Ben Gibson is the pillar of stability Norwich City have been crying out for – and may well prove to be the final piece in Daniel Farke’s Championship jigsaw.
It’s been a busy summer of ins and outs at City but of all our recent arrivals, none make me more excited than loan signing Gibson.
For years, we’ve yearned for defensive solidity and a proven Championship performer at the back. For years, we’ve watched the likes of Timm Klose, Ben Godfrey and Christoph Zimmermann show signs of consistency but so often switch off when it matters. For years, we’ve been unable to keep teams out.
It’s well-documented that even throughout that thrilling promotion season of 2018-19, we conceded the fourth most goals of any club in the top ten. Our ability to outscore teams became a necessity for sustaining an assault on the title and, if it wasn’t for Teemu Pukki’s brilliance, the reality is we would have never scaled those Premier League heights.
But this season looks different. Yes, it’s only one player and yes, Gibson hasn’t played much football over the past two years – but that’s not the point.
Gibson is 27, the age many professionals consider their prime. He racked up 200 appearances for Middlesbrough, played a crucial role in helping them reach the 2015 play-off final – who did they lose to again? – and was then the rock at the back as they reached the big time the following year.
He enjoyed a personally successful 2016-17 in the Premier League, where putting the ball in the net, and not keeping it out, proved Boro’s undoing. Aitor Karanka’s side conceded just 53 goals in their 38 top-flight matches and while they finished 19th, ten teams had inferior defensive records.
So Gibson knows how to defend. Of that there’s no question, and you don’t simply lose that ability, that awareness, that knowledge of the game after two seasons away from the first-team fold. Granted, Gibson’s move to Burnley hasn’t worked out but his appetite to get back playing football is unequivocal.
Gibson struck all the right notes in his exclusive interview with the PinkUn this week. “Football is everything to me,” he told Connor Southwell.
He added that he ‘takes football home with him’, it’s ’24/7 on his mind’, he ’cares deeply’ and ‘wears his heart on his sleeve’.
Good. Because that’s exactly the sort of grit, tenacity and steely resilience City will require to get out of this division. That mentality, coupled with what Gibson has proven to offer on the pitch, is a recipe for Championship success.
The reality is Pukki won’t hit 29 goals again. Emi Buendia – if he stays – may not hit the heights he soared to in 2019, and Marco Stiepermann – such a vital cog in that well-oiled Farke machine – looks to have an uncertain future. In short, we’re unlikely to score as many goals this term.
So that only heightens the significance of Gibson’s arrival. For all Godfrey’s, Zimmermann’s, Klose’s and Grant Hanley’s talents we all know they can’t be wholeheartedly trusted at the back, all liable to a making a fatal mistake that could easily prove City’s undoing. Regrettably, we saw that time and again last season – particularly from set pieces.
And that was merely an extension of what played out the campaign before, when we conceded four goals against West Bromwich Albion and Derby County at home and three against Millwall, Nottingham Forest and Leeds, to name a few.
Gibson will change that. Farke may still be in the process of configuring his favoured centre-back pairing but it appears increasingly likely that Gibson will feature at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday.
If he plays, who with? Gibson and Godfrey would be my desired partnership as it stands, given Zimmermann’s shaky performances in Germany and the England Under-21 international’s promising week – he scored in their 2-1 win against Austria on Tuesday night – in a Three Lions shirt. Whether Farke agrees remains to be seen.
It’s now all roads lead to Huddersfield and the countdown to the season is reaching fever pitch. I, for one, have an unwavering belief City will be firmly in the automatic promotion mix this season, having recruited in the right areas – Oliver Skipp, Xavi Quintilla, Przemysław Płacheta and Jordan Hugill to name four – while retaining the bulk of our young talent.
But it’s Gibson who gives me the most confidence. Gibson who could be the man to transform our abstract promotion dreams into a tangible reality. Gibson the signing who, I have a feeling, can be the final piece of the jigsaw and haul City back into the Premier League.
An excellent article Will and you highlighted the need for defensive reinforcements that EVERY NCFC fan I’ve spoken to (and all who’ve replied to articles on MFW) have been asking for for years. Even if we go back to the 2011-2012 season, we conceded goals at an alarming rate.
The $64,000 dollar question – could Gibson be the ‘Guy’ (sorry 🙁 ) to shore up our defence and prevent the leaking of soft goals that has been our hallmark for almost a decade, or will the ‘dam’ that is Krul be breached on a regular basis once again??
As you rightly point out, we can’t expect Pukki to plunder over 20 goals this season, but DF certainly has more options at his disposal and I would love to see Idah given a reasonable amount of game time and at least coming on as a sub with say 30 minutes still to play.
Will DF play Hugill and Pukki together – we can but hope that that does happen on occasions. I’m also hopeful that the midfield can plunder a lot more goals this season and that we see more shots from distance, instead of trying to ‘walk the ball into goal!!’
Ed, your “Guy” and “dam” references may go over the heads of the younger generation of supporters, but I liked them.
Indeed they may Jim, but the debt we owe him and the others on that daring mission is immeasurable. 😀
I bet you guys have read it but in case you haven’t I still reckon Paul Brickhill’s book is the best account of the lot.
As a doggy person like GG it must have been slightly off-putting for him to lead such a mission on the very afternoon his labrador was run over and killed.
Oh, forgot to say – good article Will!
Like the Dambusters references Ed – thank God you didn’t mention GG’s dog!
How come a poor old dogs name stirs so much controversy I bet Jim Davieson nolong does stand up he would be banned
I think that it is Farkeball that predisposes us to ship a lot of goals. Full backs high up the pitch. No one has 100% pass completion so every now and then we give the ball away and we have been open to counter attacks.
Where we have been poor is set pieces. That is where I hope we can improve with Gibson in the team. What I have never understood is why we don’t have one or two players near the half way line. It forces our opponents to keep two or three players back. It means our penalty area is less congested and there are less attackers for a loose ball to fall to.
Like you I would pair Gibson with Godfrey.
OTBC
Colin, I quite agree about leaving one or two upfield, particularly someone with pace. If we leave someone near the half way line, it gives us an outball, whereas now it just comes straight back.
If we leave one up front, they’ll leave two back to cover him, so as you say, it creates more space in our box.
Hi Will
I like your optimismic view but Gibson comes with big baggage at present.
Rumours and only rumours are he went on strike after falling out with Dyce.
At Burmley in his early days injuries kept him out of the side and since September 2019 has trained at his home town club as he was no longer a part of Burnley’s plans.
City as you alluded to have a soft underbelly mainly due to the CB’s but for 3 seasons now we haven’t really had a set pairing due to injuries and poor form.
So can one recruit who hasn’t played for nearly 2 years be the single answer I don’t think so, as I said in jest to Martin P a few days ago if Klose had be a Horse he would have been sold to the knackers yard for glue that could also be said about a couple of others as well.
With all the ins and outs I still think just maybe we should have got another experienced championship CB possibly one with no major injury worries but only time will tell.
When available Zimmerman proved either with Hanley or Godfrey the potential was there for a solid defence but too often we couldn’t field a settled pairing and our midfield were continuously looking over their shoulders trying to help out a weak defence.
Can our woes easily be forgotten I hope so Zimmerman has said the promotion season is in the past and we are going to be the club with 2 others that the other 21 will want to beat, Derby, Forest, Swansea, Brentford, Middlesbrough and Cardiff will all want to be in the mix for promotion and any of them will take a top 6 finish so before a ball is kicked 9 clubs all looking for a good season you could possibly add another 3 that will spend ie QPR, Reading, Bristol then there will be the surprise package so what a season we are in for.
So back to the original question can one CB with no football for 2 years be our salvation it is a tough ask, Injuries Form and good old lady luck will all have to combine to be a successful season oh and Farkeball at it’s best.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay safe and stay healthy
I’m a bit concerned that we may be looking at too many eggs in one basket. I know Gibson is a capable defender, but he missed a lot of game time in the past two seasons with a serious injury, and hasn’t had enough game time since then to determine whether he is fully recovered.
I still believe that we need to look at how we defend set pieces. Zonal marking just doesn’t work for me. Attacking players making a late run get a running jump on static defenders, giving them a height advantage. When the attackers line up in a “train” on one defender, then break when the corner/free kick is taken, no-one seems to know how to pick them up. We need a really switched on defensive coach.
I don’t think zonal marking in itself has been the problem for the last couple of years, not that I’m a particular fan. I don’t think man marking would have worked either because we’ve generally played with 7 or 8 outfield players who you’d ideally stick on the post for set pieces…
At least the recruitment seems to have looked to redress this to a degree. Still a bit concerned tho because, Gibson aside, the other likely starters recruited (Skipp, Quintilla and Dowell) are all sub 6 foot.
He looks a good purchase and I have high hopes. However I can’t help think the system is as culpable as the players.
I have little doubt we’ll ship 10-20 unnecessary goals from set pieces this year, regardless of who is on the pitch.
For me, Gibson is a big part of the answer. I would pair him with Ben to start with but the other part of the answer is the protection in front of whatever pairing it is.
And I think we’ve got that covered as well now.
I see Skipp as a major signing and alongside either Sorensen or McClean (I can’t see Vrancic playing much) we will see a more solid team this season.