Darron Gibson: The incomplete midfielder

ONCE the universal acclaim for Darron Gibson’s thrilling strike against Wales had died down, the nagging doubts tended to resurface.

Yes, we all know the Manchester United man has spectacular goals in his locker – but has he got enough of all the other stuff required to make him an automatic first choice in Ireland’s central midfield? Giovanni Trapattoni believes he has but “the important question”, he said yesterday, is how the player goes about bringing it to the fore. All managers are in thrall to the concept of the complete midfielder but it’s clear that, for all the potential he believes the Derry man possesses, Trapattoni thinks Darron Gibson, is still the incomplete version.

Reflecting in a Dublin airport hotel on Ireland’s latest outing before he caught his flight home to Milan, Trapattoni was at pains to preface his thoughts on Gibson by reminding his audience that the last time he spoke at length about him, his comments provoked a minor controversy – or what the Italian always prefers to call a “polemica”.