Gilberto helps Arsenal qualify
December 7, 2006
Captain Bert
in
Attack of the Fixtures
Gilberto was captain again in Henry’s absence to help Arsenal to a boring 0-0 draw at Porto. Arsenal have qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League as a result.
In other slightly more exciting news, Wenger had this to say about Gilberto:
“Gilberto Silva is a strong leader, much stronger than people expect. When his back is to the wall, he stands up. He is not a penalty taker but the way he took them against Spurs tells you a lot about his character.”
Booyah.
Gilberto also said some stuff about the difficult games to come:
It’s important to show we can play without Thierry. We have big games coming up and we have won a derby now so have confidence for these games.
I am proud of the result we got against Tottenham. It’s always a hard game and but we knew what we had to do to win and showed 100 per cent spirit to win every ball. That is the spirit we need to show now,” said Gilberto, who added that while a title challenge looks beyond Arsenal now, they must not give up hope.
We need to be realistic, the gap is too big at the moment, and it won’t be easy because the top two teams don’t drop points at the moment. But we just need to do the best we can, like we did against Spurs, and then we will see.
We made our job easier because everybody fought for the result – when everybody thinks the same way like we did on Saturday then things come easier.
If you look at the age of the team we have a lot of young players and they believe in me and have a lot of respect for me.
It’s good because during the game I try to help them as much as they can, but they help me by responding. And that’s what makes a team.
Well said, that man.