Darron Gibson

**Junior** · 04/04/2010, 9:58 PM

Perhaps. Though on 86 minutes it was a big ask for him to influence the outcome..........Scholes and Fletcher were both on bookings so this could have been a factor, though Fergie did choose Gibson ahead of Carrick which has to be taken as a positive from an Irish perspective.

**tetsujin1979** · 05/04/2010, 1:10 AM

ok, this has been bugging me for a little while, so I'm just going to go out and say it, and then see what people think.

Is Gibson's continued presence in the United squad due to actual talent, or to the circumstances currently surrounding the club?
In the (very recent) past, when Ferguson identified a weakness in the squad - due to a decline in the ability of a player, or the availability of a suitable replacement - he had the money to go out and strengthen the playing staff with the best and brightest available from across the globe. Following the takeover of the Glazers, and the leveraging of debt against the club, the amount of money available for both transfer fees and wages has decreased significantly. Thus, Sir Alex is unable to replace existing squad players with superior players, leading to extended playing careers of personnel who can still perform admirably, but are clearly past their prime (Scholes, Giggs, Neville, etc). Facing this restricted ability in the transfer market, players from the youth teams have been given their chance whereas in years past, it would have been new acquisitions that would be filling these roles. Macheda, De Laet, Gibson, and the Da Silva twins have all had significant spells in the first team in the past two seasons. Up until that debate raged whether or not Wes Brown or John O'Shea was the last player to be promoted from within Old Trafford to the senior team.
So the question remains, is the presence of these players in the Manchester United playing squad due to actual talent, or the circumstance of not being able to buy superior players?b

**Kildare Lad** · 05/04/2010, 1:34 AM

I'm no expert now, but I'd imagine its down to both a bit. Obviously if he was Man Utds number 1 choice centre midfielder I'd imagine they would instantly snap up a replacement for him, as I don't think anyone could argue he is not good enough to be a regular for one of the top top teams in the world. However, Sir Alex Ferguson seems to think he is a suitable back up which would indicate he has at least a bit of ability. United are a big club and Ferguson is arguably the best manager in the world, so I'm sure if he thought Gibson wasn't up to the task he wouldn't throw him on every now and then.

Hopefully he has a future at United, Darren Fletcher was a very late bloomer and he is now one of their most important players, so a similar result and I'd be happy :-P

**Acornvilla** · 05/04/2010, 1:44 AM

i think we all know darron has it in him.. he just needs to grow a pair and take hold of games more.. well know what fergie thinks of him by whether hes there or not next year but looks like next season there will be a lot less games for scholes,giggs and Neville so he may hold on to him out of necessity

**elroy** · 05/04/2010, 6:08 PM

I think the Sky commentators got it spot on, Darron was brought on with a few mins to go for one reason, his striking ability. He has a great strike on him and with long balls been played into the chelsea box in the dying mins, it may have dropped to him to fire one home, worth a go. Dont think anyone can say Darron was brought on for any other reason really. Next year is a big year for him, with the likes of Giggs and Scholes likely to feature less and less he will need to step up to the mark to stay at the club.