Pain-free Gibson hoping to resurrect Everton career

Sadly injuries took their toll and I won't be holding my breath that he can stay fit. Shame as there is some player there.

We desperately need a deep lying playmaker in the Gibson mould. A lot of people have been vocal about how it should be Barkley or Naismith and not both but for me it should be Besic or McCarthy not both. If he's fit Gibson should be starting.

He'd better play him on Sunday. Arsenal will give us space and he'll exploit it.

Unfortunately, he runs as though he has oranges on both big toes so McCarthy will have to do all of his running with him.

Good luck mate and hope you start tomorrow.

For as good as what the likes of McCarthy, Barry and Besic are in their own unique way, none of them poses the passing ability and range that Gibbo does.

With the way we want to play, you have to have a player in midfield that looks forward, wants to turn defence into attack quickly, sees a pass fast and plays it, executes it! It's alright playing from side to side and back, side to side again, trying to pull the opposition all over the pitch to create the spaces to exploit, but you need someone who is going to play a forward pass and stretch teams and Gibson does it.

When you have a player like that in the team, other players start to make forward runs, they look to go beyond the striker, try and get in behind the opposition defence and even make unselfish runs just to create space for others cos they know they have a player on the pitch that will play forward balls, either over the top, into space wide or quickly into the strikers feet to get the team high up the pitch.

It's alright trying to play a possesion based game of football but there as to be a purpose to the play and progression, and Gibson brings that. His first intention is to go forward. He goes for passes our other midfielders would shy from, and more often than not, he makes em!

I'd love him to finally stay fit as he could be a player for us along side McCarthy, but with his record, it's highly unlikely he's over his injury nightmares.

Gibson deserves a bit of luck after the injury nightmares he has experienced and I'm sure he must be as frustrated as the fans regarding his lack of competitive action.

The team needs leadership from the middle. I know people will laugh because he has never been fit but when fit he is the best midfielder we have. He reads the game and is not afraid to tell players what he thinks.

Bloody Gibson..... I ask you !

Actually enjoyed most of the second half the other day, simply because Gibson made us play more forward. And anyone who can make us do that, might just make the match a bit more enjoyable than it's been these last few months!

Not good enough anyway.

Another for the out door in the summer.

Joking aside, it was a real shock to the system to see an Everton player dictating play from the back, by actually looking up and making incisive forward passes with accuracy and tempo. We Evertonians have been brainwashed into watching our players stroke the ball sideways, backwards, sideways, backwards – all at snail’s pace ad infinitum and I half expected Martinez to run on the pitch and drag Gibson off, for having the temerity to hit the ball forward. Although they may have other qualities, neither McCarthy or Besic have that range of passing in their locker. To be fair to Barry, he does try occasionally to pick out Lukaku with a long crossfield ball, but he does not possess Gibson’s accuracy or vision.

IÂ’m not saying heÂ’s a world beater, but watching Gibson just makes you realise how poor our normal game is and how weÂ’ve become accustomed to mediocrity.

There's a terrific player in there that is, please forgive me, phenomenally unique in our squad. He can pass and he can shoot from a long way out. That is something we should be looking at a little more when teams come to park the bus against us.

Normally came off the bench 75 to 83min!( Fecking hell) I would rather have Ossie (and thatÂ’s saying something) I really donÂ’t think our manager has much faith in him with them stats, do you? This is one of the only times I have agreed with our piss- poor, so- called Manager.

You can’t ignore what he did on Sunday. It wasn’t a fluke. He’s a very good player and, if he stays fit, a very important one too. We had a great run under Moyes where we didn’t get beat with Gibson in the team for a fair number of games. He makes the midfield tick... when fit!

Gibson showed on Sunday what we have been missing. Although I noticed he was not being closed down which gave him the time to make his pass.

The key word of course is 'fit' which is something of a rarity.

Thought that he was one of the best against Young Boys. Good luck, Darron.