Darron Gibson

[Greenbod]

The same one Johnny will be in the return at Old Trafford. They might even sit beside each other. You will get a chance to see Darron at Wembley though.

We also have the hugely talented Steven Reid and somebody else who is player of the season for the richest club in Manchester. Both are badly missed in our central midfield.

If a player doesn't want to play with us, then we don't "have" him.

[kingdomkerry]

Steven Davis (24) and Damien Johnson (30) have approx 300 senior League appearances between them, around 200 of them in the EPL.
During his 150-odd senior League Appearances, Sammy Clingan (25) has worked his way up to being one of the best midfielders in the Championship. His club (Norwich) rejected a bid for him by Fulham at Xmas.
Between them they have 100 caps.

Gibson, who has made (I think) the grand total of 1 start in the EPL, would be competing with Grant McCann and Michael O'Connor for a central midfield place in the event of two of the above being injured/unavailable.


Rugby? Cricket? Hockey? Oh, you mean "Republic of Ireland"...
Ah right, that must be it: Davis, Clingan & Johnson were worried they wouldn't get a place ahead of the likes of Keith Andrews, never mind Darron Gibson.

Reminds me of a conversation on this Board from a couple of years back, where somebody pointed to Paul McShane's striking out and leaving Man Utd for a Championship club as "proof" that he was a better Centre Back than Jonny Evans, who opted to stay and fight for his place at OT.

Still, I bet Evans is glad he didn't elect to play for the ROI, eh, since he'd never get a place in that line-up? In fact, I expect he feels a bit embarrassed at having just signed a piffling five year contract on quadrupled wages for MU, prior to representing them in the Champions League against Inter in the San Siro next Tuesday.

I wonder what position Gibson will be playing that night?

Who, who and who? Sorry I genuinely never heard of either of those players.

Never heard of Grant McCann either. As for Michael O'Connor he only decided to play for the B team when he was told he was surplus to requirements with the Ireland A team.

Why are you having a go at Kieth Andrews. He's the find of the premier league this season.

Dont be spouting crap about your pub team up north having better players than the Ireland team.

Duff
McGeady
Ireland (not available yet I know)
Stephen Reid (also not available before you feel the need to point it out)
Gibson
Whelan
Hunt

Thats an unbelievable squad of midfielders.

Whats frightening is there is better younger players on the way!

[Razors left peg]

Who, who and who? Sorry I genuinely never heard of either of those players.

Never heard of Grant McCann either. As for Michael O'Connor he only decided to play for the B team when he was told he was surplus to requirements with the Ireland A team.

Why are you having a go at Kieth Andrews. He's the find of the premier league this season.

Dont be spouting crap about your pub team up north having better players than the Ireland team.

Duff
McGeady
Ireland (not available yet I know)
Stephen Reid (also not available before you feel the need to point it out)
Gibson
Whelan
Hunt

Thats an unbelievable squad of midfielders.

Whats frightening is there is better younger players on the way!

By the time the next qualifiers come around that will be by far our best area of the pitch.... Gibson, Ireland, Garvan, Whelan, O Toole,McCarthy, Gleeson,Fahey,Steven Reid, Andy Reid,Andrews all in center midfield... If half the young players full fill their potential it is a mouth watering prospect

[DeLorean]

You will get a chance to see Darron at Wembley though.

I'm sure Evans has his Final place nailed as well to be fair

[kingdomkerry]

By the time the next qualifiers come around that will be by far our best area of the pitch.... Gibson, Ireland, Garvan, Whelan, O Toole,McCarthy, Gleeson,Fahey,Steven Reid,Andrews all in center midfield... If half the young players full fill their potential it is a mouth watering prospect

Dont forget marc wilson id say if not a centre back he'll develop in to a fine midfielder.

[Razors left peg]

Dont forget marc wilson id say if not a centre back he'll develop in to a fine midfielder.

And there is bound to be someone else that we wouldnt think of right now.... just like no one would have said Andrews this time last year

[Stuttgart88]

In fairness Clingan is a bit of a Kenny Cunningham - not a big club player but took to international football like a duck to water. I've heard he has been exceptional at times for Norwich this season.

Funny thing is, that just shows what we've been missing. We don't need a world beating midfield, just a competitive one, one that can hold its own. NI's midfield has certainly done that in the last couple of years. We might just be getting there but it's been a long 5 years.

On paper our emerging CM options are really encouraging, it's just that how many times have young Irish players just not made it for one reason or another? Sadlier, Thornton...Stokes?

Speaking of which, where is youngirish these days?

[paul_oshea]

he got suspended and i dont think he came back...

[EalingGreen]

The same one Johnny will be in the return at Old Trafford. They might even sit beside each other. You will get a chance to see Darron at Wembley though.

MU turned down £8m for Evans from another EPL club at the start of the season, at the same time as Gerard Pique, frustrated at not getting games, was sold to Barca, where he is firmly established as CB in the starting XI, getting called up by Spain last week.
At the same time, Gibson turned down a loan to Peterborough United of League One (Fergie Sr. doing Fergie Jr. a favour?), because he couldn't agree personal terms.

Gibson is doing OK at OT and given time, might develop into a useful squad player. But whilst that's highly creditable, there is no sign he'll get any further.
Whereas Evans is firmly established as 3rd choice CB behind Ferdinand and Vidic (i.e. ahead of O'Shea, Brown or Neville) and has been publicly identified by Ferguson as their successor.

We also have the hugely talented Steven Reid and somebody else who is player of the season for the richest club in Manchester. Both are badly missed in our central midfield.

So what you're saying is that if the two Stephens were available, Gibson wouldn't get a look-in in the ROI midfield?
That's hardly different from what I'm saying i.e. if Davis, Johnson and Clingan were available, Gibson* wouldn't get a look-in in the NI team, either

* - Assuming he wanted etc etc

[Razors left peg]

So what you're saying is that if the two Stephens were available, Gibson wouldn't get a look-in in the ROI midfield?
That's hardly different from what I'm saying i.e. if Davis, Johnson and Clingan were available, Gibson* wouldn't get a look-in in the NI team, either

* - Assuming he wanted etc etc

Do u honestly believe those 3 players are in the same class as Steven Reid and Steven Ireland???

[EalingGreen]

Who, who and who? Sorry I genuinely never heard of either of those players.

Never heard of Grant McCann either.

I'd say that says more about you than it does about them...

As for Michael O'Connor he only decided to play for the B team when he was told he was surplus to requirements with the Ireland A team.

Except O'Connor hasn't been playing for NI recently, either. My point was that if Gibson had opted for NI, even in the absence of our three first choice CM players, he still wouldn't be guaranteed a place ahead of the likes of O'Connor and McCann in our starting XI.

Why are you having a go at Kieth Andrews. He's the find of the premier league this season.

Not having a pop at Andrews - fair play to the guy for taking his chance at Ewood. What I would say is that were he from NI, he wouldn't have got a look-in to our starting XI before this season. Nor has he done enough so far this season to "leap-frog" the three incumbents (imo).

Dont be spouting crap about your pub team up north having better players than the Ireland team.

I don't think I've ever claimed that our "pub team" (charming as ever, btw) has better players than the ROI. Rather, my contention is that our players have often "overperformed", whereas yours have often "underperformed".
This includes our Central Midfield, where whatever you think of Davis, Clingan and Johnson's club record (significantly more accomplished than Gibson's, btw), in their combined 100 caps, they have regularly performed to a level far in advance of anything we've yet seen from Gibson, at either club or international level.

Duff
McGeady
Ireland (not available yet I know)
Stephen Reid (also not available before you feel the need to point it out)
Gibson
Whelan
Hunt

Thats an unbelievable squad of midfielders.

Er, we're talking about Gibson, who is a Centre Midfielder, so Duff, McGeady and Hunt are irrelevant. More particularly, we're discussing whether Gibson would get a game for NI, had he opted to stay with us. My contention is that he wouldn't (at least until he's done significantly more in his club career)
As for Ireland and S.Reid, if they were available to Trapattoni, Gibson almost certainly wouldn't get a game for ROI, so I fail to see how your citing them supports your argument - quite the contrary, in fact.

Whats frightening is there is better younger players on the way!

Bully for you! But now you mention them, what relevance do they have to assessing whether Gibson is of international calibre (ROI or NI) or not?

[EalingGreen]

By the time the next qualifiers come around that will be by far our best area of the pitch.... Gibson, Ireland, Garvan, Whelan, O Toole,McCarthy, Gleeson,Fahey,Steven Reid, Andy Reid,Andrews all in center midfield... If half the young players full fill their potential it is a mouth watering prospect

In which case, Gibson may struggle to gain many more international caps.
Just like he would have, had he stuck with NI...

[EalingGreen]

In fairness Clingan is a bit of a Kenny Cunningham - not a big club player but took to international football like a duck to water. I've heard he has been exceptional at times for Norwich this season.

Funny thing is, that just shows what we've been missing. We don't need a world beating midfield, just a competitive one, one that can hold its own. NI's midfield has certainly done that in the last couple of years.

Spot on, S88.

As for Gibson, from what I've seen/heard, whilst he's been by no means bad for ROI, and it's not for me to disparage Trap's selections(!), neither has he been an aforesaid "duck to water", either.

Which may explain why his inclusion in the ROI's starting XI has not received universal approval from your fans?

[EalingGreen]

Do u honestly believe those 3 players are in the same class as Steven Reid and Steven Ireland???

No, especially Ireland, (although if Steven Davis can fulfill the potential he displayed as a kid at Villa, at 24 he could imo go on to be better than Reid).

Anyhow, all I was saying is that unless or until his club career moves up a level, Gibson would not get into the NI Centre Midfield ahead of them.

[Razors left peg]

No, especially Ireland, (although if Steven Davis can fulfill the potential he displayed as a kid at Villa, at 24 he could imo go on to be better than Reid).

Anyhow, all I was saying is that unless or until his club career moves up a level, Gibson would not get into the NI Centre Midfield ahead of them.

I get what you are saying but Gibson to me looks like his is developing into a very good player.His progress at United this season has been excellent

[ifk101]

Funny thing is, that just shows what we've been missing. We don't need a world beating midfield, just a competitive one, one that can hold its own. NI's midfield has certainly done that in the last couple of years. We might just be getting there but it's been a long 5 years.

Central midfield is, without doubt, a problem area for us. I think we have plenty of options but we haven't found the right balance/partnership for the centre in Steven Reid's absence.

NI's results speak for themselves. A comparison of Stan's competitive record shows that he amassed more points that Nigel Worthlesston was capable of doing in the same number of games. If we are to believe EG, NI's team has a strong spine - ie central defence, central midfield, strikers. Unfortunately for his assertion, the results suggest otherwise. It's also hard to know if NI's midfield was competitive under Sanchez as the midfield was invariably by-passed with long balls up to Lafferty.

[geysir]

No doubt if Gibson was NI eligible, the OWC would be purring at the prospect of a hope that he could come into their team and assist that bunch of over performers out of their destined (overperformed), 'odds on' 5th place, just ahead of San Marino.

[third policeman]

That's hardly different from what I'm saying i.e. if Davis, Johnson and Clingan were available, Gibson* wouldn't get a look-in in the NI team, either

* - Assuming he wanted etc etc

The jury may be out on Gibson, but I think its pretty clear what Johnson and Clingan are - Journeymen!!. Davis is a bit of an enigma, looked promising at Villa, anonymous and ineffectual at Fulham and a decent performer for Rangers, but there again Liam Miller looked like a worldbeater in the SPL.

[Gather round]

Evening all.

So far in this series, our best outfield players have been Biggles McCartney (left back) and McCann in either centre or left midfield. The centre backs have been OK. It's worth saying that McCann has outshone Brunt from two divisions higher- the most skillful individuals don't always fit in an effective team. That said, and for all Grant's goalscoring against the village teams, in an ideal World I'd rather have a ManU player in his position

Jonny Evans- the Champions' League's ambassador to NI- has been hot and cold in our games. He looked ropey against Slovenia, at fault for goals and lucky not to be sent off.

Geysir- I feel more confident having at least avoided the banana skin in SMR. A Euro-worth of your kronor says we scrape fourth place?

[The Fly]

EG -

I agree with you on young Evans - a fantastic young player. He is one of the best young centre-halfs I've seen in quite some time. I only wish he played for us, I'd take him in a heartbeat. He is as you rightly say ahead of Gibson in the pecking order at MU, comparatively speaking. He is now third choice at centre back and is, as you say, better than O'Shea, Neville and Brown.

Gibson is obviously further down the pecking order in his own area of the pitch. Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Anderson, Fletcher and Hargreaves are all ahead of him. Gibson though, is ahead of Possebon - his rival out of the MU youth sides. However there is a difference here, in comparison to Evans.

Scholes and Giggs will most likely be gone at the end of next season. Hargreaves is suffering from long-term injury. Fletcher, while useful, is only an above average squad player. Carrick and Anderson have both developed into very good players, both exceeding my expections of them. However neither player is, to use that much over-used word, 'great,' nor will either one ever be a truly great player. In conclusion, I suppose neither player represents any kind of insurmountable obstacle or daunting challenge for any talented young player, like Darron, hoping to break into the first team.

This is in contrast to Evans, who although now third choice and a fantastic prospect, does face having to dislodge either Ferdinand or Vidic - and that ain't gonna happen. I see the Ferdinand/Vidic partnership remaining at MU, barring serious injury of course, for at least the next 3 seasons.

In that respect Evans' challenge is greater than Gibson's.