Gibbs is always learning. I remember him being criticised against Dortmund for failing to bring down Immobile. He brought down the Swansea player this time round.

Gibbs is average, plus you can't rely on him staying fit for 2 games in a row.

Gibbs' positioning is still problematic for me, he remains too far up the pitch and this is exacerbated when we look at our system of play.

Attack wise he has improved, more direct runs and a good finish against Anderlecht. Definitely more composed going forward.

I thought the discussion was whether it was fair to rate Gibson as a project in the same vein as Sanogo. Some of the responses seem to be opinions on whether he is class or not which is a bit different.

Gibson has scored the same amount of goals as Sanogo Tbf.

Gibbs is Gibson in Samsung land.

All our fullbacks are too far up the pitch, it is clearly not due to their lack of positioning sense.

Gibbs did indeed have problems with positioning before, easily letting players sneak in goalside, but he's significantly improved on that.

Bold Tone wrote:

Gibbs is Gibson in Samsung land.

Couldn't miss the chance of a cheap scot.

  i saw that!

Clrnc wrote:

Gibbs is always learning. I remember him being criticised against Dortmund for failing to bring down Immobile. He brought down the Swansea player this time round.

Still a 'fail' for me because of when/where he did so.
The player got on the ball half way inside their half and Gibbs first went to him around the centre spot but failed to block/tackle, and then made a desperate lunge when they got on the edge of our defensive 3rd. 
IMO if you are going to commit a foul you don't do so anywhere around your defensive 3rd - CFC foul before the opposition get out of their half - less dangerous and less likely to look intentional.

Gibbs failed to get him the first time so he got him the second. It was a better decision than just letting him have a run at goal, and he took it before an obvious goalscoring opportunity presented itself which meant he couldn't be sent off. I have no problem with the foul. It's unfortunate that they scored from the resulting freekick but it was like a 10% chance that would happen.

The big problem with the whole sequence was that we were completely unprepared for the break.

Klaus wrote:

Gibbs failed to get him the first time so he got him the second. It was a better decision than just letting him have a run at goal, and he took it before an obvious goalscoring opportunity presented itself which meant he couldn't be sent off. I have no problem with the foul. It's unfortunate that they scored from the resulting freekick but it was like a 10% chance that would happen.

The big problem with the whole sequence was that we were completely unprepared for the break.

In my book you don't foul anytime the opposition can go for goal from the FK.
I also think that the key to defending is to ask questions of the opposition attack by making it more difficult for them to get a quality goal scoring opportunity.  For mind fouling them in your defensive 3rd fails in the objective.  It's why I don't rate Kos' highly as a defender because of his lack of 'player intelligence', in that he continues to make far too many unrequired & clumsy last ditch tackles instead of defending smart & looking to block around the area rather than tackle.

That's because we employ a system that far too often requires last ditch tackles to bail us out. We've had the highest number of them in the league for the past 5-6 years now. We can't defend from midfield. This is well known.

Klaus wrote:

That's because we employ a system that far too often requires last ditch tackles to bail us out. We've had the highest number of them in the league for the past 5-6 years now. We can't defend from midfield. This is well known.

I think the 'system' is that we look to force an error rather than the tackle, and that we often look to jockey players and hold station waiting for numbers before 'forcing the issue'.  It's why we stood off Fabregas 1v1 and allowed him the time and room to make the through ball to Costa.  IMO certain players should be closed down on the ball immediately like Fabregas, whereas others like Hazard should be swarmed in numbers rather than 1v1.

Anzac wrote:

In my book you don't foul anytime the opposition can go for goal from the FK.

Anytime? not related to circumstances/situation/threat? that can't be reasonable, just as holding that there are universal rules in football isn't.
That particular situation was one clear example why the said rule fails - even if one is generally sympathetic to the idea that fouling in the final third is a no no. Dude was charging on goal, and that was clearly more ominous than a FK from that spot, Sigurdson or not. Think most people had that "ooh, FK, danger, good foul still" moment right there (I sure did).

Then no wonder you don't rate Kos as a defender (there just aren't enough emoticons in the world for what I'd put here  ;D ).

I do agree we need to sort out our defending situation in much earlier and more basic situations - see why is it that we are so exposed from the middle, for counters, etc., for so many years. That will surely contribute much more than hesitating on fouling in the final third, or short-leashing Kos' last ditch efforts.

Besides, the way we defend set pieces almost any free kick delivered well in our half results in a chance on goal.

yuv wrote:

Anzac wrote:

In my book you don't foul anytime the opposition can go for goal from the FK.

Anytime? not related to circumstances/situation/threat? that can't be reasonable, just as holding that there are universal rules in football isn't.
That particular situation was one clear example why the said rule fails - even if one is generally sympathetic to the idea that fouling in the final third is a no no. Dude was charging on goal, and that was clearly more ominous than a FK from that spot, Sigurdson or not. Think most people had that "ooh, FK, danger, good foul still" moment right there (I sure did).

Then no wonder you don't rate Kos as a defender (there just aren't enough emoticons in the world for what I'd put here  ;D ).

I do agree we need to sort out our defending situation in much earlier and more basic situations - see why is it that we are so exposed from the middle, for counters, etc., for so many years. That will surely contribute much more than hesitating on fouling in the final third, or short-leashing Kos' last ditch efforts.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC the Swansea player was essentially unsupported and was leading their counter, and Gibbs had both CBs between the player and the goal?  Essentially IMO our defence should have looked to block the direct path to goal, and forced the shot to come from wide of the posts.  The foul should have been made before he entered our half - ideally Gibbs should have gone in for a ball & all tackle/block in the first instance, however IMO it's a consequence of our reluctance to commit.

I said I don't rate Kos HIGHLY as a defender because of his poor decision making - not that I don't rate him at all.
For example he conceded a penalty on Hazard when Hazard was on the outside of the left post and is a left footer.  Later in the game we saw Hazard miss a better scoring opportunity. 
IMO making such last ditch attempts in & around the area is brain dead when the player is not in an optimum position and the GK has an opportunity to save a shot from that position.

Do you remember Giggs charging on goal starting in his own half, and no one decked him? There were two CBs waiting there - not just any, but Keown and Adams. Dixon and Winterburn were in the act, Vieira was there too (if I'm remembering it right). You don't just let a guy continue to charge on goal, particularly when/if the earlier attempts to stop him failed. And we had Per and Nacho, not Keown.

Gibbs is one of the only guys I have not problem with in our team this year (even if in this or that occasion he could have done better).

Kos? I'm not talking further about that. I'll just say I honestly believe that if he was playing all this time we wouldn't look half as bad (even if in this or that occasion he could have done better). (I love copy-paste )

I hope we don't make 4th or even 5th and fail to make the last 16 of the CL, the fans the club the owner needs some sort of lightning jolt to shock things into motion.

You can't make an omelette with breaking eggs.