Gilberto scores penalty
Gilberto scored a penalty against Fulham on Sunday to help Arsenal seal a 3-1 win at Ashburton Grove.
Arsenal were leading 2-1, when Alex Hleb was fouled in the area in the second half. Ex-gunner Moritz Volz comitted the foul. Gilberto slotted the resulting penalty home.
Get in.
Taken from this dodgy website: link
The News of the World claims Gilberto has become frustrated at Arsenal and with just two months left on his current contract is weighing up his future.
The paper quotes a source close to the player as saying:
“He wants to stay but has to weigh up if he has a better chance of winning the Champions League in Italy.”
“A source close to the player”? They haven’t even put any effort into making that one sound realistic. These rumours are getting worse every week.
I’ll say it again: Gilberto isn’t leaving Arsenal this summer. He will leave in 2009 when his Arsenal contract runs out. The end.
This week, Arsenal’s David Dein left the club. (If you don’t know who he is, he’s a very important bloke who helps run things.)
Gilberto is sad about the whole affair:
“Arsene [Wenger] and Mr Dein are Arsenal icons,” Gilberto told The Star. “When you mention the club, they are the first two people you think about.
“But maybe the situation can change and Mr Dein can come back.
“Nobody knew anything about this or expected this to happen, and everyone was upset.
“It has hurt everyone. Mr Dein loved the club and his heart is still here. He was a massive presence in the dressing room and we will still feel that presence.”
The Brazilian, currently standing in as skipper for the injured Thierry Henry, also had a few concerns about coach Arsene Wenger.
“It is difficult to know something about Arsene because he never tells the players about what he is going to do,” he said.
“From what I have seen in my five years here, he loves the club and has a very good relationship with other people here, including those on the board.
“He will miss Mr Dein because he had a very good relationship with him.”
Gilberto Positive Ahead Of Next Season
Having picked up a valuable 3-1 win over Manchester City, Gilberto spoke of Saturday’s looming North London derby against Tottenham.
“I played there when we won the League in 2004,” said the stand-in skipper. “Although many of the players have now left, the traditions of the match are still the same.
“We will need to keep our minds strong because this is the kind of game where you do not have time to relax for one minute.
“We know that in the matches against Tottenham, if we do not play at 100 per cent then it will be difficult.
“It is important to keep our concentration high over all of the final four games.
“Against Man City, it looked a bit strange; after our first goal we relaxed a little bit. Sometimes we can play very nice football and draw or lose. Against City, we did not play our best, but got three points.”
Looking ahead to next season, the Brazilian insisted that what he had seen from the young guns over the season made him very hopeful of a big step forward next season.
“We have been in transition and it has been so hard for us,” he admitted. “There have been some bad times this year.
“But I really believe that for next season the young players in the squad will have grown in confidence and experience. They will be stronger than we have been in the last two years.”
Good good.
Today, “The People” newspaper have managed to make up a rumour about Gilberto. All by themselves! Superb. As the equally dubious Tribal Football reports, Wenger will offer Newcastle Gilberto in exchange for Parker.
Uh…. okay.
Or not.
Arsenal finally beat Bolton
Gilberto played for Arsenal today as they beat Bolton 2-1. That’s right, ARSENAL beat BOLTON. Crazy, I know.
After calling the tie ‘decisive’ (read that report here), he helped Arsenal through to win the game with goals from Fabregas and Rosicky. Gilberto has a good scoring record against Bolton, but it was his defensiveness which helped Arsenal to victory this time.
He also contributed the assist for Fabregas’ winning goal! Delightful.
Go Gilberto.
From the lovely Arsenal Mania,
Gilberto: We need to stay focused
Gilberto Silva has urged his team mates to stay focused despite the recent setbacks on the pitch.
The Gunners take on Newcastle United today in a bid to strengthen their weakening position in fourth place, and hence securing the last Champions League spot.
Gilberto said: “This season has been quite frustrating for us.
“We create so many chances, especially when we have played at home.
“Now we need to have something more than we showed against West Ham to achieve our targets.
“We need to look critically at ourselves.
“If we create four or five chances and miss, we can say ‘it is normal’. But we need to push ourselves and do a little bit more.”
The stand-in Arsenal captain has said that his team mates are all eager to change the situation and are asking for that responsibility on the pitch.
Gilberto added: “A good point is that everyone wants the ball to change the situation.
“We need to fight for ourselves and the club.
“We have our pride and we have to show we are still capable to achieve what we want.
“It is still in our hands. and it is up to us to win the games ahead of us.”
May Bert stop the rot, and start scoring again!