Men of the week - Comeback kids with bouncebackability
Becks is back!
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Thursday, 07, Dec 2006 05:24
An under pressure Brazilian, a troubled Welshman and a forgotten Englishman all make this week's list of comeback kids with 'bouncebackability'.
December 2nd - Gilberto Silva
When Brazilian Gilberto was forced to return to the country of his birth late last month for unspecified family problems, it was unclear when he would return to London to play for his club, Arsenal.
He was forced to miss Brazil's friendly against Switzerland in November, then missed Arsenal's matches against Newcastle in the Premiership and Hamburg in the Champions League and had been a doubt for a crucial away game at Bolton. He did play at the Reebok Stadium after all, and by full time he would most likely wish he hadn't. A 3-1 defeat there and another 2-1 loss at Craven Cottage against Fulham four days later all but ended the Gunners' title hopes.
But, lo and behold, the beleaguered Brazilian came good when it really mattered.
Local rivals Tottenham came to town (well, came across town) and took a hammering at the brand new Emirates Stadium to the delight of everyone in red. And the star of the show? Gilberto Silva, of course.
The stand-in captain, who was handed the armband after Thierry Henry was ruled out through injury, scored two pressure penalties in a 3-0 win and suddenly the problems of the past two weeks seemed slightly less painful.
December 2nd - Craig Bellamy
Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy cannot claim to be everyone's favourite Premiership player, but credit where credit's due - he's got a bit of a knack of stuffing controversy down his detractors' throats.
Last week saw the great Welsh whinger hauled up in court to face charges of assault against two women in a nightclub in Cardiff earlier this year and, after a protracted trial, he was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.
Amid all the distractions of the week, Bellamy returned to a first XI devoid of confidence away from home and went with them to Wigan's JJB knowing he would be getting an even greater torrent of abuse than he normally does.
And his response? A brace of goals and a well-deserved man-of-the-match award. Fair play. He may not be the most polite of gentlemen but under pressure, he's a pretty decent player.
December 3rd/6th - David Beckham
He's not had the most enjoyable of times at Real Madrid this season but when he is needed by his club, he always seems to be there.
David Beckham has been making strides to get back into the Real first team and this week, despite it being in a game that mattered little in the big picture of Los Merengues' season, the former England captain got the starting berth he craves. And boy, did he deliver.
A barnstorming performance from Beckham, in which he set up Madrid's first goal with a trademark free-kick and struck the post at the end of a great run, must have at least given Fabio Cappello something to thinking about regarding his team selection.
All this after coming on as a second half substitute to coax a game-winning Madrid performance from a lacklustre showing against Athletic Bilbao at the weekend. Becks was thrown on for former Arsenal man Jose Antonio Reyes and showed all the bite, aggressive running and exceptional passing that has made him famous (well, that and the haircut and pop star wife).
Beckham is certainly not past his prime yet and these last two games showed just that. And now Real president Ramon Calderon wants the Englishman to stay for the rest of his career. Overall, a much better week for Becks in what has been, up until now, a stressful season.