Kieran Gibbs comes to the fore

Marseille 1-2 Arsenal

 

 

 

Arsenal recorded a club record 10^th successive away victory yesterday as they got their Champions League campaign off to a perfect start in the so called group of death.

The Gunners were not at their free flowing best last night, but produced a performance full of grit, determination and spirit to secure all three points at the vociferous Stade Velodrome. During the first half in particular, Arsene Wenger’s side appeared slightly sluggish and often came out second best in those crucial 50-50 challenges. As a result, they struggled to gain any momentum and with Marseille pressing the Arsenal midfield at every opportunity, the home side’s play up until the final third was impressive at times. However their final ball often let them down, as the Arsenal back four defended extremely well.

Kieran Gibbs in particular, was excellent yesterday. The young left back has possessed the potential to become one of the best in his position for a number of years now, but has seen his progress restricted by a series of frustrating injuries. Every time Gibbs would start to get a run of games in the first team and begin to re-build his confidence, injury would strike again and rule him out for several weeks. The fact that Gibbs was able to pick himself up each and every time, restart his rehabilitation and come back stronger than before, highlights the young man’s incredible mental strength.

He has fortunately been able to steer clear of injury for the past few months and is now beginning to realise his full potential. In possession of the ball, Gibbs fits into the Arsenal model perfectly as he has the technical ability and confidence to pass the ball in neat triangles, exchanging passes with those in midfield, as well as getting his head down to surge past an opponent. In fact, having started out as a winger, Gibbs’ main attribute from his left back position has always been the ability to support the Arsenal attack with forward runs, providing width and delivering quality crosses.

In this respect his game is similar to that of Nacho Monreal, who joined the club in the January transfer window and was heralded as an excellent signing. The fact that when both are fully fit, Gibbs has been able to keep the Spaniard out of the team is testament to the Englishman’s improvement during the last few months. Where Gibbs has the beating of Monreal is in the defensive side of the game. With Wenger often deploying a central midfielder on the left wing, who will naturally drift into the middle of the park, the opposition frequently target this area of the field as a key weakness. As a result, the Arsenal left back can regularly find himself isolated and outnumbered and therefore needs to be extremely defensively astute to restrict the space, preventing the opposition from getting in behind the Arsenal defence. 

During last night’s game, Marseille frequently appeared to have far too much space down the Arsenal left hand side, but more often than not Gibbs would rush across to meet his opponent, either blocking an attempted cross, stealing the ball away and regaining possession or ushering them inside where they could be thwarted by a teammate. One moment in particular, during the second half, encapsulated Gibbs’ new found defensive mindedness, with a goal saving clearance off the line.

A seemingly harmless cross from Andre Ayew, was horribly sliced by Per Mertesacker as the German defender attempted to clear his lines. The ball looped over Szczesny and seemed destined to be turned into the empty net by the grateful Gignac, until Kieran Gibbs appeared from nowhere to head the ball off the line and into the arms of his goalkeeper. It was a truly wonderful piece of defending. Replays showed that as the cross came into the box, Gibbs had been in line with Mertesacker. With the German destined to make a simple clearance, it would have been understandable for Gibbs to switch off, but the left back did what all great defenders do and remained alert, foreseeing the worst case scenario and placing himself in the best position to deal with the danger that followed. It highlighted a new maturity to his game, one which Arsene Wenger, the man who oversaw Gibbs’ transformation from winger to left back, must be extremely proud of. On such moments, games are won and lost. Had Marseille taken the lead, the stadium would have erupted and securing those vital three points would have become almost impossible.

In fact four minutes later it was Arsenal who broke the deadlock, thanks to an excellent surging forward run by Gibbs. The left back’s cross into the box should have been cleared at the back post by Morel, but the Marseille defender’s header looped up into the air and fell perfectly for Theo Walcott to send a powerful volley past Steve Mandanda and into the back of the net. The strike should provide Walcott with the confidence his game appears to have been lacking recently.

As the match wore on, the Gunners were able to keep the game relatively tight and restrict Marseille to half chances at best, until with six minutes left to play, another player enjoying an upturn in form following injury nightmare, Aaron Ramsey, put the game beyond any doubt. As the ball travelled towards him the Welshman showed great composure to turn beautifully, creating space for himself in the process. He duly strode forward into this space before firing a shot on goal which deflected off the boot of a Marseille defender and into the net for Ramsey’s sixth goal of the season. His recent surge in confidence has been phenomenal, as both he and Wenger noted after yesterday’s game, throughout his career Ramsey has often found himself in excellent positions in the box but would seem to panic and miss the opportunity to score. So far this season this has not been the case and long may it continue.

Although the concession of a late penalty, converted by Jordan Ayew seemed to slightly dampen Ramsey’s spirits, the Gunners could reflect on a job well done at the final whistle. It was a perfect start to a daunting Champions’ League group which will surely have many twists and turns ahead. The major positive from an Arsenal perspective is that this group of players seem to have matured together and are starting to grind out results in situations were previously they would have dropped points. Such spirit, grit and determination can only bode well for the future.