Send Your Encouragement to Kieran Gibbs

For Arsenal fans (myself included), everybody knows what happened just nights ago, enduring the  heartbreak of losing to one of our rivals in the Champions League semi-finals. But instead of lamenting ourselves over it, why don’t we do something positive?

All of us know that Kieran Gibbs made one a costly mistake in the match, slipping and then allowing United to score. How devastating that could be for a 19 year-old boy. However, this kid has a bright future ahead of him and what he needs to do now is to get his confidence back on track. And WE can do that for him. Why don’t we send some encouragement to him? Everyone loves encouragement, no matter how good you are.

So here is my big plan: To collect as many comments as possible, then send Arsenal.com those comments through email.

Some of you would argue it’s a waste of time, but then, think about it. How difficult is it for the webmaster of Arsenal.com to tell his boss to inform Arsene Wenger of the comments? Then Arsene Wenger can tell Gibbs about it and he’ll probably have a look. There is no harm for Wenger in doing all this; he knows as well as us that encouragement from the fans is what he needs. The whole process only takes minutes, if not days.

If you are interested, click on the article’s title, then post a comment in this format:

Name: Darren Chow

Location: Singapore

Message: Cheer up Gibbs, you’ve lots of potential. Don’t let the incident get the better of you! What’s over is over, get out there and show the world what you can do!

Lol… Sorry if you find my message corny. Try to keep your message short and sweet. If you don’t feel comfortable leaving any of your particulars, you can skip it.

And 1 more thing: You do not, I repeat, do not, need to be an Arsenal fan to send your regards. So even if you’re a Chelsea or Liverpool fan, you can also send encouragement! Tell your friends to participate too. It would be awesome if a Man United fan send some touching message for him! Come on, we support different clubs, but we all love football don’t we.

I hope to see the kind words rolling in. Good luck!

Armand Traore or Kieran Gibbs? I say Gibbs

Just finished watching the Arsenal vs Middlesbrough game. Great game, excellent performance. Just my thoughts, don’t wanna sidetrack too much here.

Ok, back to the discussion. As we all know, while Kieran Gibbs was making headlines in Arsenal fan sites, we actually have another young left back waiting to return to Arsenal. That person is Armand Traore.

The Arsenal squad doesn’t have room for 2 backup left backs. 1 has to go. We can’t possibly send Gibbs back to the reserves; it seems silly and will ruin his development. Traore to the reserves is even more absurd. So one MUST leave. Now the big question is, who should?

I’m no Arsene Wenger, but I trust Kieran Gibbs and he’s my choice for Clichy’s heir to the throne. For those who have bad English and cannot understand what I’m trying to say, I’m just saying Arsenal should sell Traore.

Honestly, Gibbs has impressed me a lot this season, particularly just recently. He’s fast, he can cross the ball well, and his dribbling is pretty good. From the matches I’ve seen him play, I feel the only area he needs to improve on is his one-on-ones with other players. He lost the ball a number of times when confronted by defenders. So basically he must learn how to beat a man. Tries tricks, or improve even further on his dribbling. If he perfects that I’m pretty sure he would make an excellent left back.

How about Armand Traore? He has played a fair number of matches for Portsmouth, and although he’s shown potential, I feel Gibbs shows MORE potential and it is more ideal to gamble on a young Gibbs than stick to Traore. In my opinion Traore hasn’t proven himself good enough to keep a backup spot. Gibbs on the other hand, can be the perfect left back, and if I’m Arsene Wenger I would be willing to take a shot at him. Maybe Traore is better than Gibbs now, but I see more potential in Gibbs than Traore. From how I see it Traore can only be at most an “above-average” kind of player, much like Lauren’s role at Arsenal few years ago. Gibbs however, can be what Gael Clichy or Bakary Sagna is to Arsenal at the moment. Potential is key here.

Traore in a Pompey shirt

My suggestion for Traore, in fact, is to move to other clubs. Portsmouth doesn’t look like the right club for him. I say go to a decent French club. Build his foundation there, then leave for a bigger clubs seasons later. Another option would be to loan out Gibbs, but I don’t find that ideal. How about loaning out Traore? It would only be a waste of time for both club and player.

Keep Gibbs, sell Traore. That’s my main point in today’s article. Of course that is only my opinion – no one knows the tricks of the trade like Arsene Wenger do. But one thing we can deduce from Wenger’s decision, and that is the player he keeps will be the one who he thinks is easier to develop and has a brighter future. So watch out.

As always tell me your opinions. I would love to hear it regarding this matter. Who would you pick? Armand Traore or Kieran Gibbs? What do you say we do to them? Loan who out? Who to sell and who to keep? Or maybe scrap both and get a new left back? Tell me more. I’m interested in hearing them.

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