- Oct 3, 2011
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I haven't seen a lot of Gibbs-White but one thing he seems to have that Edwards never had is a change of pace. Whenever I saw Edwards as a kid the things that always worried me were (1) his size and (2) his lack of pace. Yes, he had absolutely beautiful ball control and that delicious low centre of gravity that lets him squeeze past players but you have to try and imagine him in a tactical system as a senior against grown men. As we've seen in the Netherlands, Edwards struggles to get away from players which is why play can often break down with him. If he doesn't draw the foul then he's a sitting duck for a turnover.
i had the same reservations but i think the one thing he has shown on his loan is that he can beat senior players, he actually averages more successful dribbles per game than any other player in the division and it's not like he's playing for a dominant team. there's a couple of examples in the video below(excuse the music) at 0:48 and 3:15 where he shows a decent turn of pace to get away from his defender, he'll never be super quick over long distances but in the areas he works in i think he's fine, if he can eke out an extra half a yard(whatever that means) over the next year or two then that would be ideal but if not then i don't think it will be much of an issue.
he "just" needs to add an end product to it all. i'm surprised he's struggled in that area as he's always been pretty reliable in the final third but right now he's overplaying and snatching at chances that he'd usually put away, it might not be the worst thing in the world that he now finds himself on the bench as he'll learn that he needs to start delivering on all of the crazy dribbling if he's to keep his place in the side.