Darron Gibson

**jbyrne** · 21/01/2009, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by BarelyLegal

An excellent workrate would be the least I'd expect from a guy trying to make it at one of the biggest clubs in the world so I'd givie him no brownies for that. And on that point I think he could have worked harder to be honest. I was glad to see that he was involved in the game though (cos he wasn't in his Irish matches) and if his passing was better then it would have been a solid enough performance. If u really reckon he had only one misplaced pass then I reckon u must have made a nice few cups of tea during the match!!

watched the match for 90mins with the sole purpose of seeing how oshea and gibson did. both performed well. a good work rate is only noticed if it manifests itself with good tackles, tracking back etc and i saw that from gibson. solid performance rather than spectacular. some papers gave him a good rating too so i'm happy enough that my judgement on this is reasonable enough

**DeLorean** · 21/01/2009, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by jbyrne

watched the match for 90mins with the sole purpose of seeing how oshea and gibson did. both performed well. a good work rate is only noticed if it manifests itself with good tackles, tracking back etc and i saw that from gibson. solid performance rather than spectacular. some papers gave him a good rating too so i'm happy enough that my judgement on this is reasonable enough

To each their own, definitely an improvement on what I've seen of him so far so I'm not too disheartened by what I thought was a sloppy performance. Like I say if he tidied up the passing the performance would have been adequate against terrible opposition it must be said. I hope he does turn out to be a good player for us obviously.

**DeLorean** · 21/01/2009, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by Longfordian

A Wembley final if selected would be more welcome experience for him.

Looks like he'll get his run out at Wembley anyway according to Fergie...

"Finals are always hard to get in to and the young lads have done fantastically well to get there," he said. "It was a great performance and they (the youngsters) will all be playing in the final."

**DeLorean** · 21/01/2009, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by jbyrne

some papers gave him a good rating too so i'm happy enough that my judgement on this is reasonable enough

Do u need the papers to vindicate your own opinions or something?

**Scram** · 21/01/2009, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by TheBoss

The more I am seeing Gibson, the better he is becoming,

If you don't mind, could you keep seeing him?

**TheBoss** · 21/01/2009, 1:53 PM

I have no choice, My brother watches MUTV, and looks at the reserve games quite often

**tetsujin1979** · 21/01/2009, 1:55 PM

Originally Posted by TheBoss

I have no choice, My brother watches MUTV, and looks at the reserve games quite often

AKA The "Sex and the City" excuse

**seanfhear** · 21/01/2009, 3:56 PM

Originally Posted by TheBoss

At times, his passing can be poor but he is young and will learn from it,

I am not saying he is goint to turn into a Roy Keane or anything but when Keane first went to utd he was far from the finished article. He was at that time an average passer(or slightly below) but he really worked on this and became a much better passer. In fact I believe that was Keanes greatest strength as a player. He always worked on his game and it was not until he was a senior player that he did not strive to improve. It was his willingness to learn and improve and steely determination that turned him into the player he was. Those qualities would not go amiss in any young person. Those that think they know it all are lost.

**livehead1** · 21/01/2009, 4:26 PM

I think Gibson did really well last night. What I think some people fail to realise is how little time they had on the ball, I don't think viewing it on television helps in this respect. Derby had a game plan to get in their faces and perhaps this contributed to a couple of slack passes he provided.

However, that said, from seeing him previously and seeing him last night there has definately been an improvement in his positioning and passing. He was always close the ball and providing support for his team-mates. He also gave a lovely through ball in the second half which I think many people have failed to pick up on.

All in all it was a decent performance from a player who appears to be getting more than a cursory glance from Alex Ferguson. He doesn't pick his teams out of sentiment (save Paul Scholes in the Champions League Final) and this point alone should leave us encouraged that even if he doesn't have a future at Man Utd, he may well have a future at the highest level.

**Razors left peg** · 21/01/2009, 4:55 PM

I only seen about 5 minutes of the match last night so cant comment on his overall performance but one of the only things I seen him do was play a lovely ball behind the full back for Ronaldo to run onto, I thought it showed very good vision

**Stuttgart88** · 21/01/2009, 5:46 PM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

When did you become a consultant stutts?! I have a feeling i used that term before here and you swiped it from me.....

I think I first used the term here to describe what I thought Alan Quinn did well in the Unity Cup (and in general), whereas I thought Matt Holland in the first game just moved it sideways. In my mind it's the equivalent of passing the gain line in rugby. If you can beat that then I'll concede defeat!

**Stuttgart88** · 21/01/2009, 5:53 PM

Originally Posted by livehead1

I think Gibson did really well last night. What I think some people fail to realise is how little time they had on the ball

On basis of the first leg when he moved into the middle and the 15 mins I saw last night I agree - he has a CM's instinct in that he knows his "out ball" before he receives it and I've seen him receive very difficult passes in tight spaces and with no time and he still laid the ball off accurately to a team mate, making it look easy.

I think I've said a few times here that I was at a Sunderland game at QPR 2 seasons ago and in the warm up they were playing a mass game of one touch possession football, 7 against 7 in a very tight area defined by cones. Graham Kavanagh was superb, never losing possesion once. Liam Miller was dreadful, barely ever keeping it! I think it's universally established that a genuine central midfielder has this ability.

**ofjames** · 21/01/2009, 6:15 PM

Kuszczak's nickname (PIG) is an acronym for Pole-in-goal (he's polish of course).

Has nothing to do with looking like a pig. Bit harsh i'd say

Back to topic: I think gibson did ok, gave the ball away too often tho.

**DeLorean** · 21/01/2009, 6:21 PM

Originally Posted by ofjames

Kuszczak's nickname (PIG) is an acronym for Pole-in-goal (he's polish of course).

Has nothing to do with looking like a pig. Bit harsh i'd say

Ha ha, brilliant.

**eirebhoy** · 21/01/2009, 8:11 PM

Didn't see last night's game but general consensus in work was that he was better than the first leg. I thought he was Man Utd's best midfielder in the first leg so I'll take that.

**carloz** · 22/01/2009, 2:21 PM

Thought his performance was only ok against Derby, but it says a hell of a lot that Ferguson is now playing him in the middle, and giving him the full 90 minutes. Extremly similar player to Carrick. Some of the people that are saing he was terrible probably say hi two misplaced passes early on and decided to jude him simply on that. He was very solid after this. It really really worries me that certain Irish fans can come out with a statement that he is the worst Irish player in the Premiership. He has now made his way bove possebon in the United squad and that says a lot as Fergie was singing Possebons praises at the end of last season. Trap and Fergie kow their stuff and they obviously see something worthwhile in Gibson

**Razors left peg** · 22/01/2009, 2:56 PM

Originally Posted by carloz

Thought his performance was only ok against Derby, but it says a hell of a lot that Ferguson is now playing him in the middle, and giving him the full 90 minutes. Extremly similar player to Carrick. Some of the people that are saing he was terrible probably say hi two misplaced passes early on and decided to jude him simply on that. He was very solid after this. It really really worries me that certain Irish fans can come out with a statement that he is the worst Irish player in the Premiership. He has now made his way bove possebon in the United squad and that says a lot as Fergie was singing Possebons praises at the end of last season. Trap and Fergie kow their stuff and they obviously see something worthwhile in Gibson

I wouldnt pay any attention the person that came out with that statement... he is constantly making ridiculous statements

**DeLorean** · 22/01/2009, 3:01 PM

Originally Posted by carloz

Some of the people that are saing he was terrible probably say hi two misplaced passes early on and decided to jude him simply on that. He was very solid after this.

Why would u assume that somebody would be thick enough to rate his performance on 2 misplaced passes early on? People's ratings of players performances vary in every single match, it doesn't have to mean that one of those people haven't a clue or made a snap decision on watchin five mins of the match.

**irishfan86** · 22/01/2009, 6:47 PM

Gibson looked alright against Derby, but I think the key thing to remember is, looking alright is very difficult to do in a cup semi-final when you're playing with players the calibre that Man United put out.

Apart from a few mistakes, which should be expected of any youngster, he did alright.

The key thing for me is that he didn't look out of place.

There's no doubt in my mind that he'll be a Premiership footballer at some stage, but I still have my doubts about it being with United.

As Stutts is asking, does he add enough going forward? At this point I don't think so, and that'll have to change if he's going to make it with United.

But he's got the ability, and it may just be a matter of him becoming more confident in his ability, which hopefully will come with time.

I have seen a few matches of him playing at reserve level, and he looks to be very positive in those games, so I don't think it's an ability issue, but a confidence issue.

Hopefully with time he can develop into a better all-around midfielder for us, but I'm still not entirely convinced that he should be starting for us at this stage of his career.