Arsenal: Kieran Gibbs Becoming Forgotten Englishman

Arsene Wenger is starting to show a bizarre fondness for his Englishman at Arsenal. Yet still Kieran Gibbs lives in the shadows.

There are certain things that Arsene Wenger does that I do not think I will ever understand. I will never understand why Joel Campbell is not appreciated more. I will never understand his fascination with Walcott. Even beyond that, I will never understand what happened to Kieran Gibbs after Arsenal’s tragic loss to Southampton on New Years, 2015.

Wenger is not exactly a fan of changes, but typically after a disastrous defeat, he makes a couple changes and doesn’t look back. Moving Wojciech Szczesny to the bench made sense, particularly after the smoking shower fiasco. But it was Gibbs’ exit that baffled me.

Why was the left back being blamed for the sins of the team? Gibbs had always shown tremendous athleticism, he had that same ability that Bellerin has now, where he was a converted attacker, so everything seemed written in stone. Gibbs was the man of the future. The multifaceted fullback.

But he wasn’t. He hasn’t seen the light of day since. A couple of jogs out onto the pitch in cameo roles and in lesser competitions, but injuries or being ousted from secondary competitions have made him disappear. Then there were the instances of Gibbs playing a winger role and actually making a tremendous impact. And then he was gone again.

What makes this all the more curious is Wenger’s sudden affection for English players. Theo Walcott could set Wenger’s couch on fire and Le Prof would still start him. There is no getting rid of him.

Jack Wilshere will always have an open door to playing time, so long as he can stay healthy.

Kieran Gibbs was the third wheel of that English trifecta. He was as talented, just in a not-as-popular position.

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He’s almost 27 now. Where has the time gone? One minute you’re the next great fullback, the next you’ve suddenly landed on Wenger’s hit list.

While it was Gibbs’ sudden removal that gave way to the consistency of Nacho Monreal, I’m still not sold on why the Englishman isn’t given more of a chance. He has shown so much ability and, aside from the injuries, has given us little room to doubt his credentials. His aforementioned attacking mentality would be superior to that of Monreal and it’s not like his defending was ever completely erratic.

From 2012-2014 he played for over 4000 minutes, putting up solid defensive numbers, very good passing numbers and was never a liability. But one poor team performance and he was done away with. That’s enough to crush anyone’s spirits.

Yet still he parries any moves out of the club. He even has that loyalty that we all love.

So what happened? Walcott, Wilshere and Gibbs were the future of this club and, if there was anyone of the three that caught on fastest, it was Gibbs. But that amounted to nothing.

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Hopefully we get to see plenty of Gibbs in the FA and League Cup and perhaps the Champions League as well. He’s never left me wanting for more.

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