Gibson's ok, but can't cope when put under pressure. He can cross, shoot and pass really well, if he's given loads of space. As soon as he gets closed down he ends up kicking himself in the foot and loses the ball. He's doing great against Crawley cos they're defending deep and not closing us down. but as soon as we come up against opposition that press us in midfield, he fails to get the basics right, and ends up looking like a passenger. He needs to get better at operating under pressure, particularly now the other PL clubs have gotten better at pressing in the midfield. This season, other teams have rarely surrendered midfield to us like they did from 2007-2009.
My worry is that he isn't even that young, so i have no idea why hasn't been sold yet. maybe no-one will take him.
SAF doesn't sell players until he's absolutely sure they'll be no use. He persisted with Fletcher and O'Shea when people were claiming they were never going to make it, and that turned out alright in the end. Besides which, it's not like we're desperate for the ã750k or whatever we'd get for Gibson at this stage...
Didn't both of them want away to get first team football? Pique was unwilling to extend his contract without the promise of first team football, but was never going to get in ahead of Rio or Vida.
Who would you pick, Ferdinand or Pique? He's currently playing for the "best team in the world", he knew he had potential and others around him were also aware of that, that's the reason he wasn't willing to extend his contract
Now, Pique but only cos he's younger. Back then, when Pique had 12 games of PL experience and Rio and Vida had been one of the main reasons we won the double, Rio. I would have loved it if Pique had stayed with us, but not at the expense of Rio and Vida who've been the best CB pairing in the PL since 2006. He left cos he wasn't going to break into our first team, but he knew he could break into Barca's. And back then Barca weren't yet recognised as the best team in the world.
Barca is not about defense in fact there back 5 is pretty average, maxwell is quite poor and puyul is past it. Their phenomenal midfield makes there back 4 look good because they can keep the ball something we cant.
I dunno, Pique is quality and Alves is good going forwards. But yeah, defensively they don't hold a candle to us.