By Myles Palmer

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GILBERTO is a nice guy who cannot tackle.

Everyone knows it.

He can't tackle.

He admits he can't tackle.

It's not his game.

But for most of Arsenal's Premiership games, it's been Fabregas and Gilberto in central midfield.

With two strikers and two "wide" men who cut in and make passes and runs.

At Newcastle, the inevitable happened.

Gilberto made a clumsy challenge and was booked.

Then he made another clumsy challenge was sent off for two yellows.

Both cards were harsh.

But they happened because Gilberto cannot tackle.

Then Arsenal lost to a late Solano shot.

What's wrong with Arsenal?

THE MIDFIELD !

They need a captain and a midfield.

The back five is the same back five that went 49 games unbeaten, pretty much.

Jens Lehman is better than ever. The best keeper in the Premiership this season.

LAUREN did well at left back against Ajax and Newcastle.

Senderos was fantastic in both games.

Lauren can tackle.

He would improve central midfield.

Why is the midfield so weak?

Because Edu and Vieira were not replaced.

Gilberto was a good partner for Vieira.

But without Vieira he is lost.

Vieira carried Gilberto for three years and made him a viable Arsenal player.

Without Vieira, Gilberto is exposed, an embarrassment.

Gilberto needs a minder.

But he's playing with a kid whose skeleton is still developing, and the kid needs a minder.

Cesc Fabregas is the best 18-year old midfielder I've seen for 35 years. Since Alan Hudson.

Fabregas is Arsenal's best midfield player by a mile.

But he should not be carrying a threadbare midfield at his age.

Patrick Vieira made Petit look good.

He made Grimandi and Parlour look good. He took short balls from Sol. He could find Bergkamp blindfolded. He had a nine-year relationship with Bergkamp, a five or six-year relationship with Henry, Pires and Ljungberg.

If you sell him, you rip away all the relationships which make the team tick.

Selling Vieira was the biggest mistake Arsenal have made since 1973 when they sold Frank McLintock to QPR.

Frank was not finished.

He led QPR to second place in 1976 while Arsenal were 17th with 36 points from 42 games.

IN THE SUMMER I thought selling Vieira was the right move.

But Vieira was the heart, the linchpin, the pivot of the team.

Yes, he had declined.He was only 70% of what he was in 2002.

But after five months without Vieira we can all see that PV4 was still an irreplaceable backbone, the big wheel that kept the engine working.

And Arsene needed two experienced internationals to replace the big man.

Instead, he got the teenage Song on loan.

WATCHING NEWCASTLE, I was thinking how much they needed Grimandi, rather than how much they missed Vieira. Because Grimandi was a bit like Scott Parker.

JULIO BAPTISTA rumours?

Having watched Baptista play for Real Madrid last night, he is not the answer.

Baptista is far too ponderous to play for Arsenal.

Some of us were baffled when Arsene persuaded Freddie Ljungberg and Gilberto to sign new four-year deals.

Freddie has scored one goal this season. Against Ajax in September.

Like Overmars, Ljungberg is good when he is scoring goals.

When he is not scoring you wonder why he is there.

WE KNOW that 2003 to 2006 was always gonna be a stretch, financially.

And we know that the club is focused on making money out of every deal in the Emirates Stadium.

But AFC needs Champions League football next season and they won't achieve that without a midfield and without defensive cover.

Kolo Toure goes to the African Cup of Nations for a month, we assume.

SATURDAY NIGHT we went to a party and Willie, an Arsenal season-ticket holder for 45 years, asked if I'd seen how angry Arsene was in the TV interview.

I hadn't. I have it on video but haven't watched it.

Sure, Shearer's assault on Sol Campbell should have been a red card.

But Arsenal lost because they have been rumbled.

Teams copy Bolton now.They have all jumped on the Bolton bandwagon.

They know Arsenal don't like a physical game, they know Vieira has gone, so they get aggressive and it works.

Arsenal are managed by an idealist who complains about rough stuff and says football should be entertainment.

Well, that's naive. It says nothing on a football ticket about entertainment. Never has done. Not in 1888, 1948, 1971, or 1998.

Fans want to see their team win.

Football is about players, and professional football is about winning.

Yes, of course Arsene's teams have amazed us with their beautiful game.They've taken three titles off Man United by playing stylish football with phenomenal athleticism.

But the formula has been rumbled.

And Arsene is still doing what Tony Adams begged him not to do.

He is still playing both Pires and Ljungberg away from home.

When neither is the player he was.

And playing those two with Fabregas-Gilberto is suicidal.

It's madness.

It's a strange brand of self-defeating stubbornness.

I cannot figure out why he does it.

Is he the radical cleric of attacking football?

Thousands of people are in awe of Arsene and bow down to the ayatollah and say, "Arsene knows !"

TONY ADAMS is not there to argue with him any more.

David Dein ain't gonna tell him.

Danny Fiszman ain't gonna tell him.

Pat Rice, a shy man, will continue to be shy.

Bora Primorac does what Arsene wants.

Thierry ain't gonna tell him.

Henry Winter ain't gonna tell him.

Who can tell him?

Who will tell him : "Switch it around, put Kolo in there, put Lauren in there, buy two 26-years olds who can tackle, don't persevere with what you have done in September, October and November and half of December because it cannot work. It is killing the club. Forget about the Champions League, that is a ridiculous fantasy, it's irrelevant ! Focus on finishing second. Buy players now who can help you finish second. Buy players who can cover the injuries you will get after Xmas, or before. Arsenal needed Scott Parker at St James's Park. If Parker had been playing for Arsenal we would have won."

BASICALLY, Arsenal have been living a lie all season.

They've played some nice stuff and beaten weak opposition.

But they have not beaten a good team all season.

FC Thun?

Sparta Prague?

That's the worst Sparta Prague team I've ever seen.

They've already lost to WBA, Middlesbrough and Bolton.

And on Saturday they played an average Newcastle side and lost 1-0.

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BRAZILANS won the big games last night.

In the Milan derby, Adriano scored two and made one with a free-kick that Dida should have turned round the post. But he slapped it to Obafemi Martins.

Inter 3 AC Milan 2

Inter were really, really up for it and deserved the points.

Coach Roberto Mancini has the most physical strike pair in world football in Adriano and Martins.

BARCELONA gave Seville a goal start but won when Ronaldinho scored a sweet, sweet winner.

He dummied a pass, took a neat ball from Henryk Larsson, zipped into the box, opened up his body, and slotted it with the inside of his foot, just inside the post.

Barca 2 Seville 1.

Barca have eight straight La Liga wins now.

JUVENTUS 4 Cagliari 0.

Juve have a 10-point lead.

They have won 14 of their 15 games and Patrick Vieira will be a champion again.

December 12th 2005.

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