Better than Carrick and Fletcher. Both have been extremely poor recently. Our midfield is definately the big worry. But tonight, Gibson was not to blame
Darron Gibson - is he good enough for Everton?
- Thread starter Name Changed
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) are here to talk about United's dreadful home defeat at the hands of Big Ange's Tottenham Hotspur. Should this have been the end of Ten Hag? How long does he actually have left? And does Nik finally want ETH out?!
I beg to differ. We were extremely poor, our passing and movement was terrible and we really should have done so much better against Marseille. We should played like we wanted to win that game. And the midfielers, mainly Carrick and Fletch, have been poor
Possibly Wigan in mind?
The result was fine. But at a big club like united you expect the central midfields to be able to hold on to the ball to an acceptable degree. You don't really believe carrick, fletcher and Gibson doing their job means stopping Marseille from scoring do you Sults?
Yeah, picking 3 central midfielders, all with the intention of shielding the defence, against Marseille doesn't really inspire confidence.
Why? Standard Cl knock-out performance.
Avoid defeat away from home. Beat them at Old Trafford.
We've been doing this for years now - very succesfully - and people are still complaining. Weird.
Moving back on topic. Gibson actually played quite well tonight.
What's weird about complaining after that dire performance? I am okay with a 0-0 draw, but that performance was shocking.
I've been avoiding this thread for quite a while, but I'm going to stick my neck out here...
I can't see any reason why Gibson can't be a useful squad player for us for years to come, and possibly grow into a relatively important player in the way Fletcher has.
There. I said it.
I can't see any reason why Gibson can't be a useful squad player for us for years to come, and possibly grow into a relatively important player in the way Fletcher has.
There. I said it.
It wasn't shocking it was just... meh.
It's the meh factor that makes it shocking
Meh is fine.
No injuries. No bookings. No goals conceded.
We've a really tricky run of games coming up. Tonight's result/performance was perfectly adequate.
fecking hell. Shock implies surprise. Something you haven't seen before.
Have our European campaigns over the last five years completely passed you by?
Your way over reacting, hard place to go and we kept a clean sheet. The performance was good and solid and we gave ourselfs a great chance of going to the q, finals.
tonight gibson was better then fletch and carrick, im surprised he was taken off tbh.
Did you knock that up keeping track during the game? Fair fecks if so that's attention to detail I like!
I thought he had a decent game tonight, its the kind of game that's perfect for him alongside two other central midfielder. My problem is I don't see a gear beyond decent in him. We need strengthening in that department, and he is the weakest player in that position. Although Carrick is giving him a bloody good run for his money at the moment. Now he's proved it done it in the past, but the past is starting to look awfully fecking distant
It wasn't as shocking performance as some are claiming. Really awful at times but its not like they battered us or anything. If anything I'd say our midfield trio were shockingly bad. Not the unit. At least we were organized and discipline which was the managers priority imo.
It's adequate as long as Marseille don't score at OT, which could make life very difficult. A bit wary of previous CL campaigns that have gone 'tits up' as we've been too cautious in the 1st leg.
Of course it's not a bad result but thought we could have been a little more adventurous.
feckin hell' pedantic much? It was shocking for me, because I didn't expect us to turn up for a European away game and create sweet FA in 90 minutes whilst not actually having a single exciting moment.
And yes, I have seen one or two of our European games before. But thank you for the patronising approach anyway. In fact besides Inter and Villarreal, we have had some cracking results away from home in recent years. Yes we have always set up defensively, but we have also set up to at least attempt to snatch a goal. We didn't even bother with that tonight. We barely even made it through the motions in an away leg, in the knockout round of a Champions League game. Disappointing.
We have invested a lot of time on him over players like Cleverly, etc. so I hope he does well. I really do. So far the only positives he brings are his screamers which are also drying up compared to last season.
Any game where you create nothing is a poor performance. We're a much better team and should be looking for a goal to be solid at home. No need to go all out attack but show bloody something.
gibson was decent. way better than carrick and some great passes
Had a ok game, didn't do worse than the other central midfielders. They all lack creativity the bastards.
No golas scored.
No fire in our players.
No noticeable attempt to win.
Hell it was boring.
Gibson was mostly marking space and hardly put in any tackles. I would like to see him look more like he has a clue about defending, frankly. Not his worst game though by any means (I am not Irish).
I think the pitch (looked okay but wasn't) was in large part responsible for the poor passing that afflicted almost everyone.
I think the pitch (looked okay but wasn't) was in large part responsible for the poor passing that afflicted almost everyone.
Your away games in Europe against weakish opposition are usually boring. It's not about entertainment it's about a result.
are people blaming the game's dullness solely on Gibson's performance ? 
this was one of his best performances to date, his passing was smart (one flick-on in particular was delicious) and movement okay.
this was one of his best performances to date, his passing was smart (one flick-on in particular was delicious) and movement okay.
He's just so meh.
He shown his improvements again today. Some great passing, quick one touch stuff, did his defensive duties well covering the back four. Against a tough defensive minded home team he added to his development.
Not often he has looked the best midfielder when played with Carrick and Fletcher (nor should he with their experience) but he was today. May well get a few more chances over the coming weeks.
Not often he has looked the best midfielder when played with Carrick and Fletcher (nor should he with their experience) but he was today. May well get a few more chances over the coming weeks.
It wasn't strange at all. Scholes was doing this amazingly simple thing where you either stand or move into a position where a team mate can actually pass the ball to you.
Something both Gibson and Fletcher failed to do a SINGLE feckING TIME for the entire game.
Was that first time 50-60 yard ball tonight to Nani on the wing when we were under a bit of pressure meh?
Was his brace in the Carling Cup quarter final against Spurs meh?
Was that goal against Hull meh?
I don't quite understand the criticism he gets for his defensive contrinbution, he doesn't run around like a Fletcher but he blocks off angles pretty well and makes the odd interception. It's obviously not the strongest part of his game but it doesn't matter that much because that's not really what he's there for a bit like Scholes who obviously gets more slack because he's such a great player and has proved himself time and again.
I'd start Gibson over Carrick at the minute as long as we're playing Fletcher to take more defensive responsibility, he offers much more goal threat and at least tries to get into the box, is more than capable of playing raking balls and setting up counter attacks and doesn't seem to give the ball away that much despite most of his passes going forwards. I don't dislike Carrick or anything and he has been a decent player for us but his form has been average at best for a while now.
Played very well today.
He will be our most important player for the next six matches -- so i am sure Fergie didn't want him to get injured by making silly decisions like marking or tackling the opposition.
I thought he was alright today. Looked more at home in a Euro away than in a league or FA Cup match.
Slower pace and therefore matches his lack of pace.
I have this criticism of Fletcher almost every match, never see him read an opposition pass and intercept ( which Carrick still does ) , and almost never see him tackle a man one-on-one and come away with the ball, but no-one else ever seems to see this in Fletcher...? maybe I am unlucky and always momentarily looking away from the tv/pitch when this happens, or maybe people will even argue somehow this isn't his job....?
to be fair in this game and against crawly he has had a couple very nice passes, i can think in one in particular against crawly where he played a slide rule pass in to one of our forwards only for them to miss control it. If Scholes had played that pass everyone would be wanking and claiming hes a genius but gibbo just seems to gets everyones stick for the couple of bad things he does during a game
Agreed
I did Brad & cheers!
I actually thought Gibbo was good last night but only when on the ball. He was generally positive in his passing and looked to have an urgency about him that our other midfielders did not.
His problem once again was the fact he does so little off the ball as his movement was very poor.
His problem once again was the fact he does so little off the ball as his movement was very poor.
Good performance from the lad. Credit where it is due.
Few more of them lad.
Few more of them lad.
He was caught in a few positions that made him impossible to pick out. That would be my only crticism. Otherwise he was by far the most composed and useful in the middle.