Invisiblewall.net: Gilberto Silva News

The Daily Mail are usually a rubbish newspaper who make up all their stories, so it was a surprise yesterday when they posted a rubbish story that was made up.

Oh, wait. It wasn’t surprising.

You can find the story here (click), but I’ll just copy and paste it here to save you having to click.

Gilberto Silva has set his sights on a move to Italy’s Serie A, with Roma leading the chase to sign him.

The popular Brazil midfielder has attracted widespread interest from England, Italy and Spain after deciding to bring down the curtain on a highly-successful six-year stay at Arsenal.

He has confided to friends that, after winning League and Cup honours in this country, he is ready for a change of scene, with Italy his preferred destination.

There is no shortage of takers, with both Milan clubs and Juventus challenging Roma for his signature.

Roma boss Luciano Spalletti appears to be in pole position, after falling just short in Serie A and the Champions’ League this season and identifying the 31-year old as the ideal choice to add steel to his midfield.

Gilberto, signed from Atletico Mineiro in the summer of 2002, made over 30 appearances in each of his first two seasons at Arsenal but has found opportunities in the starting line-up increasingly hard to come by in recent months.

Even so, Arsenal fans will be sorry to see him go, following a significant contribution to their success under Arsene Wenger that has established him as one of the Barclays Premier League’s most effective Brazilian imports.

This story is an embarrassment to journalists everywhere, even the bad ones. Though Gilberto may well leave Arsenal in the summer, this story exists based on the (made up) assumption that Gilberto told his friends that he would leave Arsenal, and then that Gilberto’s friends told the Daily Mail that Gilberto would leave! What laughable fiction – that Gilberto would be so unprofessional in the first place, and secondly, hold tell such bad friends such unprofessional things.

The Daily Mail is a disgrace, and ” JOHN EDWARDS”, the journalist who wrote this story, should go for a long walk and think about what he has done. He should finish the walk by moving over the edge of a high pier, if possible.

Gilberto netted his first goal of the season yesterday – albeit via a wicked deflection of Reading defender Andre Bikey.

It has not been the easiest of campaigns for the veteran Brazilian, who has had to watch most of it from the bench as Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini – currently out injured – forged a formidable partnership in the centre of midfield.

Gilberto has one more year to run on his contract and is hopeful he will be able to see that out at Emirates Stadium.

“I will sit down with the boss at the end of the season,” he confirmed. “But for the next few weeks, I will keep focused on doing my job, trying to help the team as much as I can whether it is on the pitch, or in training working with the players.

“We always speak very nicely, Arsene is open and we will talk.

“I don’t know whether you can get assurances, but I want to talk about my prospects and whether I have a chance to play, if the manager thinks I can be a good player for the team or not.”

Gilberto added: “To be honest, I really want to stay and I’ve always expressed that.

“Of course I’m upset that I’ve not played much this season because last year I played the whole season and this year has been really frustrating.

“But you need to be professional, respect the manager’s point of view and help the other players as much and to the maximum that I possibly can.”

Source: Sportinglife.com

Arsenal veteran Gilberto believes Theo Walcott can reach the very top, but urged the England youngster to be “very calm” and bide his time.

Walcott produced another impressive display when he was handed a rare start by manager Arsene Wenger in the 2-0 victory over Reading yesterday, which kept alive the Gunners’ hopes of finishing runners-up in the Barclays Premier League.

The 19-year-old former Southampton trainee has been keen to show what he can do – even going as far as confronting Wenger about forcing his way into the starting XI on a regular basis.

Gilberto, 31, was part of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ side which won the club’s last championship title in 2003/2004 – and the Brazil World Cup winner knows all about the importance of working your way up to becoming a regular performer at the highest level.

“Apart from being a great player, Theo is a very nice guy – but I think people need to give him time,” said Gilberto.

“I read some things and people try to put pressure on him and between him and the manager – but if they let him do his job freely then he can be one of the best players in England.

“Sometimes people forget that he is very young. Theo needs to progress in the way he plays.”

Gilberto declared: “Theo will do it, but if I was him then I would be very calm because he’s playing for a big club, he’s doing very well, he’s got plenty of time to learn things and improve himself.

“The pace he has got and his ability he’s got for such a young guy, it’s amazing – but he must concentrate on his job, do it without any pressure because I know he wants to play games.

“He has got time on his side to develop a bit more.

“Theo has got the talent and the more he works – as I’ve seen him work on the training ground – the better he will become.

“He will be prepared and more ready to take his chance when he is in the starting XI.”

Source: Sportinglife.com

Arsenal played Reading today in the Premiership; Gilberto played in the game and scored his first Arsenal goal this season. Great news!

The goal was from a long-ish distance shot, and took a massive deflection before the keeper palmed it into his own goal. Still though, at Invisiblewall.net, we celebrate anything that even remotely resembles a Gilberto goal, and celebrate all night.

Here are some photos from today’s game. (Well, the ones showing Gilberto, anyway.)

Gilberto shoots

And from another angle

Gilberto scores (click – large image)

Gilberto celebrates

Gilberto cheeky smile

You can also watch the goal video here: http://www.invisiblewall.net/vid_reading/

Go Gilberto! Keep playing well – show everyone your true talent now that you have the chance!

Gilberto took part in Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Man United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Though the press seem to be pretty unanimous in their opinion that Arsenal played well, they are completely divided on how Gilberto played. Some say that he was ineffectual in stopping Ronaldo (a strange criticism, considering Gilberto plays centrally and Ronaldo plays out wide), and others say that he was one of Arsenal’s most solid players.

I think he did a good job in helping the two centre backs – one of whom was the unproven Alexander Song. Having Gilberto just in front of the defence definitely helped reduce the threat of Man United – and indeed, the only way Man United were a threat turned out to be via a penalty and a set piece.

A note on the set piece: Gilberto was judged to have given away the free kick which led to Man United’s winner; but supporters on both sides of the Arsenal/United border seem to be agreeing that it was never a free kick – so Bert was unlucky there. Despite that though, Hargreaves did score the resulting kick, and a mighty strike it was, too. Gilberto was also in the wall for the free kick – and many people have noted that the wall failed to jump after Hargreaves struck it. I do agree with this. In fact, everyone in the stadium seemed to be sure that Ronaldo was going to take the kick – from Lehmann, to Gilberto, to every fan in the stadium, and probably to Ronaldo himself. So when Hargreaves actually struck it, it took the wall completely by surprise. (For what it’s worth.)

So, onwards. Gilberto will continue to play during Flamini’s absence. If Flamini hadn’t been injured on Sunday, Gilberto probably would have probably still played at centre back instead of Song.

Arsenal’s season is over – but in a strange way, Gilberto’s might just be starting.

Go Bert.

Link to AFP’s original article

Arsenal’s Flamini out for three weeks

Arsenal’s season suffered another setback when French midfielder Mathieu Flamini was ruled out for three weeks on Thursday with an ankle problem sustained in their Champions League quarter-final defeat against English rivals Liverpool.

Brazil international Gilberto Silva is now set to replace Flamini in Sunday’s Premier League clash away to table-toppers Manchester United.

Gilberto replaced Flamini at half-time at Anfield on Tuesday in a match Liverpool won 4-2 for a 5-3 aggregate victory.

The Premier League is now the only trophy Arsenal can win this season. They are currently third, six points behind United, with all teams in the division having five league games left to play.

Dutch striker Robin van Persie, only a substitute in midweek, will be fit to start but defender Bacary Sagna will be absent at Old Trafford because of an ankle injury he sustained in the defeat against Chelsea last month.

“I believe Mathieu will be out for three weeks,” Gunners boss Arsene Wenger told Arsenal TV Online on Thursday.

“It is a big blow but Gilberto has a lot of quality and experience. He will come in. He can help the team recover and focus.

It’s a big shame for Flamini; he was having a terrific season. Though Gilberto would have wished the manner in which he got his place back in the team to be different, he will certainly not complain at having to play.

In what could be Gilberto’s final run of games at the club, it will be satisfying for him to play for three weeks worth of games.

Go Gilberto – prove the critics wrong. Show them you’re still the best holding midfielder in the world.

Link to the original article

Gilberto rallies Arsenal

Gilberto has issued a rallying cry ahead of Sunday’s Barclays Premier League clash with Manchester United by declaring Arsenal can still win the title.

The Gunners trail United by six points with five games remaining and must win the league if they are to avoid a third successive season without silverware, after defeat by Liverpool this week ended their Champions League challenge.

Gilberto said: “We still have a chance to win the title but it’s important that we win all five remaining games. If we do that, why not?”

He added “It’s a big game. Maybe things can happen – you never know.

“The important thing for us is to try and forget what happened against Liverpool.”

Arsenal need to shake off any lingering disappointment from Tuesday’s Champions League exit if they are to prevail at Old Trafford.

Liverpool sent them tumbling out of Europe with a thrilling 4-2 victory at Anfield and Gilberto has urged his young team-mates to lean from the experience.

“Sometimes you learn more in defeats and nights like Tuesday than when you win,” he said.

“But of course no-one at this club enjoys it when we lose or miss the opportunity to play in a Champions League semi-final. We will all learn from this result.”

Gilberto spoke to Arsenal.com. Here is what he said:

Everyone is very disappointed with the result especially because of the way we played. We were unlucky. The big decisions went against us this time. We did very well to equalise, it is very hard especially when you play away from home and are behind. To score is not that easy but maybe we missed our concentration in the final minutes. I don’t know if I will be watching the Semi-Final games now. It will be very painful. Sometimes you learn more in defeat than you do when you win but, of course, no one at this Club enjoys it when you lose the game, especially an opportunity to get into a Champions League Semi-Final. We will learn from the result but I would prefer to learn when we achieve good things. There is still an outside chance of that in the Premier League but, even Arsène Wenger accepts his third-place side must win at leaders Manchester United on Sunday for that to happen. It is a very big game. Anything can happen, you never know. The important thing is to start to think about the next game now and try to forget what happened in this game with Liverpool. It is important to win the next five games. If we do that, then why not?

Read the original story here.

Gilberto ready to face Liverpool

From Wenger this afternoon:

“Gilberto is back in the squad [against Liverpool]. He had a groin problem before the weekend.”

Gilberto missed the Bolton game at the weekend, but, as you have just read, he will be back against Liverpool tomorrow night (Wednesday). Whether or not he will play still remains to be seen, though – he might just end up sitting on the subs bench instead of the injury bench.

The full article from Arsenal.com