Invisiblewall.net: Gilberto Silva News

Gilberto started Arsenal’s game tonight against Blackburn, only to get sent off after fifteen minutes.

Gilberto clashed with Robbie Savage, who appeared to kick Gilberto twice, before Gilberto kicked back in frustration. Gilberto was shown a straight red car by Rob Styles, while Robbie Savage escaped with a yellow card. Commentators called the decision unfair on Gilberto – and I agree. By the book, it was a straight red card for Gilberto. But Robbie Savage was completely responsible for causing the reaction. He made two terrible lunges for the ball, both which should have received a yellow card each. Gilberto then lashed out at Savage, but received a red card for one foul. Savage flung himself on the floor like the Savage he is.

Arsenal went on to win the game 2-0, and Savage played like a girl. (Which is how he always plays.)

After the match, Arsene Wenger said he had spoken to Gilberto, who had said that he “did not make contact with Savage”. This is obviously not true, and if Gilberto claimed it, he is either lying, or being misquoted. Wenger called Gilberto “a very honest boy – a very honest man” – but despite Gilberto being hard done by, he has to be faulted for his lashing out at Savage, and certainly then saying that he did not.

Wenger said that it was very harsh on Gilberto to get sent off – and also that he will not appeal against the decision. This means that Gilberto will miss Arsenal’s next three games. They are against Manchester United, Tottenham and then Bolton. This is bad news for Arsenal, as these three teams are devilishly tricky. Flamini will have to step in for Gilberto while he is suspended.

A good Arsenal win marred by a bad day for Gilberto. At least Robbie Savage is having a worse day.

Edit: Wenger’s quotes have been published on Arsenal.com. They go like this:

on Gilberto’s red card…
“He will miss three matches. To me the red card looked harsh because the first foul was made by Savage. Gilberto reacted a bit too much because he was kicked after the referee had blown the whistle. Ideally he should not have reacted at all but he told me he didn’t touch Savage. There is not a lot we can do about it, we had to accept it and we gave the right response. We played 80 minutes with 10 men and still kept going forward every time we could.”

on a possible appeal against the sending off…
“Usually appeals don’t work when the referee has seen it so we could even get one game more! We don’t want to take that chance.”

on the ‘letter of the law’…
“I felt that Savage went in an aggressive way to Gilberto. I felt that if you send Gilberto off then you should send Savage off as well, although I need to see the incident again. The referee was very close to the action and decided to give Savage a yellow for the first foul, which he deserved. He applied the law to the letter, that means a red card for retaliation and a yellow for a bad foul, so he can defend his case. But in the spirit of the game I think both could have gone.”

Photos:

Gilberto on the ball

Gilberto kicked by the Savage one

Gilberto kicks out at Savage

Gilberto is restrained by Mcartney after lashing out

Gilberto squares up to Savage after the girly-haired one gets up

Gilberto shown red

Red from a different angle

Gilberto being consoled by Henry after being sent off:

Gilberto walks to the stands

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Gilberto is Arsenal.com player of the month!

I hope YOU voted. Because, if you DIDN’T…. well…. then… it doesn’t really matter, actually. Because Gilberto won Arsenal’s player of the month for December. He stormed the poll with 42% of the votes. Adebayor was in second place, with 20% of the votes.

In the words of Arsenal.com,

The industrious Brazilian excelled as stand-in captain in the absence of the injured Thierry Henry and enjoyed arguably his most productive month for the Gunners, scoring five goals.

The 30-year-old is not renowned for his potency in front of goal but he kicked off the month with two emphatic spot kicks in the North London derby as the Gunners put Tottenham to the sword.

Full involvement followed as Arsène Wenger’s side earned vital draws against Porto in the Champions League and against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. In the latter Gilberto made a crucial intervention to deny Didier Drogba a goal.

Perhaps his most important contribution however was in the 2-2 draw with Portsmouth at Emirates Stadium. Two goals down after 47 minutes, Gilberto pulled Arsenal level just moments after Emmanuel Adebayor had leapt off the bench to reduce the deficit.

That equaliser sparked a run which saw Gilberto score in three successive games as Blackburn and Watford both suffered the wrath of the free-scoring Samba star. It seemed everything that went right for Arsenal in December was in some way down to the deputising skipper.

Nice! Well done Big Bert. May your great form continue!

Did Gilberto foul Alonso?

Alonso denies ‘dive’ accusations

Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso insists he did not dive to win a penalty in the FA Cup loss by Arsenal.

Alonso was booked after going down over a Gilberto Silva challenge at 0-0 before the Gunners went on to win 3-1.

“I felt the contact, that is for sure,” said Alonso. “People who have watched it on TV have said it was a clear penalty and I felt that on the pitch.

“I was talking to the referee and Gilberto and I said to them there had been contact, that I didn’t cheat.”

He added: “I was trying to play with the ball and I fell down because of that contact – I was not cheating.”

Referee Steve Bennett immediately pulled out a yellow card for the Spanish midfielder and was only yards from the incident but Reds boss Rafael Benitez backed up Alonso.

“I felt it was a penalty early on when Xabi Alonso was brought down,” said Benitez.

“I was not happy with the yellow card for Alonso, the card was too quick. Sometimes you need to wait before making a decision that quickly.

“There was contact but it was not very clear. And if it is not clear then it should not be a yellow card.”

As an authority on the matter (…or not…), I can say that Gilberto did not foul Alonso. If Alonso was not in the penalty area, and Gilberto challenged Alonso in exactly the same way that he did, Alonso would not have fallen over. He went down under the ‘challenge’ because he was in the area. Alonso jumped up into the air, then decided to fall over, bent his legs, pointed his foot in the direction of Gilberto’s ankle to engineer a contact, then just fell to his knees after brushing Gilberto’s foot. Gilberto did not cause Alonso to fall over: Alonso caused Alonso to fall over. This means it was not a foul. It does not mean that it was a yellow card to Alonso though either; it just means that Alonso a fairy-boy, and that he must deal with this fact on a daily basis.

Arsenal Mania have a few nice quotes from Gilberto talking about the Brazil vs. Portugal game due to take place at Ashburton Grove:

“I’m lucky enough to play there with Arsenal and playing there back in September with Brazil was really special.

“It’s a great stadium to play in, the atmosphere is fantastic for all supporters and I’m really looking forward to the match.”

Gilberto will probably play in the game, but probably only for one half.

The game will take place on February 6th, and will be the second time Brazil have played at Arsenal’s stadium.

Click here for the match report of the first game.

…And click here for details of the Portugal game.

Exciting times for Gilberto, oh yes.

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Gilberto praised by Henry

Here is what Henry said about Gilberto:

We have won so many games while missing important players, so I think people should give credit to the players who deserve it.

Being out of the team injured for a few weeks has meant that I can see and hear things from a different perspective – and I do want to pay credit to Gilberto.

He has been an amazing player for Arsenal for years, but it seems like he has to score goals before he gets the credit he deserves.

I would say he has been our most consistent player this season, he is scoring goals, making vital tackles, and he deserves more credit.

Nice!

Gilberto was substituted after about 70minutes during the 4-0 thrashing of Charlton Athletic at the Emirates on Tuesday night. Apperently he was suffering a slightly tight groin before the game. Wenger stated in his press conference that he needs Gilberto for the FA cup game away to Liverpool on Saturday, and took him off as a precaution for the upcoming trip to Anfield. Let’s hope he is fit and has a great game, and maybe yet another goal to add to his impressive tally this season.

According to Clubcall, ITV Football News and Tribal Football…

Inter want Gilberto

That’s all very well and good, but he is just not for sale! Gilberto has stated many times that he wishes to stay in England until he retires from top flight football. Also, Arsenal quite obviously do not need the money from any Gilberto transfer which might take place. Wenger is a massive fan of Gilberto, and would not stupidly sell his vice captain for the hell of it.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Italian news paper which made this story up, Inter have made Gilberto aware of their interest. Well done to them. Barnet FC could show interest in Gilberto Silva too, but there’s as much chance of him going to Barnet as there is to Inter.

Gilberto is not leaving Arsenal for Milan.

There we go. All cleared up.

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It`s important we get Thierry back. We miss him. We know how important he is for the team because he`s the leader of the team.

We`ve done the best we can without him but, of course, we need him up front. I hope after the next game he will be back. We`ve a lot of important players injured. We try to do our best without them, but sometimes it`s hard.

Our away form concerns us. The Champions League will be a fight because we are close to each other — Arsenal, Liverpool, Portsmouth and Bolton.

Yes indeed.

From Arsenal.com
Gilberto: We Must Win

We have Charlton at home on Tuesday night and it is a very important game for us. We cannot afford to drop points in this game because we need to get into a better position.

In the situation we are in every game is very important to us and we cannot afford to lose games like we did on Saturday. If we are not 100 per cent and help each other we will find it hard.

At the moment it is very competitive for the Champions League places. It is difficult because we are very close with Bolton, Liverpool and Portsmouth. It will be a fight but we need to do the best we can.

I don’t know if it is good or bad to have another game so soon but we have no time to complain about the number of games, we just to carry on, move on and do our best.

It has been hard for us because we have a lot of injured players at the moment. We have tried to do our best without them and we will see what we can do on Tuesday.

There you go. Happy new year, Gilberto. Let 2007 be even more successful than your 2006 was.

From Arsenal.com:

Something strange has happened to Gilberto this season.

Before this term, the Arsenal midfielder had played 113 Premiership games and scored six goals. However the Boxing Day victory at Watford was his 19th match of the current campaign and brought his seventh strike.

If the Brazilian scores just once more this term he’ll match his combined tally from 126 appearances for America MG, Atletico Minero and Brazil.

They are truly head-scratching statistics and even the man himself is surprised.

“It’s the first time I’ve scored that many and I am very impressed with myself,” he said.

“It has never happened before but I am very happy and proud of my performances and those of the team.

“I don’t know if captaincy has made a difference but I have enjoyed scoring goals. Most
of the time I stand in front of the defenders, doing the hard job, holding the midfield and stopping them playing out of defence. It is not very common. I [normally] don’t have many chances.”

The Watford strike was typical Gilberto. It came just seconds after he had slid in six yards from his own goal to stop Ashley Young getting his shot away.

“Most of the time I try to be in the right place,” he smiled. “Especially in the defensive part, like when I put in that tackle in the first half. It’s so important I stay alert and that we don’t concede the first goal. Then we scored.”

Notice he said “we” not “I”. That is typical Gilberto, an underrated player who has taken over numerous responsibilities this season — captaincy, penalty-taker, senior player. He was even penciled in to play as a makeshift centre half when Arsenal had an injury crisis at the back.

“It’s not just down to me,” he said. “We work as a team. In the last few games, we have showed a fantastic spirit. We have played as a team as we have to and showed fantastic skills on the pitch.”

Meanwhile Gilberto’s goals are doing the rest.

Superb!