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Gibbs or Santos – Who should be our first-choice left-back?

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So after months of waiting, we’re finally back to our full compliment of left-backs. I think having natural full-backs in the team makes all the difference to our attack, giving the opposition defence that extra man to worry about. The difference that it has made to our team has been blatant. Unbeaten in seven, our attack looks like it can penetrate any team in the league at the moment, and a large amount of this is down to our full-backs.

On our right side, the chemistry between Bacary Sagna and Theo Walcott is improving with each passing game. Bacary never seems to run out of steam and his crossing has markedly improved during the last few seasons, giving our attack another dimension. Likewise, Theo seems to be benefiting from Bacary’s new found ability to win every single header from Wojciech Szczesny’s (occasionally erratic) kicks. Think back to the Newcastle game. I would say that 75% of our attack that match came from the right flank, with Theo having arguably his best game of the season, apart from perhaps the Blackburn game at The Emirates.

But this article is about the other side of our team, and more specifically, our two senior left-backs – Andre Santos, signed from Fenerbahce in the summer, and Kieran Gibbs, from our very own left-back production line.

We have not yet seen the development of any particular relationship on the left flank of our team for various reasons. These being:

1) Our two current left wingers, Gervinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, were not with us last season and so haven’t had much time to gel with their respective full-back.

2) Gibbs was the understudy to Gael Clichy last season and as a result, this is his first full season as a first-team regular.

3) Even though Gibbs is our first choice left-back, the England international is notoriously injury-prone and finds it difficult to put a string of games together.

4) Santos has been sidelined by a long-term injury, picked up in the Olympiakos game, from which he has only recently recovered.

So there are a number of reasons why we have less of a relationship on the left flank, but whilst some may see this as a bad thing, you could view it as an opportunity.

We’ve had almost a full season to judge the different permutations, so picking the best one should be easy, right? Not quite. You see, both of the left-backs have some seriously different qualities that could potentially decide the fate of a game. So let’s compare the two.

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59 comments

  • Lee says:

    For me arsensl will finish 6th at best they only have rvp and hes leaving in the summer, and gibbs isnt strong enough to play all season! Theo walcott cant cross the ball! Aaron lennon all day long! Hes gr8!

  • gabriel etenikang says:

    It will unfair to compare Santos with Gibbs.Santos is a left back with wealth of experience.Look at what Santos did when he came as in scoring of goals.Gibbs has been here for some time without scoring except last weekend.Infact Gibbs has a lot to learn from Samber Man.

  • diablo says:

    i would just rotate them, gibbs is a very injury prone player so Santos will probably get more time on the pitch

  • jackson kafuuzi k says:

    i would choose Santos ahead of Gibbs.
    santos scored 7 goals out of 7 games while gibbs scored his first premier league goal on Sat against A/Villa after being at Arsenal for ages.
    Santos is mature,experienced,calm and composed on the ball,more confidant moving forward and a better game reader than Gibbs.

  • sean says:

    i bet you retards don’t think Santos is better than Gibbs now huh?

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