Their number 4

[MACCA]

Their number 4 looked a real talent today, blocked everything in his way, and a real man mountain to the long ball.
Sort of player we should be targeting to replace Mee when we go down, would walk into our leaky defence.

Mom for me, and looked a real team player, the sort you need in a scrap.

[Bordeauxclaret]

Played well.
Would have been a good signing for us if he hadn’t thrown his toys out of the pram. Talent wise we identified well.

Let’s hope we go back to our old recruitment model.

[CleggHall]

Sean Dyche has got his eyes on him too!

[Shaggy]

Played well.
Would have been a good signing for us if he hadn’t thrown his toys out of the pram. Talent wise we identified well.

Let’s hope we go back to our old recruitment model.

Rumour has it he fell out with the bidding donkey Woan wasn’t it?

I can see why he was unhappy, getting benched when Dyches favourites were unconditionally picked infront of him even when we were playing terrible and conceding a lot of goals.

Bit of a re-occurring problem under Dyche unconditionally picking out of form players

[MACCA]

Played well.
Would have been a good signing for us if he hadn’t thrown his toys out of the pram. Talent wise we identified well.

Let’s hope we go back to our old recruitment model.

Another Mr W issue ( there are a few )
" a chance" of 6 games in 3 seasons isn't throwing your toys out of the pram Imo

Like it's shown, ( just recently Cork ) Mr Dyche has his favourites, so regardless of form of your challenger of the shirt you dont get a chance.

Anyway it's all irrelevant, he played very well today, 2 clean sheets v a relegation rival ( something we've yet to manage ) and the best defender on the pitch today.

[Bordeauxclaret]

6 games in 3 seasons isn't throwing your toys out of the pram Imo

Like it's shown, ( just recently Cork ) Mr Dyche has his favourites, so regardless of form of your challenger of the shirt you font get a chance.

Anyway it's all irrelevant, he played very well today, 2 clean sheets v a relegation rival ( something we've yet to manage ) and the best defender on the pitch today.

Well he spent a lot of one injured and a lot of another out on loan. All while we were successfully maintaining our Premier League status.
So yes you are right he was a good signing on paper. However sadly for him he had two better players in front of him while he was here.

It’s up to our recruitment team now to go back to signing good players as you rightly point out Gibson was.

[Shaggy]

Well he spent a lot of one injured and a lot of another out on loan. All while we were successfully maintaining our Premier League status.
So yes you are right he was a good signing on paper. However sadly for him he had two better players in front of him while he was here.

Mee was hopelessly out of form and should have been benched.

Gibson is a better defender than Mee

[Middle-agedClaret]

Hanley looked a good player today also.
Mind you…

[Bordeauxclaret]

Mee was hopelessly out of form and should have been benched.

Gibson is a better defender than Mee

Mee was possibly out of form but I’d disagree on the ability front.

[ClaretMat]

Played fairly well today but it's another relegation under his belt when he's been a regular starter. Didn't get a run in the team with us but didn't do enough to stay in the team when he got a chance. In fact he was very poor when he did play.

[boatshed bill]

Mee was possibly out of form but I’d disagree on the ability front.

Wasn't Gibson a possible inclusion in the England squad.
Good defender, we messed up there.

[Jamesy]

Hanley looked a good player today also.
Mind you…

Any bang average centre half would have looked decent against us today to be honest.

[ksrclaret]

Oh come on, the we played today, you could have plonked a couple of lower league journeymen into Norwich's backline. Oh, wait, they were.

[Bordeauxclaret]

Wasn't Gibson a possible inclusion in the England squad.
Good defender, we messed up there.

I think he did get in while at Middlesbrough didn’t he?
He’d have played more for us if it hadn’t been for injuries or being a big baby.
As Macca has said Dyche identified the talent well. It just didn’t work out.

[ClaretTony]

Mee was hopelessly out of form and should have been benched.

Gibson is a better defender than Mee

And when Me was hopelessly out of form, Gibson was out injured with two bouts of surgery.

[CrosspoolClarets]

Today was comfortably Gibson’s best performance of the season which of course has 38 games. Was it against Brentford in that critical home game recently when he had a shocker, conceded two penalties, and vied with Olympiacos away (which of course was him too) for the worst defensive performance I have ever seen?

Good on his day, but not fit to lace Mee or Tarky’s boots.

[MT03ALG]

Part of the defence that has concede 63 goals this season. Most teams, but not all, have scored against them....

[longsidetrumpet]

Mee was hopelessly out of form and should have been benched.

Gibson is a better defender than Mee

You’re actually wrong on both counts

[bobinho]

Signed to replace Mee who was stalling on his new contract. Very good business really, we planned ahead knowing it was possible that Mee could leave. As it turns out, he signed another deal which basically put paid to Gibson ever really starting for us.

Of course all what I have written above is just my opinion based on how much money we had, and how much money we usually spent. £13m (ish) to sign a bench warmer? Aye, that’s us all over that. We barely spend £13m on a first team player let alone a second choice centre half.

[DCWat]

It’s a shame it didn’t work out, whatever the reasons were. I for one thought he’d prove to be a great signing.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Signed to replace Mee who was stalling on his new contract. Very good business really, we planned ahead knowing it was possible that Mee could leave. As it turns out, he signed another deal which basically put paid to Gibson ever really starting for us.

Of course all what I have written above is just my opinion based on how much money we had, and how much money we usually spent. £13m (ish) to sign a bench warmer? Aye, that’s us all over that. We barely spend £13m on a first team player let alone a second choice centre half.

We never paid the full £13 million, we paid barely half that because the clauses for further payments weren't met.
When we sold him we recouped most of the money we'd paid.

[Quickenthetempo]

I was a little surprised to see the Burnley players hugging Gibson in the tunnel before the game, seems very popular with the lads who were here.

I just thought with all that went on he might not be well liked?

[TheFamilyCat]

Mee was hopelessly out of form and should have been benched.

Gibson is a better defender than Mee

When Mee was hopelessly out of form, Gibson was injured.

Don't try to rewrite history.

[Shaggy]

When Mee was hopelessly out of form, Gibson was injured.

Don't try to rewrite history.

Im not. Mee was hopelessly out of form for half of that season. Gibson was available but had to make do on the bench.

Gibson was mismanaged

[bobinho]

We never paid the full £13 million, we paid barely half that because the clauses for further payments weren't met.
When we sold him we recouped most of the money we'd paid.

Fair enough, thanks for clearing that up. Fact still remains we had no idea it would work out that we WOULDN’T be paying the full amount when we signed him.

[longsidetrumpet]

I was a little surprised to see the Burnley players hugging Gibson in the tunnel before the game, seems very popular with the lads who were here.

I just thought with all that went on he might not be well liked?

At the end of the home game v Norwich Dyche and Gibson were talking seemingly quite amiably as they headed for the tunnel. That surprised me too

[tiger76]

Gibson definitely played well yesterday, and you do wonder if he felt he had a point to prove to SD.

Pierre Lees-Melou was also a livewire, and made our midfield look static.

[spt_claret]

Mee was hopelessly out of form and should have been benched.

Gibson is a better defender than Mee

Laughable.

I know 3 neutrals- Watford, Leicester, Arsenal- who would all pick Mee over even Tarkowski. What he brings to the club is invaluable. There's a reason Keane struggles at Everton, there's a reason Tarks was less impressive for England, there's a reason our defence and collective form always noticeably dips without Mee or if he's out of form.
As a pure defender he's the best we've had in as long as I can remember. Not what most big clubs or international managers look for in 'modern' football, but he's top drawer, and again it's no coincidence that we had such an awful run that season when he was out of form.

[MACCA]

Pierre Lees-Melou was also a livewire, and made our midfield look static.

I'd make our midfield look static.

At HT yesterday I genuinely believe a conference player could have contributed what Lowton and Westwood did, they hit the first man far too often and contributed nothing, causing more problems than solutions

[boatshed bill]

Laughable.

I know 3 neutrals- Watford, Leicester, Arsenal- who would all pick Mee over even Tarkowski. What he brings to the club is invaluable. There's a reason Keane struggles at Everton, there's a reason Tarks was less impressive for England, there's a reason our defence and collective form always noticeably dips without Mee or if he's out of form.
As a pure defender he's the best we've had in as long as I can remember. Not what most big clubs or international managers look for in 'modern' football, but he's top drawer, and again it's no coincidence that we had such an awful run that season when he was out of form.

I've heard that several clubs would like Mee rather than Tarkowski

[Caballo]

Gibson is a better defender than Mee

Even DA would be embarrassed by that cast, unless of course you believe it. In which case

[Quickenthetempo]

I've heard that several clubs would like Mee rather than Tarkowski

Which ones?

Has somebody really suggested Arsenal would like to sign Ben Mee?

[spt_claret]

Which ones?

Has somebody really suggested Arsenal would like to sign Ben Mee?

My God. How do people have such atrocious reading comprehension on this site? Is it deliberate?
I specified fans. Friends who are neutral fans, who rate Ben Mee ahead of Tarkowski.
I'm sick of this, it's become utterly pervasive on this site. People interpreting arguments that people are explicitly not making so that they can make it sound weaker and thus dismantle it to win. It's why I clarify at (sometimes excessive) length in almost all my posts, and still it happens.
People do not discuss or debate in good faith here. They resort to ad hominems, tautologies, "No you're wrong" with no elaboration, insults, playing dumb to bait people into getting angry or tangled up, twisting comments, or just shouting their opinion loudly and angrily as if volume is a substitute for content.
It's no wonder we can't muster up decent new chants that catch on or that Turf Moor is a far cry from even a few years ago in atmosphere.

[CoolClaret]

My God. How do people have such atrocious reading comprehension on this site? Is it deliberate?
I specified fans. Friends who are neutral fans, who rate Ben Mee ahead of Tarkowski.
I'm sick of this, it's become utterly pervasive on this site. People interpreting arguments that people are explicitly not making so that they can make it sound weaker and thus dismantle it to win. It's why I clarify at (sometimes excessive) length in almost all my posts, and still it happens.
People do not discuss or debate in good faith here. They resort to ad hominems, tautologies, "No you're wrong" with no elaboration, insults, playing dumb to bait people into getting angry or tangled up, twisting comments, or just shouting their opinion loudly and angrily as if volume is a substitute for content.
It's no wonder we can't muster up decent new chants that catch on or that Turf Moor is a far cry from even a few years ago in atmosphere.

Totally agree - folk on here deliberately misrepresent posts and then retorts disingenuously in order to point score, rather than actually come to a mutual agreement/common ground/new found outcome.

It’s very sad and indicative of the binary yes/no, left/right, like/dislike social-media influenced tripe that dominates discourse these days.

Arguments/debates are about finding the truth, not ‘winning’ per say, well, whatever ‘winning’ means.

[Quickenthetempo]

My God. How do people have such atrocious reading comprehension on this site? Is it deliberate?
I specified fans. Friends who are neutral fans, who rate Ben Mee ahead of Tarkowski.
I'm sick of this, it's become utterly pervasive on this site. People interpreting arguments that people are explicitly not making so that they can make it sound weaker and thus dismantle it to win. It's why I clarify at (sometimes excessive) length in almost all my posts, and still it happens.
People do not discuss or debate in good faith here. They resort to ad hominems, tautologies, "No you're wrong" with no elaboration, insults, playing dumb to bait people into getting angry or tangled up, twisting comments, or just shouting their opinion loudly and angrily as if volume is a substitute for content.
It's no wonder we can't muster up decent new chants that catch on or that Turf Moor is a far cry from even a few years ago in atmosphere.

Apologies for missing reading your post. It might be easier to write the word fans in your post, when that's what you mean.
Using other fans opinions doesn't really carry weight with strangers on an Internet forum as fans have varied opinions on all issues.
That's why I assumed you meant you knew of clubs interests, because that will carry weight.

We will find out at the end of the season who is the better player, both available on free transfers. Let's see where they end up?

[spt_claret]

Apologies for missing reading your post. It might be easier to write the word fans in your post, when that's what you mean.
Using other fans opinions doesn't really carry weight with strangers on an Internet forum as fans have varied opinions on all issues.
That's why I assumed you meant you knew of clubs interests, because that will carry weight.

We will find out at the end of the season who is the better player, both available on free transfers. Let's see where they end up?

I referred to 3 neutrals who I know. I didn't say anything about inside knowledge on that front.
Fan opinion is 90% of an internet forum. Neutral fans are sometimes better placed to judge a player than his own club's fans as they're less emotionally charged and more objective- unless there's a particular grudge against a certain player or club.
We won't find out at the end of the season. We've found out for the past 7 seasons. And even though Mee is 32 Vs Gibson at 29, I would expect Mee to be more likely to end up at a Premier League club assuming he doesn't resign with us.

[beddie]

At the end of the home game v Norwich Dyche and Gibson were talking seemingly quite amiably as they headed for the tunnel. That surprised me too

Lots had been made on here after Gibson left about a big fall out. We weren’t there, perhaps it’s not as we thought.

[Herts Clarets]

Had a stormer today. Schoolboy stuff for Uniteds first and at fault again for their second.

[ElectroClaret]

Just watched it on MOTD.
Gibson was dreadful.