of the right movement to break down Rangers. We knew what they would do, but we just couldn't come up with anything to break them down."
Of course, Gibson's responsibility might easily be over-stated, at least in terms of the club if not himself. The far more experienced Darren Fletcher, Ji Sung Park and, before his sickeningly random injury, Antonio Valencia, were equally unsuccessful in their attempts to coherently break down the Rangers cover.
This, however, was a rare opportunity for Gibson to prove that he has credentials to take him beyond such players as Fletcher, Park and Michael Carrick and get to the head of the queue that still forms, when it truly matters, behind Scholes and Giggs.
Trapattoni, whatever the degree of his intention, had certainly presented the challenge clearly enough to the not-so-young man from Derry.
It was to show that when the chance came he could prove that he was ready to take it, not just as an occasional performer at the centre of the big stage, but someone integral to the club's needs.
It is a challenge that mounting evidence suggests would be more accessible at a place like Stoke City. This is the reality rather than the dream and, sooner or later, may be forced on Gibson with or without a choice.
Independant seem to really have it in for Gibson at the moment, they should leave him well alone and let's see if he starts this weekend. Also on the O'Shea/Gibson comparison - when O'Shea was his age didn't Fergie come out and say the future of Man Utd was John O'Shea or something like this? We all know O'Shea's biggest problem with Utd was that his versatility got the better of him until he started to consolidate the right back position.
It's a remarkably aggressive article.
What on earth has he done to suggest he thinks he made significant progress? Was it his obvious frustration at his own failure to hit the target or his despondent look as he left the field? A real delusion merchant, that Gibson.but he was only deluding himself if he thought this represented significant progress in his attempt to win a more permanent place near the important action.
Anybody who watched the game will know that he didn't impose himself enough on the ball and I'm sure he's well aware of it too. What I'm concerned about is the entire focus of United's play seemed to be towards making room for Gibson to have a crack. His game's not going to develop if he's not given responsibility to vary things (or perhaps he has and he just hasn't taken it).
I think when the players realised Rooney was having a really bad one, it was the final outlet to score, giving it for Gibson. And some of the passes were terrible too, like Gigg's corner which would have been a real chance if he laid it off properly.
I really don't think Gibson played bad, if he had slotted one of those home the media would have been singing his name
The Indo is aggressively anti-Irish (international) football at the moment. I haven't read it this week but I bet the U-17 girls are probably deluding themselves and should be ashamed for not putting 6 past Ghana.
It's a good job the FAI aren't responsible for them. Oh wait...
Yeah, fair point.
Jack Wilshire benefitted from a stint at Bolton. Maybe Gibson sees himself as more established than JW and would look upon a loan move less favourably. wrt a permanent move, it'd take a lot of fortitude on DG's behalf to seek a move away from MUFC to develop his career.
I was going to write a post about Gibson's options for the future, but I think geysir's post sums it up succinctly.
Basically, he needs to be playing more often in order to improve and to be considered a serious contender for our midfield.
Manchester United are considering a move for Tottenham's Tom Huddlestone in the January transfer window. Red Devils manager Sir Alex Ferguson is thought to be a big fan of the £16m-rated midfielder.
Full story: caughtoffside.com
16m for Huddlestone is nothing short of madness but if interest is true, it aint good news for our Darron.
So he's replacing Carrick with Fat Carrick? I really can't see it happening.
Have faith lads, Alex Ferguson is no muppet
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