Gilberto on his way out of Arsenal?

[fred milne]

What has Gilberto done wrong ?

By Myles Palmer

 

 

A friend of a friend spoke to Gilberto last week and the Brazilian said he'd had two rows with Arsene Wenger.

 

One about the captaincy, which he expected to keep, and another about not playing against Sevilla.

 

He's being marginalised.

 

He didn't get the captaincy, as we expected. That was the first big signal. Wenger delayed announcing the captaincy till the end of the transfer window. And on the last day of the transfer window he signed an aggressive young ball-winner who can pass. He signed Diarra from Chelsea in Gilberto's position when he already had Fabregas, Flamini, Diaby and Denilson !!

 

Why has this happened? Well, the manager has changed the way his team plays.

 

He wants to defend further up the pitch. He wants to press. He wants to win the ball back a long way from Almunia.When he loses the ball, he wants to have plenty of players near the ball to win it back again. The most exciting moment in football, apart from the goals, is the moment when one team loses the ball and the other gains it.

 

Arsene Wenger wants, in fact, to play his normal slick, sparkling August football right through the autumn and build up a 10-point lead by Xmas, if possible. He wants Fabregas to play further forward, making chances and scoring goals.

 

Clearly, Vieira-Gilberto was a good pair, and Vieira-Petit was a great pair, but Gilberto-Fabregas wasn't as dynamic and balanced as those two pairs.

 

Last season , when the ball went past Fabregas, Arsenal were too exposed at times, and Gilberto had to make risky tackles around the edge of the box, giving away free-kicks.

 

To a degree, Gilberto-Fabregas suited a side containing Henry, Hleb and Rosicky, which was more of a lightweight possession team than an aggressive, penetrating team.

 

Flogging Henry, unloading Ljungberg, starting Flamini, dropping Gilberto - those were four changes in the team. Four changes in a radical plan to make last year's possession team into a high-tempo fighting unit that can out-run and out-tackle and out-pass their opponents.

 

What has Gilberto done wrong? Nothing.

 

He's a really great guy and he had a marvellous season last year. When other players, like Rosicky (3 goals in the Prem), Hleb (2) and Fabregas (2), didn't really step up to replace the goals that Pires used to score, Gilberto did. He scored 10 goals in 34 league games. He also scored a penalty in Hamburg, where Arsenal won 2-1 last September. The club would have been mid-table without Gilberto.

 

But he is a strategic interceptor rather than a conventional ball-winner. Wenger now needs Flamini to run 14 kilometres in every game because if he does that the team can sustain their high tempo.

 

This new team is a platoon of the French Foreign Legion, and the leader is a tough young Catalan with very sturdy legs, old man's legs. They fight for each other like commandos, and so far they don't miss Lehmann, who is also being marginalised, Gallas, or Gilberto.

 

Juventus and Valencia are interested in Gilberto, and the more games Arsenal win without him, the more likely he is to be sold. But that would be treating him shabbily. I'd keep Gilberto. He can play in two positions and score goals. He's the only Arsenal player who has won the World Cup and he can help to attract younger Brazilians and settle them in. And there is now no financial squeeze that means he has to be offloaded.

 

On September 25, 2006, I was the first to ask : Does Henry fit into Cesc's team?

 

Now I'm saying : Does Gilberto fit into Cesc's team ? If Wenger had signed Diarra in July, would Gilberto still be at the club ?

 

 

Sep 27, 2007

 

http://www.arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/index.p...nt01returnid=42

[Benitez]

yep, Miles Palmer is still annoying.

[IgPig]

He is indeed. Worragimp

[Escargot]

he is a strategic interceptor

 

http://www.arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/index.p...nt01returnid=42

 

 

they could flog him to the Libyans for a few million then......

[Rimbeux]

Self-aggrandiser aye, but he makes good points here