William Gallas Puts His Own Reputation Before Arsenal’s

By: Daryl | November 20th, 2008

William Gallas’s Arsenal captaincy has been questioned more than once recently, and with good reason. Last season’s centre circle sit-down (pictured) comes to mind. And now – with Arsenal’s title chances looking slimmer than Peter Crouch on a diet – Gallas has finally cracked and spilled all kinds of beans about internal arguments at Arsenal.

Here’s what he told the press:

“When, as captain, some players come up to you and talk to you about a player…complaining about him… and then during the match you speak to this player and the player in question insults us…There comes a time where we can no longer comprehend how this can happen.”

Yes, William, complaining about your teammates is a bad idea. Especially to the press. Which is what you just did.

Worse, he comes as close to naming names as you can get without actually naming names:

“I am trying to defend myself a bit without giving names. Otherwise I’m taking it all (the blame). It’s very frustrating,” he said. “I’m 31, the player is six years younger than me.”

So, calculators out, 31-6=25. A quick flick through the Arsenal squad reveals just ~~three~~ four players aged 25: Eduardo, Robin van Persie Emmanuel Eboue, and Bacary Sagna. With Eduardo out injured that only leaves the other three. So now either van Persie, Eboue or Sagna is going to hate William Gallas’s guts.

Gallas also revealed there was a bustup at halftime in the recent Arsenal 4-4 Spurs London derby, and claimed that the team need to be “warriors” and “soldiers”. Any military cliche will do.

He probably thinks he’s shaking things up with this crazy outburst, but for me it’s just more proof that he’s not captain material. Especially because he seems more interested in saving his own reputation than the team’s. Can you imagine Tony Adams saying any of the above?

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Category: English Premier League

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RyanJ

I agree with you on that Kelly. We are in dire need of a quality CM or DM. The problem with us unlike the most other big teams in Europe is that we lack depth. We need depth. It's bad business when you have to worry about who will replace Theo because he's out for 3-4 months. In addition, I'm lost for words concerning Rosicky, I can't understand why his return is indefinate.
Kelly

I really really hope that Arsene signs a good CM, at this point I dont really even care if they are Cup tied for the CL. I think we need this CM to be like Flamini, but more talented, a box to box player that wins tackles, over the age of 21 with plenty of first team experience. Im not sure how many players out there right now I would consider great DMs but we need one of them. I think its important this player comes in January because it will show Cesc this club does have ambition, give him more time to develop an understanding with this player, and hopefully will convince him to stay. I'd also consider signing a winger now that Theo is out 3-4 months and who nows when we will see Rosicky again, but I think the most we will get is one first team ready signing.
Summer is when I would make alot more drastic changes.
RyanJ

Like both of you I don't think Almunia is a good enough keeper for Arsenal and like both of you stated, there is no clear cut choices for a captain at this point. Therefore, I guess we have to pray that we can salvage our season and grind out some wins to become title contenders once more. We damn sure have the talent but as for confidence and leadership at this point I really don't know what to say. Seeing that January is around the corner what do you think will happen?
RyanJ

Point well taken Kelly.
Kelly

Uwvie, i agree with all you have said, there is no good choice because there are no experienced leaders in this team that consistently perform. I do not want to see Almunia given the captaincy because I am holding out hope that we will sign a better goalkeeper or maybe promote Fabianski if hes ready.