Darron Gibson

Only saw the first 60 minutes and again the main thing I noticed in him is that he's very good at receiving the ball under pressure. He also seems happy to let more established players take the initiative. Solid performance based on what I saw. R5 Live said he was moved RHM to accomodate Scholes.

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Only saw the first 60 minutes and again the main thing I noticed in him is that he's very good at receiving the ball under pressure. He also seems happy to let more established players take the initiative. Solid performance based on what I saw. R5 Live said he was moved RHM to accomodate Scholes.

Sometimes he appears to be a bit lethargic, but maybe that's down to not having much playing time over the season. His awareness and passing ability are quite good and will only get better as he continues to up his game for the first team. You could tell he wasn't comfortable on the right side of midfield and that, combined with his tired legs, made him a bit of a liability. Baines looked to exploit Gibson's tiredness by making more runs forward at the end. However, he was solid throughout nonetheless. Good overall performance.

I thought Gibson played very well and was definately one of United's more impressive performers on the day. He shows great calmness and composure on the ball with a good positional sense when not in possession or when looking to receive a pass. He also has a great shot on him from distance and was unfortunate not to score today. Up until he was moved out to the right side of midfield, to accommodate Scholes in the middle, Vidic and Ferdinand didn't have a lot to do as he shielded the defence so well. His only downside is that he is a bit one-paced.

Hopefully he can now push on and challenge for a starting place in the United side more consistently next season. Calmness and composure on the ball is a great starting point for any central midfielder, as he matures and gains more experience hopefully he can impose himself more and be more dynamic. Every time I have seen him play he has displayed these qualities, he has never seemed tense or nervous on the ball.

Whether his long term future lies with United or not remains to be seen, but regardless, and more importantly, we have a player on our hands!

Sky Sports gave him 7 out of 10 saying he was "Happy to keep posession".

Which he was. I thought he was the most confident United player on the ball today and was constantly looking to attack.

I think he played well. He looked assured. Won some good tackles and passed the ball well. Not sure if he will ever become a regular at MANU but I'm sure there are plenty of Premiership clubs who would play him in their first 11.

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

He also seems happy to let more established players take the initiative.

I don't know whether it's a confidence issue or a lack of faith in his own ability, but he does this way too often for me. He needs to look at players who play a similar kind of game to him to see this. If you watch Fabregas, Scholes or Xavi, they're constantly presenting themselves for the ball. They'll happily knock it around the middle of the park until they see a gap they can play the ball into. I'm not saying Gibson should be as good as either of those two, but I do think he can show for the ball more and knock the ball around with simple passes.

Taking the green-tinted specs off though, I can't see him being anywhere near the first team squad.

Originally Posted by Carrigaline

Taking the green-tinted specs off though, I can't see him being anywhere near the first team squad.

He has just played in a cup semi-final and the league Cup FInal. He has also played in a few Premiership games and Champions leag games. If thats not near the first team squad, I don't know what is.

I think Gibson is out of contract at the end of the season. It will be interesting to see if Fergie keeps him although I'm sure there'll be plenty of interested Prem teams after yesterday's good performance. I think Fergie will keep him.

Originally Posted by Carrigaline

I don't know whether it's a confidence issue or a lack of faith in his own ability, but he does this way too often for me.

I read before that he has confidence issues. It was one of the united youth coaches stating that he wished Gibson had to the belief to go with his ability... or something to that effect..

I thought he had a solid game and was one of the more impressive United performers, but one thing I will never understand is why he takes set pieces. He was terrible last night with the corners. It was certainly an improvement on the Ireland game -vs- Italy however, where his corners were absoultely horrendous, rarely (if ever?) beating the first man.

solid performance and if given time could flourish. The guy clearly has ability and needs to learn from Scholes on how to start dictacting the tempo of a game. At this moment in time he's willing to clean up but then let somebody else bring it forward. Carrick was also guilty of this in his first season at OT. He's young and is probably a little bit intimidated/lacking in confidence but fingers crossed he can notch it a gear or two next season. I don't think it helped his cause that his fellow midfielders had off days. Park has looked jaded since coming back from international duty, Anderson played well against Porto but didn't shine on Sunday and Welbeck is not a left winger so the team struggled going forward.

according to ole solskjaer (now reserve team coach ot OT), gibson is "a ferrari that we sometimes cannot get out of the garage".

that probably reflects the confidence issue some of you guys were talking about. the boy has definitely got fine attributes for a central midfielder. i agree that he passes on responsibility to the senior pro's too often and do feel he needs to be more assertive.

but fergie (and trap) seems to rate him, and they are pretty fine judges of talent. not many youth team players get this far at Man United. if he gets half the chances flectcher got (he was complete garbage for at least 2 seasons) i'm confident he'll develop into a huge asset for us.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...land-world-cup

According to the above link his contract runs out June 2010. A lot of united fansites say that its this summer. Who knows which one is right. I'd say he'll be offered a contract regardless and will jump to sign it.

The Guardian reporting today that Darron's contract is up this summer, and so if he gets a game against Wigan it may be his last game for Man Utd. The Guardian have though included him in their list of 10 out of contract players to keep an eye on this summer, along with the likes of Tevez and Owen.

Originally Posted by Jicked

The Guardian reporting today that Darron's contract is up this summer, and so if he gets a game against Wigan it may be his last game for Man Utd. The Guardian have though included him in their list of 10 out of contract players to keep an eye on this summer, along with the likes of Tevez and Owen.

Although Fergie may well rest some of his First XI in the light of the CL Final etc, I'd still say Gibson would be doing well to get picked against Wigan this weekend.

Now Hull, that's a different matter...

Originally Posted by Jicked

The Guardian reporting today that Darron's contract is up this summer, and so if he gets a game against Wigan it may be his last game for Man Utd. The Guardian have though included him in their list of 10 out of contract players to keep an eye on this summer, along with the likes of Tevez and Owen.

I tried looking for this but couldn't find it. Any chance you could post a link? Thanks.

Originally Posted by EalingGreen

Although Fergie may well rest some of his First XI in the light of the CL Final etc, I'd still say Gibson would be doing well to get picked against Wigan this weekend.

Now Hull, that's a different matter...

Ah, I must have been mixing up final day of last year's Premiership with this years!

Here's the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...ontracts-tevez

Originally Posted by Jicked

Ah, I must have been mixing up final day of last year's Premiership with this years!

Here's the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...ontracts-tevez

I'd personally be surprised if we didn't see him at united for at least another season though I'm not sure a move away to a mid table Premiership club would be a disaster for him at this stage of his career.

Originally Posted by Jicked

The Guardian have though included him in their list of 10 out of contract players to keep an eye on this summer, along with the likes of Tevez and Owen.

And out of those 10, take away the risky chronically injured ones and the old timers, Daron would be in the top 5.

The word on WACCOE a while back was Ferguson had offered a very long loan of Gibson (and Cathcart who's just been called up by NI) along with a substantial wad of cash to Leeds United for Fabian Delph.

Gibson will play against Hull on Sunday. I'd love to see him at Leeds but suspect I won't unless we draw the filth in an early round of a cup next season.

I call BS. No way Gibson would be interested in going to a 3rd flight club.