Monday 29 June 2009

Gilberto the great

In my humble opinion if ever there was a player who should have been our club captain for longer then it should have been Gilberto Silva, most certainly we should have kept him on as a player for last season given our lack of depth in the centre of midfield. The man oozes athleticism, professionalism and dedication, I really cannot speak highly enough of him, the likes of Ronaldo and Adebayor would do well to watch and learn from the way in which Gilberto behaves both on and off the pitch. I reckon if Arsene could turn back the clock then he would have made Gilberto captain and not Gallas, if only Arsene could turn back time eh.

I wasn't glued to the mighty Confederations cup by any means, however I was pleasantly surprised to see Mr Silva running around like a youngster in Brazil's midfield as they strode on to victory. A certain Felipe Melo was playing alongside him in the midfield and gave a very decent account of himself, although one must see this in the context of a very low quality football tournament in comparison to the Premiership. However if Gilberto thinks he's got what it takes then that means a lot to me, it must be remembered that our interest in Melo may be nothing more than rumours at this stage. With the Confederations cup having just finished any action would most likely be happening in the next few days. There is some Tasci rumour as well, to be honest I've no idea what's going to happen, we may well sign three or four while letting a few go, or there may be no more transfer activity at all.

There is one thing that one can always rely on, and that is the fact that the British media will always continue to create sensationalist headlines out of complete non stories. At Wimbledon they tried to create a story out of nothing by twisting old quotes by Andy Murray's second round opponent to make it look as if he saw Murray as a 'cheat'. On the radio the other day I heard Sven Goran Eriksson interviewed and asked about Stuart Pearce's credentials, the interviewer wanted Sven to either say that Pearce was rubbish or that he was going to be the next England boss, obviously Sven wasn't going to slag him off, so the headlines the next day were 'Sven backs Pearce for England job' when all he was doing was being polite. The complete non story of Cesc's quotes from a few days back sums this up, what sloppy, lazy and frankly crap journalism we are victim to at times.

There is talk of a rights issue at the club and apparently this may well be discussed at a board meeting next week, someone with a bit more financial knowledge can educate me on this in the comments section. Finally to concentrate on actually footballing matters, Theo and Kieran will both be in action tonight as the England U-21s take on the Germans in the final of the Euros. They both slotted away excellent spot kicks in the penatly shoot against Sweden in the semis, let's hope that the young gunners can continue to impress. Kieran Gibbs has really caught my eye of late, his balance, pace and strong tackling could well see him get very close to a regular starting slot with us next season.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The thing is, and a lot of fans choose to ignore it, Gilberto had an awful last season for us.
He was sluggish and when he had chances to play spent most the time being the weakest player on the pitch.
I loved Gilberto but I think he'd have been of little to no benefit if he'd stayed with us.
At his age he needs regular football to keep him playing well and we could not provide that for him.

marcus said...

Gilberto was surprisingly good at the Confed Cup after playing 60 games straight. Can't agree with you more re Gilberto, a very rare footballer. Around this time of year, more than any other, you can see how the British sports media are absolutely desperate for sensationalistic headlines. Still, it's interesting for a change to see us linked with big names like Ribery and Benzema, tho I don't believe those stories for a moment.

1979gooner said...

I would agree that he wasn't his best, but I would not agree that he was 'awful'.

His experience, character and his steady play would have been useful for us at times I feel.

Anonymous said...

To Anon at 29 June 19:36, you are being way too harsh. You're not considering the fact that he never had a decent run in the team. He may not have been his best, but you can't say he didn't give his all.

To 1979 Gooner - Spot On Mate!

Couldn't agree with you more, in fact wrote something similar on my blog. Good job!

Oh yes, a group of us from the Supporter’s Club in S’pore will be shaving our heads on Sunday for charity. Would appreciate any gooners out there leaving a message on our page.

Here’s the link: http://www.ccf.org.sg/hfh/webApp/listShavees.php?group=1


goonerpanther
gooner_panther@yahoo.com
http://goonerpanther.wordpress.com/

Ted said...

100% agree 1979. I was thinking exactly the same during the final v the yanks.

Letting Gilberto go was a stupid decision. But to let him go in the same summer as we lost Flamini and Hleb was utterly ridiculous.

K man said...

Totally agree about Gilberto. Unsung hero, good player and gentleman. Most of the young players said they looked up to him too.

A rights issue is basically a way for a company to raise cash from its current shareholders. It is becoming very common for struggling companies in the credit crunch. Existing shareholders are offered the opportunity to subscribe for more shares in the company at a specified price in the proportion that they hold their shares. But here's the catch, whoever underwrites the rights issue gets to hoover up any shares that the other shareholders do not want therefore increasing their %. Interestingly it sounds like Usmanov wants to underwrite the rights issue so it sounds like he is just trying to get a larger stake in the club and possibly start a takeover (the magic number is 30% for a takeover offer). Hope that makes sense. The good news is that if they do the rights issue there will be more money in the club and hopefully more money for Arsene in the transfer market. The bad news is that it might lead to a Usmanov takeover.

The fact that they are considering a rights issue shows that our accounts are possibly not as healthy as the board would have us believe. The property slump has clearly hurt the club's attempts to sell off the Highbury flats etc.

Uncle Mike said...

I wasn't going to gloat about the international equivalent of the Mickey Mouse Cup anyway, but after a classic two-nil-and-you-f(oul)ed-it-up performance, I should have nothing to say anyway. Face it, if you can lead Brazil 2-0 in the second half, you can lead them 2-1 at the finish, so it's still a choke.

As for the U-21 tourney, I'm reminded of the definition Dougie Brimson gave for Germany in a glossary he put in a book he wrote for the U.S. audience: "Bastard nation that always seems to beat the English when it matters, except for 1918, 1945 and 1966, although only one of those was at soccer." (He also called France a "bastard nation," but had kinder words for Italy.)

Is there a single publication in the British Isles and the European Continent combined whose football headlines can be trusted? I knew The Sun couldn't: Like anything run by Rupert Murdoch, to them, "THE TRUTH" is a foreign policy, and I knew that before Hillsborough. I now know the Spanish press is up to its fat necks in crap, and I'm guessing France's is equally merde-ridden.

Ted said...

Good point Uncle Mike. The gifts of democracy and freedom of speech that we have given to Iraq will surely lead them to the promised land by 2019, namely a bankrupt economy run by arseholes and a media to be ashamed of. Long live dictators and censorship I say.

And so back to the football. The Arsenal website is reporting that 8 players have left the club, including the mighty Amaury Bischoff PI. Other names I had heard of were Rui Fonte and Paul Rodgers, both of whom figured in the reserves last year.

It is, perhaps, worth spending a moment to reflect that those guys are now 19 years old and unemployed. Maybe Gary Barry (because thats his real name) is not such a mug after all.

Anonymous said...

Gilberto is one of my favorites.

great article. he exudes calm. he's serene. he's professional, he's nice. he doesn't say stupid things. he appreciates being a footballer. he's a quiet leader.

i do miss him. i wouldn't mind seing melo sign up.

-rahul-

Malikhan said...

Gilberto's professional undobutedly leaves nothing to be desired, and while he may have had a few games left in him, cashing him while we still had a substantial offer from a good enough club was an opportunity not to be missed out on.

The point youre maybe trying to raise is the intangible quality and dressing room character that gilberto would have given to the club.But for that, you need to be influential, and to be influential you need to play games, consistently.
It would have been highly unfair on Gilberto to keep him on and then not give him a decent run-in.

On the flipside however, would Song have the balls to shrug off Gilberto's orders?