Gilberto played in the Community Shield…!
August 9, 2005
Gilberto played in the second half of the community shield, and even if you don’t consider that this is his first game in an Arsenal shirt this season – he did very well.
He made some good interceptions, made quite alot of tackles, and did three bits of excellent skill.
His passing seems to be 100% too.
Henry had this to say on the central midfielders during the game:
“Cesc played really well against Chelsea and Gilberto came back really late from the Confederations Cup so he was short to start. But when he came on, he looked good. I would like to think that they can cope with the departure of Patrick.”
Cool.
While this was a ‘friendly’ game, the opposition wasn’t friendly.
Basically, if Gilberto can play that well against Chelsea with no pre-season, he should be absolutely fine for the opening premiership games against Newcastle and Chelsea.
He does travel to Croatia in between those two games though – so as has been mentioned before, he might miss those two games.
Arsenal lost 2-1, but well done, Gilberto. Great to see you back in action.