“Wenger has made me feel totally useless”
February 9, 2008
Gilberto expresses further unhappiness
Today, The Sun is running a story in which Gilberto talks about his pain of being left on the bench this season. It’s his most open quote all season – and, in my opinion, his least professional. Here are the quotes from the article:
To this day I’m waiting for an explanation as to this change. The truth is I found out about it through the newspapers.
I thought I had a good season last year and I saw no reason for what has happened. If I continue not to play, then leaving Arsenal is inevitable.
I could not cope with another season like this one when Wenger has made me feel totally useless.
A player must be able to smile. A sad Brazilian is no good, especially on a football pitch. Right now I really am struggling to battle on.
It’s obviously easy to understand Gilberto’s frustration at not playing. But, he was warned at the start of the season by Wenger that he was not guaranteed a place in the first team, and he accepted this risk by staying at Arsenal. Now, I’m a massive Gilberto fan (obviously), but the fact that it is not working for Gilberto this season does not demand an explanation from Wenger.
Also, his comments about ‘not being given any reason for being axed’ from the team strike me as unneeded. Wenger does not have to explain himself to the players, no matter how senior they are. Wenger is the manager, he is in charge, and he can play whoever he wants without having to explain himself. Anyway, this fact is completely redundant, because the reason that Gilberto was axed from the team was due to his late arrival back from Brazil’s Copa America tour. Flamini was playing better than him at this time, and so Flamini stayed in the team. That is the reason. No explanation needed.
Having said this, it’s acceptable that Gilberto is expressing a desire to move on from Arsenal to find regular first team football. It is perfectly allowable for a professional (of any age – let alone Gilberto’s) to seek to play week in, week out. Gilberto has no obligation to be happy on the bench.
However, I think it needs to be said, that Gilberto still has an obligation not to upset the morale or balance of the team with further interviews like this. Unhappiness is an inevitable emotion; expressing it to the press every week, isn’t.
(Maybe this opinion seems slightly hard on Gilberto – but I think that the only reason that I’m being ‘hard’ on him is because he has set himself such high standards of professionalism during his life. Any deviation from this naturally stands out.)