Theo Walcott has joined Arsene Wenger in praising Kieran Gibbs after the left-back made a stunning match-winning challenge in injury-time against West Bromwich Albion to ensure the Gunners will play Champion League football next season.
Sent on as a substitute in the second half, the England international threw himself in front of a low Billy Jones drive, with a goal for the hosts looking almost certain. The incident came at the end of an action-packed cameo by the 22-year-old which saw him also make a number of important headed clearances.
Speaking after the game about the contribution of his close mate, Walcott told Arsenal.com:
“I have to give credit to Kieran Gibbs. The boss has always says, ‘you have to be ready when you come off the bench’ and Gibbsy made probably made the most important tackle of his career so far.
“You never know what would have happened as we have a world-class keeper behind him and he could have stopped it, but you have to give credit to Gibbo.”
Wenger himself had already paid lip service to the heart-stopping moment, praising his young charge:
“I feel he came on very well. We suffered on that flank in the second half but when he came on he won headers and won tackles to get us out of difficult situations. He deserves huge credit for that tackle.”
Having been replaced in the starting lineup by Andre Santos after a dodgy performance against Norwich, it’s great that Gibbs ends the season a hero who can indirectly claim to have earned the club £30 million with one tackle. Fingers crossed he can take confidence from the praise coming his way from teammates and fans and build on his first season as regular starter at the Emirates.
You can see a video of Gibbs’ block (and Arsene’s little hug of Pat Rice), here.
Good to see Theo appreciates Gibbs’ huge tackle.
You should hear what he thinks about our Coq
I think Gibbs’ huge tackle could provide a platform for our Coq to go on to bigger things next season. . .
Ooooh Matron!
Our Coq? Santos loves that gay!
As good a player as Gotze is, these threads are the real reason we should think hard about putting in a bid for him.
No need, the thrust of our coq flying in like that would have been felt and not heard!
oh dear!
Almost like that Flamini tackle on the diving cunt Cicinho.
Fair play to Gibbs, he’s been a bit suspect positionally, but made to look worse because of Tommy V’s proclivity for venturing forward.
When it really mattered he was there and could be counted on.
Well done Gibbsy
it was perhaps the only real moment of brilliance in a match that was desperately lacking any from either side
this tackle could go on to make Gibbs the best left back in the world …
steady on there …
Lets hope he doesn’t go the same way as our last decent local-boy LB
Don’t worry, mobile phones are a lot bigger these days……
Quality!
you can probably download an App for that kind of palaver now!!!
you talking about Ashley Cole? I hope Gibbs turns out as good as Cole was, minus the fucking off to Chelsea for money.
Kieran ‘Gibbsy Gibbo Gibbington’ Gibbs.
gibbsy or gibbo?
which is it theo?
it seems like your nicknames are only consistent in patches..
I had to drive to a gig yesterday, so was able to follow the Live Blog up till Kos scored. Had the wireless on, but obviously they had the Citeh game on and there was no mention (other than the score) of what was going on in our game. So only saw the tackle on MotD late last night, and even then I nearly shit meself when that ball went through, even though I knew the bloody score. Christ knows what it was like for you lot watching live. One of the moments of the season that – up there… Read more »
It was horrible to watch it live, was pretty sure they would score but Gibbs said : “not on my watch!”
A gig eh Mooro? I have it in my head now you’ve got a mobile disco and you were doing a 6yr olds party……I am probably wrong but don’t destroy the illusion.
Sussed.
Quickly Mooro, we must go. To the Disco Mobile!!!!
Birdie Song? Check
Macarena? Check
Ma-na-ma-na by the muppets? Check
We’re good to go.
Have you got 12 inches?
at the start of the season Gibbs used to be a liability for us, he was over rated and was a big reason our defence was so bad. Over the last 3 months he was been an absolute rock at the back, and he has made me totally change my mind about him. Seems fitting now that this block saved our entire season, and i think he will be a very good player for us in times to come.
I feel perhaps your polar opinions are a bit extreme at both ends. I don’t think he stood out as being noticeably bad in a chaotic team, equally he’s shown promise and some good performances when our form improved. I think the biggest positive is he’s shown in the second half of the season he can stay relatively injury free. On a different note, Talkshite are currently wanking themselves off over their commentary when City scored. I don’t know if you’ve heard it but it’s attricious, sounds like two blokes on the fan zone rather than a professional commentator, just… Read more »
I don’t think there’s ever been anything of worth said from those cunts mate
The joy of the close season is I’m not tempted to turn on that shit, then get wound up by it.
” Huge £30 million Tackle ”
aah, that explains the double hernia………. 😉
Jenkinson was awful!!!!
Yeah that’s the thing to focus on, not that we won, not that we qualified for champions league, not that we finished above Sp*rs again, not that the team came back from an awful start to the season. The fact a kid who loves Arsenal didn’t have a great game when he’s been out for god knows how long after damaging his spine. Shall we call Ramsey a cunt as well for good measure?
Well said matt
You mean a young player, still learning his trade at this level, that had come back from injury, was match rusty and was thrown in due to Sagna’s injury wasn’t the greatest right back in the history of football? Well knock me down with a feather….
A few more exclamations would have been better.
If PFA Young player of the year wasnt handed out so early to the most non foreign young player Gibbs would have won it hands down with that tackle cant see waht that other fellow did to deserve it ahead of Ox, Aguero ,Silva .Balotelli and more at least a “30million £” Tackle can be argued for.
Isn’t he too old to get that award?
Believe I’m right in saying that Milner won it when he was 24
Great tackle by Gibbs. Let’s hope he can build on this.
But seriously, what has happened to Thomas Vermaelen? Has he been replaced by a body double? He used to be solid.
My thoughts exactly but I’ll add in Koscielny too. Our 2 best CBs have been beyond questionable these last few weeks.
Our entire back for seems to have gone in reverse and gotten worse towards the end of the season instead of better. Some leniency due to the loss of Sagna but still.
Bould better whip the defense into shape ASAP!
I’ve got a theory and it’s probably horseshit, but it’s the Arteta factor again.
He sits right in front of the back four and covers Song when he goes forward.
So his being there means there physically isn’t a gap that needs to be filled, but in his absence, TV5 sees the gap and goes into it.
The problem with this theory is he then leaves a big fuck off gap behind him, and who exactly does he expect will cover that? SZCZ??
As I said, probably horseshit.
Is that the gap we were supposed to mind? I’m confused.
Not horseshit at all Mooro, the team as a whole has a much better shape to it with Arteta, he was a big miss, and Song seems a bit more disciplined when Arteta’s out there.
I thought Le Coq filled that gap??? I’m confused
I remember Gibbs slipping inside the box and Cronaldo scoring that goal against us in Champions League few seasons ago and every one said Gibbs was shit even though they knew he was so young. Hopefully those same people hang their hands in shame after yesterday.
But remember, when he slipped inside the box so easily, that was before his massive tackle. Now it’ll take a big push before he slips in the box.
That was a really aggravating. Not just the match itself, but the bellends afterward who seemed not to understand that slipping over is something you can’t do very much about.
I only saw it on the replay because i had my arms over my eyes waiting to hear the WBA fans cheering. I was confused when i looked up and saw Szczesny shaking Gibbs on the ground. Then i realised Gibbs had saved us. I was really impressed by him yesterday, he looked like he would have run through walls for the win.
Let’s see, now. AW, who has probably forgotten more about football than any of us will ever know, was prepared to flog zen-like-concentration’s Gael Clichy to Citeh for £7m, because he had KG. And then, just to embarrass the more stupid pundits, he went and bought “false number 3” Andre Santos (and yes, that was shamelessly nicked from Ronay on the grauniad) as a back up to Yossi. Or Kieran. Or Gerv. Not sure. Anyhow it’s fucking great to see KG step up and show us all why AW had enough faith in his ability to let Clichy go to… Read more »
Actually, he was not-tracking-back the other LB Arsene sold this summer, Armand Traore. Fair play to them, working in pairs.
what with joey barton’s attention-whoring it was a festival of cunts at middle eastlands yesterday the only thing that made me laugh more than a freshly bench-improved na$ri failing to track an opponent was the sight of all those citeh fans streaming towards the exit from 85 minutes onwards to a man, they’ll all claim that they were there and they believed, the lying wee fuckers. and as football fans we’ll be able to tell. because you can’t fake that shit. fair play to the dumb bastards who stayed, mind. i’d be masochistic and stay. anything else and the winning… Read more »
“Congratulations to Man City, who proved you don’t need money to be successful, just effort and belief, like Paris Hilton” … tweeted today by Mark Steel.
Hear that Samir Nasri!
clip doesnt work 🙁
Here is a link that works
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCHDUA3TpZQ
after the match i thought if it was gael in gibbs place to make that last ditch tackle.it would have been cliche for arsenal to concede a penalty!
heh i see what you did there!
fucking happy with both our left backs……..but wait, there’s santos, only the denchest motherfucker alive!!!!.
Gibbs for England??
Best laugh of the day Bloggs goes to Arse2Mouse for this if anyone hasnt seen it before 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=q7wCfttJVnQ
There’s a line.
Going into a studio and recording a song about football is that line.
We have couple of good defenders at the squad BUT… our defence was bad this season. Imagine how Rvp, Rosicky and Walcott felt after let’s say scoring two great goals and then shortly afterwords watching our defence (midfield also guilty) sliping into mistakes and panic. Imagine how Park felt. 🙂 Vermaelen was also strange this 2nd part of the season. Gibbs and Santos were okej but not very good, Djourou also. Sagna and Kos were good but what they can do when Song and Ramsey didn t care about man to man defending much… SO we NEED TO BUY at… Read more »
Buying people isn’t always the answer. Our defence has been iffy for 6 years, during which time personel have changed a fair few times. To me it is more to do with how the team sets up, and a lack of positional discipline by certain defenders and midfielders. Can we spare a thought for our Bolton Academy getting relegated. Not only did their keeper get rugby tackled for the first goal, but Crouch went down very easily for the penalty. He must be very proud his ‘professionalism’ resulted in a team getting relegated. I think we could put together a… Read more »
I 100% agree with this. Djourou played a lot last season when Vermaelen was hurt and was a pretty solid contributor. Of course he was a fish out of water when stuck at RB, so I don’t really fault him for that. And as others have noted, don’t forget about Per. He is the anti-Koscielny/Vermaelen. The calming presence that is needed and he’ll never randomly raid forward like Vermaelen likes to do on too many occasions for me. Better organization will see the defence improve by miles. This season wasn’t aided by the fact that Song seemed to have relinquish… Read more »
As much as I did not want City to win the league, I would’ve rather QPR get relegated than Bolton.I feel sorry for them. And for Muamba. I remembered him tweeting that watching and hearing about the games was not good for his heart 🙂
No more CB signings, we have enough. M’Vila would be excellent, another natural midfield enforcer, but that’s it. Our defensive problem is collective. Individually we’re good, we have top defenders: Sagna, Vermaelen, Kos, Mertesacker… but when they’re together, they look suspect. Hopefully Bouldy will straighten them out, there’s a lot of work to be done. I agree with Midfield Corporal, in the past 6 years or so we’ve been having this problem. Our defence can’t be trusted. If you’re an attacker at Arsenal, it must kill you slowly inside seeing all the 4-4 and 3-3 draws we conceded. Just put… Read more »
I’d just like to be the first to say:
Alex McCleish – hahahahahahahahahaha *fucking* ha, you shriveled testicle alike.
I second that
Arse – can we get a blog for Eboue winning the league? It sort of makes up for having to see Na$ri’s grin all over the internet…. And having to read Guardian pieces about RVP and TV5 being 2 of the top 5 Citeh targets…
We should bring Eboue back! Eboue forever! 🙂
If Gibbs never performs another heroic feat for Arsenal it won’t matter–his saving tackle will be enshrined forever in Gooner community memory!
I think it´s my favorite tackle since that Grimandi tackle on Edgar Davids in the Bergkamp testimonial, Awesome!
Yes, that was a beauty. For different reasons. The look on his face afterwards topped it off. Here, if you don’t remember/are too young to remember:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtidXpWaVVM
Magnifique Monsieur Grimandi.
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Hopefully Gibbs will win a medal with the GB team in the Olympics, as i doubt he’ll be in the euro side and will play along side Ramsey and probably Ox if he’s not chosen for the Euro’s. Not bad for a side that’s full of foreigners according to pundits.
Also, Theo will surely be in the England team this time. As long as Roy trusts him to have one of his “consistent patches”.
It’s worth even more than 30mil.. At least for wilshere. Time for the mugsmashers to pay up since they finished below the gunners. Way to go Jack, best bet all season.
I thought it was a bet with fans of the shit down the road, not the flops at the Kop
Pause for a moment.The ref could easily have awarded a penalty to Albion.What then?If the gunner finished fourth,I believe RVP would probably leave.
Wenger has to make sure there is no repeat of this season.Arsenal are in danger of being a top 4 to 6 club if they are unable to fight for the epl.It would need a rethink of Arsene’s philosophy.Most teams know how the gunners play.
Hopefully Bould can coach the defenders into a better cohesive unit. 49 goals conceded is unacceptable if the gunners want to fwin games and fight for trophies.
Pause for a moment. The linesman could have correctly ruled their first goal out for offside then we would have still won
since the season is over can we talk about transfers, we could raid villareal since they got relegated, borja valero, giusseppe rossi
I think Mertesacker has been a huge miss in the defence in recent months and as much as people criticise him, he compliments both Koscielny and Vermaelen. The Gibbs block was huge but we must sign a lot of players this summer. Their is a lot of good things about Arsenal but there is a lot of things wrong about our squad as well.
just cos this article is about money i feel it’s relevant to have a rant, what i can’t understand is why i still click on all the stories about player transfers when deep down i know they’re all made up. does anyone check goonernews.com? it’s such a load of shite. but other than facebook, arseblog, work email and hotmail its the website i visit the most. and the thing is, the people who make up those stories actually make money per click cos thats how they charge the people for banner ads. hopefully next year we’ll just win something and… Read more »
although if we get m’vila we’ll be very strong. finger crossed. u can donate to my website at http://www.I.needcash.for.a.season.tick.next.year.com
[…] that has been in the act on the aftermath of the West Brom game. Theo Walcott has spoke about his admiration for Kieran Gibbs over that match-saving tackle that was worth its weight in gold, or £30m to be […]
After the game, in the Arsenal showers, I have it on good authority from one of the gays that a certain Coq was gushing over Gibb’s tackle.