Posted on Monday, 26th March 2012 by Dean Roberts
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.
CLICK HERE TO READ ON…
Related posts:
Pages: 1 2
Tags: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andre Santos, Arsenal, Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Gervinho, Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny, Theo Walcott, Thomas Vermaelen, Wojciech Szczesny
Posted in View From The Sphere | Comments (59)
Arsenal News 24/7
Loading ...
March 26th, 2012 at 5:47 pm
santos…
[Reply]
jon Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 6:44 pm
fool
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 5:56 pm
Gibbs
Santos is great to watch but too lazy defensively and more of a liability than Gibbs who can make up for errors with his pace
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
GIBBS!
Because he actually knows how to defend.
Santos – bless him – wants to be Ronaldinho.
An injury-free Gibbs can force himself into the England squad.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 6:03 pm
Santos the perfect left back as compared to Gibbs who is fond of injuries and sickling!
[Reply]
Ian Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 6:09 pm
Are you really serious or just stupid
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Kieron Gibbs is the better all round player, and at left back you have to have pace which Gibbs has plenty but Santos lacks. Saying that Santos looks a good player on the ball and strong but for me Gibbs has the edge providing he stays fit.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 6:21 pm
SANTOS FOR ME. AND PLEASE REPLACE WALCOTT WITH AOC!
[Reply]
jon Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 6:43 pm
walcott and rosicky are in the form of their lives you cant drop them when they are playing so well. ox will wait.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 6:29 pm
santos is probably the worst defender in the arsenal team. he is easily rushed, has no pace, is constantly found out of position, cant header and i dont think i have ever seen him deliver a decent cross. i dont give 2 hoots if he can score a goal and is exciting he’s a defender.
lets compare:
pace-Gibbs
Positional play-Gibbs
Age- Gibbs
Crossing-Gibbs
Headering-Gibbs
[Reply]
Davi Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
Has no pace!? Hillarious. Why is this always cited when a fan dislikes a player? Santos has plenty of pace, but whether he deserves to be in ahead of Gibbs is another story. As things stand, Gibbs is doing very well, so to drop him would be very harsh.
Both are good going forward, but sometimes suspect defensively, although their defensive frailties are greatly exagerrated.
Both are very capable, so Wenger should just play whoever is in the better form. That’s the way it should be in a PL squad.
[Reply]
Alex Reply:
March 27th, 2012 at 12:47 am
Ok, first of all. It’s HEADING.
And you can’t compare two full back with such different play style.
From all your comment I can understand you favour Gibbs, but don’t harshly judge Santos because he has no Gibbs-style.
He maybe slow, but he cover it with exceptional attacking instinct, as we can see he already scored twice, in far shorter time than Clichy and Gibbs could. So open your eyes, dude.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 6:35 pm
Santos.
[Reply]
jon Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 6:40 pm
idiot
[Reply]
gunner4lyf Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 7:33 pm
Can you stop abusing people just because they don’t agree with you?
[Reply]
Goon Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 9:01 pm
Son of a whore
[Reply]
gunner4lyf Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 9:17 pm
You’re a troubled person and you know that. You post with different names and simply cannot succinctly justify your point without calling people names. Get yourself admitted to a nut farm before it’s too late!
March 26th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
I go for Santos
[Reply]
jon Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 6:42 pm
santos came on on saturday gave the ball away and villa nearly scored. he hasnt got a clue!
[Reply]
gunner4lyf Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Santos came back after a long lay off, please judge him after 3-4 games
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Easy one. It will be Santos cause Gibbs will be on the DL sooner rather than later. I like Gibbs he is just to fragile for this league.
[Reply]
sean Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Are you an Arsenal fan at all? So you want Gibbs to get injured. All i can say is you’re retarded
[Reply]
Scott (USA) Reply:
March 27th, 2012 at 1:27 am
I am torry I don’t undertand Sean. You are tow smart.
[Reply]
Scott (USA) Reply:
March 27th, 2012 at 1:29 am
Did I say I want Gibbs to get injured? It is what it is.Read what I said you douche.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
For me a santos is best choice ass r persie said santos have the some abity of roberto carlos
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Santos is a better leftback to me than Gibbs. Santos has good freekick ability and good at scoring goals than Gibbs.
[Reply]
sean Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Defending first idiot. He can’t defend to save his life
[Reply]
gunner4lyf Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 9:22 pm
Jon, Goon, Sean… you have a serious identity crisis. You must be one of them sexual harassment victims…..
[Reply]
gunner4lyf Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 9:22 pm
….who finds an outlet in abusing people. Find yourself a good nutfarm and go into rehabilitation
ojfamous Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 9:33 pm
you most have a bad background,where did u keep ur manners..u aint suppose to be a human,ur kind are animals living in bush.go find ur brothers
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Santos, although right now I wouldn’t break up a winning back 4 combination. But Gibbs is all over the place positionally, every opposition attack comes down our left, and Gibbs is nowhere to be found.
Agreed Santos had a slightly shaky start and gave the ball away with his first touch on Sat, but once he had a run of games his tackle win percentage was the highest in the team. He is actually very good defensively and clever with it. Sees danger early and intercepts and then bombs forward. Attack wise I agree Gibbs is the better crosser but Santos adds far more. He is almost impossible to track because he pops up in unusual places and knows when to get forward and when to stay back. He times his appearance in attack in a way that makes him difficult to pick up. Gibbs just literally sprints forward into the opposition box the second we have the ball and then can be regularly found chasing back as we lose it.
[Reply]
dw Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 7:21 pm
yep you have it spot on santos allday for
me,gibbs needs to be a understudy for a year or so. when santos is match fit he is class very smart and he has allright speed
[Reply]
gunner4lyf Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 8:01 pm
I think Gibbs has really come of age over the last few weeks. I’ve really been impressed with him. Based on form I’d play him ahead of Santos at the moment. I think we need to rotate both of them to avoid injuries.
[Reply]
Vinesen Curpen The Mauritian Gunner Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 8:42 pm
i agree with u
Blazer Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 8:21 pm
I could not agree more, Santos is a highly skillful and clever player. He can read the game and anticipates the attackers’ moves. When he is fit and ready, he could stop any player, coming back from injury, he is not there yet but I am confident he will be an asset for Arsenal. Gibbs has shown marked improvement in his game and I am happy for him that he back to full confidence to press forward and score his first goal, he is a promising young prospect and if he continues with the current pace he will be unstoppable.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 7:34 pm
There has been some absolute nonsense in some if the comments. Disco Stu sums it up perfectly. Gibbs is a defensive liability. He doesn’t read the game and his positional sense is appalling. He either gets drawn into the middle leaving the left exposed or he gets caught up field leaving us susceptible to the counter attack. Santos has his limitations but he is aware of them and manages them better leaving less exposed. Santos is the lesser of two evils. Bottom-line is we need a quality left back!!!
[Reply]
gunner4lyf Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 7:56 pm
Arsenal Full backs are not conventional full backs but are more wing backs. When you are a wing back you are bound to be caught out of position occasionally. That is the price we pay for asking width of our FB’s. When Vermaelen played at LB he was positionally sound by the width offered was nil. Arsenal were terrible ineffective and narrow when we had CB’s playing in FB positions.
[Reply]
Scott (USA) Reply:
March 27th, 2012 at 1:25 am
This is all very true. Well said.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Gibbs was a born left winger. Wenger’s choice to use him as a left back isn’t in Gibbs’ favour but its Wenger’s tactics to have the left side as the attacking outlet. Just remember a few seasons back when we had Cole and Pires on the left, that is where most of our attacks came from. But if i was to choose between Gibbs and Santos, id choose Gibbs because he has a better all round game, Santos has the brazilian flair in attack but Gibbs’ attack is just as good since he’s a winger.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
another pointless topic. you should be happy we will start the season with 2 good leftback. team like arsenal should have 2 good players in every positions because we participate in 4 competitions ever season and when wenger learn how to rotate the team we will have less injuries instead of playing the same players till they have deadlegs.
pointless topic because when a wing back surges forward there is always someone to cover his position. please try to watch football before you make your point.
pointless again even embarrassing to compare, andre santos is better considering his first season in english football next season he’s gonna follow koscielny footstep and perform for us. gibbs is still a work in progress,it will be nice to see him keeps his form and fitness and help us challenge for trophies next season.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Santos is my choice
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 9:24 pm
All i can say is that gibbs is english…and as we all know once youre english (phil jones and henderson, are gud examples)…ah ! c’mon the guy is from england so lets rate him outrageously high!!
Santos all the way baby!!.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
All i can say is that gibbs is english…and as we all know once youre english (phil jones and henderson, are gud examples)…ah ! c’mon the guy is from england so lets rate him outrageously high!!
Santos all the way.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 9:41 pm
We have two quality left backs, but Gibbs is the best no doubt about it.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 10:01 pm
Santos all the way. He has more experience, better in the air, better tackler and way better offensively. Great at free kicks, shooting and at getting forward into dangerous positions and creating havoc. Santos overall brings a lot more to the team and makes it a lot more dangerous.
Every time Arsenal buy a player everyone jumps on the bandwagon saying they are not good enough, … blah blah blah, sometimes i can’t believe the things some people say, they have no clue about soccer, with Koscielny everyone was against him i knew he would be great, same with Santos. Some people have no clue, this guy is so much more than a left back, i can see him being used also as a left midfielder. Santos is the better choice.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Gibbs has improved recently and I’m glad that we now have two good leftbacks.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 10:26 pm
santos!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 10:39 pm
You people are weird. Clearly Wenger, who will analyse their styles a million times more rigorously than the author, will, if they are both fully fit, either rotate them on the basis of differences in their ability (Santos is a more confident and tricky attacker and more confident in front of goal, but would be less of a Prem defensive left back, though is capable of cleverly dispossessing people in the way that Barca do – Gibbs is faster and has a different kind of attacking threat and a different sort of defensive style)….but more likely they would be rotated because of tiredness/fitness. If we have a fully fit squad, Arsene will rotate. Both players are capable. There is no ‘better’.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 10:48 pm
I like them both and at the moment wouldn’t mind who plays. Say a lot about about the quality backup we have
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 11:03 pm
I’d have to go for Santos because he’s a major threat going forwards, he has skills to go past people and his crosses are pinpoint. Gibbs can learn a lot from the guy who replaced Roberto Carlos FACT. I like Gibbs a lot but Santos just edges it. He’s already doubled Clichys goal tally and he’s only played half a season. He knows a forwards game and can pick out that killer pass because of this.
[Reply]
March 26th, 2012 at 11:43 pm
first u must knw tht tha two players are in diffrnt forms.bt i prefer santos as mch gbbs s gud
[Reply]
March 27th, 2012 at 1:56 am
i don’t mind for wenger to rotate them. our left flank is not the same with right flank. theo would hug the touchline while gervinho/alex ox would come inside. so our left back must be skillful enough to be a winger too since they’ll have all the flank to themselves. santos clearly more skillful than gibbs but gibbs got more pace to burn.
[Reply]
March 27th, 2012 at 2:46 am
rotate them wisely..
depend on our enemy..
it’s the best for me..
rotate them wisely..
[Reply]
March 27th, 2012 at 8:22 am
Neither can defend whatsoever-as their playing description should indicate.The only threat to the Arsenal goal against Villa,occurred when Gibbs had vacated the defensive left half of the pitch.I would offer Gibbs to Everton in a part-exchange for Baines in an instant but this isn’t going to happen!Santos was a panic buy with similar defensive frailties!
[Reply]
March 27th, 2012 at 9:19 am
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!
[Reply]
March 27th, 2012 at 10:01 am
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.
[Reply]
March 27th, 2012 at 11:52 am
i would just rotate them, gibbs is a very injury prone player so Santos will probably get more time on the pitch
[Reply]
March 27th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
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.
[Reply]
April 11th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
i bet you retards don’t think Santos is better than Gibbs now huh?
[Reply]