England boss Fabio Capello made a personal check on Arsenal youngster Kieran Gibbs this week as he looked at his left-back options for the World Cup next year.
Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge are Capello's first and second choice in that position but injury to either of them for the tournament in South Africa would see England short of genuine contenders and Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said: "If Capello asks my opinion, I'll give a positive one. He's ready to step up."
Joleon Lescott or Matthew Upson could fill in at left-back but would not provide the pace of Chelsea defender Cole or his deputy in Bridge. Other options include Aston Villa's Stephen Warnock or Everton's Leighton Baines.
Arsenal veteran Mikael Silvestre, skipper for the win over Liverpool, believes youngsters such as Gibbs have matured and give Wenger the chance of his first trophy since 2005.
"We did quite well last season but know we have to step up a little bit and be more mature in our game," Silvestre said on BBC Five Live.
"I think all the lads learnt from last season and hopefully in March and April we'll be there to prove it.
"There are moments in the game when you have to hold your position or keep shape or make decisions. You only learn with experience and even young players like Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey have shown they have matured their games from last season.
"The potential is high, we have everything to win titles here and it's up to us and the manager to prove it. We want to finish as winners not losers. We hope for a better future for us."
Comment 1 - 9 of 9
Is Gibbs better than A.cole?
Yes(thumbs up)
No(thumbs down)
ok but wat about left mid surely england would be better with a proper left midfield player so they could put gerrard back to midfield or better yet upfront with rooney instead of heskey y not he did wel as a centre foward 4 liverpool last year and actuely scored more than rooney plus hes a better passer than heskey thatd be one 2 try against brazil
as much as you'd like gibbs to come through, as he's no doubt cole's successor and he's very versatile, you have to think baines at least deserves a chance. he's consistent for everton and a deadlock from set-pieces. they should both go to S.Africa, but given gibbs has got many years ahead, Baines should be given a trial
THE ITALIAN JOB IN UK ...
Sig. Ancelotti doing very well
Sig. Capello also
Sig. Trapattoni too
Sig. Zola not bad
Sig. Di Matteo with West Brom. Albion doing briliant job
Sig. Mancini NEW COACH OF REAL MADRID !!!
Fifa & fRANCE fOOTBALL should give the prize of best player OF THE YEAR to THE ITALIAN COACH !!!
They are really the best coaches all over the World...
And what you don`t know that there are a lot at same level like :
- Prandelli with Fiorentina
- Luigi del Neri with Sampdoria NEW COACH OF ITALY AFTER M.LIPPI
- Guidolin with Parma
- Zenga with Palermo
- Cosmi with Livorno
- Mazzarri with Napoli
- CONTE with ATALANTA
Final world cup 2010 in south africa
REMEMBERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Ivory Coast VS Italy
REMEMBERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
will win it Ivory Coast ...
jack wilshere to world cup
#1 - Baines!!! No way.
Not good enough for a full England cap.
About time he pensioned off Cashley and that sack of @#$% Bridge.
konchesky is a bag of sperm and so is warnock, cole is beyond dyer, gibbs all the way
Wow, are you kidding me? There's plenty of players who should get a shot at LB before Gibbs who is far too green. Baines should be third choice if not second, he's one of the few players who can take a left footed set piece. Konchesky / Warnock are also solid choices.
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