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Kieran Gibbs' improvement at left-back deserves high praise at Arsenal

Kieran Gibbs began life as a winger, but has matured into a fine defender.

Debates about who is the best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder or striker in the Premier League are often kicked off by a journalist asking a manager whether they think one of their players deserves the honour.
In this situation, what is the boss supposed to say exactly? No? Hardly likely. You can only hope the journalist is being realistic with the question so he/she doesn't get a silly debate going. But it's rather like the situation with fans: they are hardly likely to be the fairest when it comes to making judgements on their own players, or the performances of others.

So, needless to say, when Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was asked whether he thought Kieran Gibbs was the best left-back in the Premier League, he said yes, he thought he was.

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That then prompted Everton's Roberto Martinez to be asked the same question and he said he thought otherwise and that Leighton Baines was the best. Maybe if you asked Louis van Gaal, the Manchester United manager would suggest Luke Shaw can be the best -- once he sorts out his fitness.
Let's be honest, fans will never agree on this one. Club loyalties will always get in the way and if you're an Arsenal fan you will go for Gibbs; Everton supporters will say Baines and Manchester United will favour Shaw. Danny Rose was even called into an England squad this season so maybe Tottenham fans will chime in too.
Ashley Cole is no longer part of the debate, having left Chelsea this summer. Inexplicably, England manager Roy Hodgson left Cole at home for this summer's World Cup too, and the former Arsenal star spent his time holidaying and sorting out a move to Roma. He should really have gone to Brazil because he had experience and was the one England player you could always rely on to step up for the big occasion, but Hodgson evidently thought differently because of the options he had.
No doubt that England have been blessed in the left-back department. The likes of Kenny Sansom, Stuart Pearce and Cole -- in my view, the best left-back in the world for a decade -- have set a platform and now the current crop are terrific too.
Baines has pushed hard for a first-team spot in the past couple of years, and his attacking qualities -- especially his ability from set pieces and free kicks -- make him a terrific threat in attack as well as defence. The 19-year-old Shaw looks terrific -- especially when you consider his age. Powerful, strong and tenacious, he defends as well as he attacks and, once he's settled at his new club, he will be a real force.
However, the one man who deserves to be thought of as the best English left-back in the Premier League at the moment is Kieran Gibbs -- purely on form and his dramatic rate of improvement.
He has been overlooked by his country in the past, but playing in the Champions League on a regular basis undoubtedly improves a player. It improves their awareness and positioning, tests them in every game and pushes them to a different level because generally they are facing a better class of opponent.
To my mind, Arsenal's young English players -- Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to name but three -- have seen their careers develop because they play regularly at Europe's top table.
That is why Gibbs has definitely pushed on in the past two seasons -- particularly defensively -- and is one of Arsenal's few players to be playing at their best this season in a team which has yet to find its consistency and form.
His positional sense is much better, he reads the game so well and is tenacious in the tackle. He has always been good going forward, but in recent games his fitness levels and strength have really shone through. And if he can overcome his injury issues, the world is his oyster.
Maybe not going to the World Cup is a blessing in disguise for Gibbs. If he can stay off the treatment table and continue to perform on the pitch, perhaps every manager will agree that he deserves to be thought of as the best in the land at the end of the season.