Invisiblewall.net: Gilberto Silva News

After the Carling Cup “Brawl”, which the media have treated like a bloody gun battle to the death, Gilberto has spoken out about it. He wasn’t part of the game, but that didn’t stop the shit-stirrers in the media asking everyone then can about it.

(Source.)

Question: Is it true that the Carling Cup final is the worst, most bloody disgrace of a match you’ve ever seen in your life?

Answer: The Carling Cup is still a sad memory for us. Now we must think only about the FA Cup. Our aim is to go to the next round by beating Blackburn however we can at their ground.

It will be a very positive thing [to beat Blackburn], especially for our fans after we lost against Chelsea in Cardiff. In the first game we played we deserved to win because we were more dangerous, but the Blackburn keeper was very good and saved them.

Everybody in the Arsenal dressing room is very ambitious and we want to win the FA Cup and the Champions League. We are only thinking of winning both of the games.

I don’t know what the coach will do, but I know that whoever plays on Wednesday Arsenal’s aim is to win and go through to the quarter-finals of the Cup.

Question successfully deflected. Good work, Bert… and good luck for the game against Blackburn!

This is a cool little video off Youtube if you have not seen it, I think maybe at Gilberto’s house, with the Arsenal’s Brazilian trio playing and singing Brazilian style! Check out Denilson’s little dance, classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RiCQZkaF7M

Bert meets the Queen

There’s nothing more to say, other than this: Gilberto looks good in a suit.

That is all.

Gilberto captain in Arsenal thriller

Arsenal played Bolton in the FA Cup – and wow! What a game. Some main points regarding Gilberto were:

Gilberto was captain in Thierry Henry’s absence.

Gilberto played in central defence in Senderos’ absence.

Arsenal got a penalty, Gilberto took it – and blazed it over the bar.

Arsenal got a SECOND penalty… but Baptista blazed it over the bar!

Gilberto attempted to clear the ball in extra time, but mis-kicked it, and almost scored an own goal.

Gilberto played for all 120 minutes in the game, and helped Arsenal win 3-1 thanks to two goals from Adebayor, and one from Ljungberg.

It was an absolute thriller of a game, and though Arsenal were arguably the deserved winners, the 3-1 result was possibly flattering to Gilberto’s side.

Source: The Guardian Online (via Rick Carter)

Here is a very praise-worthy article from The Guardian:

If it remains faintly ludicrous that the captain of Brazil cannot get a regular game at Arsenal, Gilberto Silva does not see the funny side. As he prepared to lead his country at Croke Park in tonight’s friendly against the Republic of Ireland, the midfielder could not conceal his frustration.

“At the moment I cannot see any future for me at the club,” he said. “I will see what will happen in the next few months and until the end [of the season], if I will get the chance to come back in the team. If not, I will see what I am going to do at the end. It’s been painful for me and to stay another season like this would kill me. I will sit down with Arsène [Wenger] and see what we can do to manage the situation.”

Gilberto, 31, who has 18 months to run on his contract, is one of football’s nice guys. Polite and respectful, he bears no grudge towards Wenger, the manager, or Mathieu Flamini, the Frenchman who has ousted him from the starting line-up. When potential suitors approached in January, most notably Juventus and Roma, he pledged to stay and fight. There have been no histrionics.
“I am not happy in the position I am in but I am trying to manage the situation,” he said. “I am very calm and I’m being professional as I’ve always been. We’ll see at the end of the season what is going to happen.”

Gilberto was Wenger’s first choice at the start of the season for the midfield anchor role alongside Cesc Fábregas. Flamini had grown frustrated at his own lack of opportunities and, although Wenger persuaded him to stay, he could not offer any guarantees that he would start ahead of Gilberto. Wenger even signed Lassana Diarra from Chelsea on August 31, as he feared that Flamini would not stay the course.

But when Gilberto missed the opening three matches of the season, because of his involvement with Brazil at the Copa América, Flamini seized his chance. Wenger had promised Flamini that, if he did so, he would stay in the team and, although Gilberto’s return in the final week of August presented him with a dilemma, he remained true to his word.

Flamini has been one of Arsenal’s players of the season; he is not only keeping Gilberto on the bench but he has seen off Diarra, a player ahead of him in the pecking order for France’s Euro 2008 squad. Diarra moved to Portsmouth last month.

Gilberto has been restricted to five Premier League starts, two of them out of position at centre-half, and it seems that only an injury to Flamini will offer him a route back. He refuses, though, to lament the timing of the Copa América, South American’s premier championship, which Brazil won with a 3-0 victory over Argentina in the final.

“I never regret to play for my country, this is inside of me, this is my pride,” Gilberto said. “If I receive a call from the [Brazil] manager, I never refuse that. That is why I don’t regret to play the Copa América.”

Gilberto, a World Cup winner in 2002, does not take his international responsibilities lightly and he will be called upon tonight to marshal an inexperienced team, as Dunga, the manager, bloods players for the Beijing Olympics, a tournament that Brazil are desperate to win for the first time. Anderson, the teenage Manchester United midfielder, is expected to win his third cap.

“It is fantastic to see how Anderson is adapting after his transfer from Porto [last summer],” said Gilberto. “He has changed completely his style but I think he can produce much more, given his quality.”

Gilberto anticipates a “tough test” from the Republic, who remain under the caretaker charge of Don Givens, as their efforts to appoint a successor to Steve Staunton drag on. He is well aware that “everybody wants to beat Brazil”.

Well done to David Hytner for writing such an unbiased article.

And on the note of Gilberto expressing his doubt at his Arsenal future; I think it is very easy to sympathise with him. It’s a credit to Gilberto that while he’s spent most of the season on the bench, he’s kept so professional (as he kindly points out). If he wants to go to another club to actually play football, he cannot be blamed.

Good luck Bert – but keep trying to break back into the team at Arsenal!

Source

Gilberto will proudly show his international team-mates around his new ‘home’ when Brazil take on Portugal at Emirates Stadium.

The Arsenal vice-captain is expected to start Tuesday night’s prestige friendly and is confident that a sell-out crowd will be treated to an entertaining encounter.

“It will be a good match, that is what everyone is expecting,” Gilberto told Arsenal.com.

“When Brazil and Portugal it is always a fast game, a hard game, because there is a lot of history between the two countries which comes from a long, long time ago.

“I really hope everyone enjoys the game. We will try to do our best, we want to win the game because our last game didn’t go so well and we lost 2-1. We want to make up for that against Portugal.”

Gilberto played a full 90 minutes when Brazil beat Argentina 3-0 in the first international at Emirates Stadium back in September. Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Elano scored in either half and Kaka added a third late on.

Julio Baptista came on as a late substitute in that game to make his first appearance at Emirates Stadium following his loan switch from Real Madrid.

Also: Wenger hails Arsenal’s three Brazilians. Check it out.

Source: Soccer 365

This is what Gilberto said earlier this week:

“I was excited when Atletico Mineiro sealed promotion back to the top division,” said the Samba King star. “If I receive such an invitation, it is logical to say ‘yes’ – for the affection, it would be an immense pleasure for me.”

“Such a proposal would be very welcome, but I know that this does not only depend on me.”

Despite all the headlines this week, this isn’t actually news. Gilberto has always said he would be interested in moving back to Brazil after his Arsenal career. (He’s been saying it for the last three years.)

Source

Following Robbie Savage’s broken leg, Gilberto has said a little bit about the whole Savage-Red-Card debate.

Here we go:

I feel sorry for Savage, because even with what he did against me, it’s not the kind of thing I would want for a fellow professional.

I wish him all the best and a good recovery so that he can come back quickly.

I don’t hold anything against him. But I’ve never tried to get someone sent off — and I think Savage tried to make me react as I did.

We have played against him many times and he has tried this with other players.

He tries to upset people on the pitch but we need to respect him. I wish him all the best because he’s a professional player.

You play football for 15 or 20 years but you never learn everything. It was a lesson for me. I should not have reacted.

The game had been stopped by the referee and, as I was preparing to get up, I felt a kick in my back.

I don’t understand why he kicked me. I know I was wrong to react as I did because we could have lost that game. With 10 men it’s even harder.

It’s been difficult to watch the games and come to the Emirates without being part of the team.

I was very down after the red card. I went straight to the dressing room and was very upset. In the second half I went to the lounge to watch the game although I didn’t want to. I was really annoyed with myself for the reaction I had.

I heard he broke his leg but I don’t hold anything against him.

He wants to play football and what happened with me is the kind of thing I want to forget.

I didn’t see him after the game. He didn’t call to apologise or anything — but I think as I was so upset maybe I didn’t want his apology.

But if he tries to say sorry to me, then, of course, I would accept that.

Of course, the games with Bolton and Wednesday’s semi-final second leg against Spurs are very important.

I still think we can win the Premiership but in case it doesn’t happen it’s important we win the domestic cups. But if you ask players in the squad how they feel, they will say they want to win everything.

We’re looking strong at the moment and that makes us believe in ourselves.

Bolton have some quality players and are quite physical in the way they play. The teams who play against them need to cope with that. We’ve had some nightmares at the Reebok but we can deal with that sort of game now.We have a young team but after a period of transition we’ve shown fantastic spirit and character.

The team look solid and strong now and the more we play the more confident we feel.

From the ever-great Arsenal-Mania.com:

Gilberto: We still want to win title

Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva, suspended for the match against Manchester United, says that his team are still targetting Premiership glory.

The Gunners are 15 points behind the leaders but that hasn’t stopped Gilberto from declaring that he is confident of making up the difference.

Gilberto said: “We need to take it step by step. To change our situation we have to win all 15 games we have remaining.

“Sunday will be very important for us. If we win, who knows what might happen. Maybe they could slip up, like we did in the 2002/03 season.

“We were 12 points ahead and then we dropped point after point and they caught up with us and won the league.

“But first of all we have to make sure we win our games, because unless we do that nothing can happen.”

On the front page of Arsenal.com today:

Gilberto will pay a heavy price for his red card at Blackburn but Arsène Wenger believes that his team can cope with the loss of their influential midfielder.

The Brazilian will miss the Premiership clash with Manchester United, the Carling Cup Semi Final first leg at Tottenham and the FA Cup tie against Bolton. However Wenger is confident that his squad will rise to the occasion once again.

“Gilberto will be missing but we feel that with the spirit and quality we have we can cope with that,” he said. “We have had three different teams in our last three games but produced the same quality. We are very proud of that at the Club.”

Wenger described Gilberto’s dismissal at Ewood Park as “harsh” but praised Robbie Savage following reports that the Rovers midfielder, whose foul provoked the Brazilian’s reaction, asked referee Rob Styles not to send the Arsenal midfielder off.

“It is very fair from him and if he has done that I thank him because from the outside the red card looked harsh,” said Wenger. “You have to accept it because Gilberto retaliated and really he should not have retalitated at all.

“Savage could have stayed on his feet but I think he realised he made more of it than he should have. He said to the referee ‘don’t send him off’ because I think he realised he should not have gone down.

“But if you ask the referee he will tell you he sent Gilberto off for retaliating and he will gain his case at the FA because [the rules say] it is a red-card offence.”

All the players will have to dig deep. At least Thierry Henry is back, and Fabregas is on form, which should go some way to counter the effect of Gilberto’s absence.