Invisiblewall.net: Gilberto Silva News

Gilberto played in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Sparta Prague on Tuesday, and started the game wearing the captains armband.

As a groin-injury precaution, Arsenal captain Thierry Henry was on the bench. Vice captain Dennis Bergkamp didn’t fly to Prague because he is afraid of aeroplanes. Third in command Sol Campbell was out injured.

It left Silva with the responsibility of captain – and the chance to repay Wenger’s faith in his “leadership qualities”.

And he did. Very well. Until Henry was substituted on. After 22 minutes.

Henry scored twice – breaking Ian Wright’s Arsenal scoring record. He scored the first one, interestingly enough, without the captains arm band, but after Gilberto realised the quality of Henry’s goal, he handed over the armband to the official club captain.

Here is a photo of Henry scoring his first goal:

Here is a photo of Henry scoring his second goal: (note the armband this time)

Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Fredrik Ljungberg and Aleksandr Hleb all miss out through injury, while Dennis Bergkamp’s fear of flying has kept him in London. However, captain Thierry Henry has provided a timely boost by returning to the substitutes’ bench. Gilberto skippers the side.

Well done Gilberto! Looks like the Gilberto-for-Captain campaign here at invisiblewall.net paid off. Well, that or everyone else is injured. Probably a mix of the two.

Gilberto will be Arsenal’s fourth captain this season – a sign of how depleted Arsenal are at the moment.

Come back later to see pictures of Gilberto with his captain armband on! It will be a proud moment for him.

Talking about the Sparta Prague game, Arsene Wenger said: “It’s very difficult to accept as maybe Gilberto is the only one who will come back”.

Gilberto will replace Flamini, who played in the 2-1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion at the weekend.

It’s good news that Gilberto got back from the Brasil Selecao without injury – though a shame he had to sit and watch Arsenal lose.

Gilberto will no doubt bring Arsenal back to their winning ways – but without Sol Campbell, Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole, Freddie Ljungberg, Robin van Persie, Alexander Hleb or Dennis Bergkamp, it will definitely be a hard task.

Wenger went on to say “Twice now after the international break we have paid a heavy price in terms of injuries”.

Thankfully, this time he wasn’t talking about Gilberto!

Today (Friday), Gilberto arrives back in England from his two international games with Brazil.

He wasn’t injured, but he still won’t play for Arsenal against West Brom on Saturday, due to jet lag.

Source

While the departure of one World Cup-winning midfielder has had a destabilizing effect on the Gunners, there is of course another one still at the club, and Fabregas admitted that playing alongside Gilberto Silva is certainly making life in the first team a lot easier.

“Of course, it is a big challenge for young players because Patrick left and now we have to play.

“But I don’t realise Patrick has gone now, I just try to play my game and learn from the other players like Gilberto.

“He’s a very experienced player and you can see why he has won the World Cup.

“We still have lots of good players like him and need to remember that,” added Fabregas who also acknowledges that life without another leading light, Thierry Henry has not made life any easier.

Click the link at the top for the full article.