Captain Fabianski

[donaldo]

Was anyone else suprised Fabianski was captain in only his second start.I wonder how Gilberto must have felt? Wenger says Gilberto still plays a part in his plans,so why wasn"t he captain last night.Very strange.

[Wayno]

I agree, I found it very strange and even disrespectful. How many other ways can Wenger find to insult Bert?

[EdgeOfTown]

Yeah didn't really think much of it at the time, but Gilberto's patience is getting tested more and more by the week...Really hope he doesn't leave but if he does, Wenger has to take the responsibility..

[REB]

wenger said after that there was no problem with bert and that he doesnt see the captains band as a talking point except in the press,,

but bert will be gone in jan as no one really expects him to stay,, he,s been a great pro and player for us but theres plenty of cm's in our squad and wengers prefers youth

[RaM]

Wenger feels its time for Gilberto to move on. If he and Lehmann go then we will be without any players over 30 (I'm pretty sure). And our squad is all about youth.

I can't really argue. Sell them both now and we could make some money from them while we still can.

[Bergkamp95]

Was very shocked to see that wenger gave him the captin armband for last nite game.Wold have thought that Gilberto ould have been skipper last nite.

[Goonanana]

I thoguht it was disgraceful, Gilberto would have had to have said or done something pretty awful behind the scenes to deserve that and if he did say something that bad he shouldn't have played!

Gilberto has done this club proud and is after all the bloody joint vice captain apparantly!!

IF he wasn't wearing it then it definately shouldn't have been Fabianski! If anyone it should be one of our longer serving youth players like Hoyte

[All_Arsenal_1886]

Didn't Arsene say that Gilberto said himself "let one of the youngsters have a go"?

I personally looked at it as a positive as Arsene Wenger obviously thought Fabianski could handle the extra pressure and surely showing that confidence in Fabianski would give him confindence?

[daz10_uk]

Have to say i thought it was a massive insult to Gilberto last night and was disappointed to see Mr Wenger treat him this way

[Magic Hat]

Didn't Arsene say that Gilberto said himself "let one of the youngsters have a go"?

He did.

Gilberto said let the youngsters have a go, Arsene knew Gilberto would still act like a captain, youngster got captaincy which was nice for him, why the disgust that Arsene agreed with his own player?

[daz10_uk]

If this is true and Gilberto and Wenger agreed a youngster should get it then i will take back what i wrote earlier but i do think there is something underlying here. When has a player ever turned down the chance to captain his team?

[Magic Hat]

Could be he is a nice guy, could be that he would rather not be a vice captain again but just concentrate on his own game while someone else gets the honour?

[U.F.G Anfield '89]

I think that all this was sorted when Wenger categorically denied any bust up and said that the rumors were an insult to Bert's professionalism, this praise is a clear message that Bert has not been acting up, as well as perhaps being a small dig at the german mentalist. Bert is just biding his time and putting in good performances until he gets another run in the team. I don't think he will go in january, he will still be very useful as a squad player and despite what the press has been saying still seems happy here.

[Wayno]

why the disgust that Arsene agreed with his own player?

If it were Berts decision then I have no disgust. I was not aware that Bert had been so gracious.

[I Hate Hleb]

AS IS USUALLY HIS WAY, I THINK THERE WAS A LIT BIT OF DIPLOMACY IN WENGER'S POST-MATCH WORDS.

ALTHOUGH NOT NORMALLY A CONSPIRACY THEORIST, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THERE WAS MORE THAN A HINT OF TRUTH IN THE 'GILBERTO REFUSES TO PLAY AS A DEFENDER' STORIES DOING THE ROUNDS YESTERDAY, AND MAYBE MAKING GILBERTO PLAY BUT GIVING THE CAPTAINCY ELSEWHERE WAS WENGER'S WAY OF MAKING A POINT.