Saturday 22 November 2008

The same problems will remain, with or without Gallas

Must admit I'm still disappointed with the Gallas situation, but if it helps the Arsenal start to perform then its the right decision. I guess only time will tell!

I'll be honest, I don't think Gallas was given a fair crack of the whip from the off because of the way he got the captaincy, but that wasn't his fault. Gilberto was a fan's favourite but wasn't going to be a first team regular so I suppose Gallas was the obvious choice.

I think he did OK at the job. Last season when we were flying most Gooners were saying what a great decision it was to appoint Gallas as skipper and only started to doubt him after the Birmingham incident.

Many Gooners are split on this incident but I felt it showed passion and he is only human. The media coverage of this was disgraceful. It went on for weeks. Rio Ferdinand kicked a WOMEN and it was barely mentioned.

That is what Gallas was up against. And for then on every little mistake he made was intensified tenfold. I think we forget that Gallas hadn't been a captain for long and was still learning the job.

He didn't help himself at times with his outbursts and somethings should have been kept between the players, not shared with the outside world and I suppose he broke the code with his latest outburst.

Maybe the decision to strip him of the armband will rejuvenate Arsenal's season. Who knows? Only time will tell. But I still worry for whoever gets the job. The same problems will be there, the same players will be there.

I worry because there are NO leaders in this squad and that certainly didn't help Gallas' cause. He was learning the job with no one around to help him. It will be the same for whoever gets the job.

Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira are names that keep being mentioned and while they were great captains they had plenty of support around them to help them grow into the role.

Adams had the likes of Bould, O' Leary, Seaman, Dixon, Alan Smith and Keown the list is endless.

Vieira had the likes of Bergkamp, Henry, Keown, Seaman, Parlour and Gilberto and many more.

I'm gutted at the way it had panned out for William Gallas who is a world-class defender. The only future for him is away from Arsenal. He can not continue at the club.

Yes, I'm gutted for Gallas, but I'm more gutted for Arsenal who have now lost a top class defender and that can't be denied.

This may lift a weight off the rest of the squad's shoulders (if that is the case) and as I've said, only time will tell.

But I still worry for the next captain. It's going to be a hard job.

Keep it Goonerish...................

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wrighty, i'm with you on this matter. Gallas has no mature and experience player that could help with decision during the games. I agree with Le Boss to bring young talent player into the club but we still need some experience player.
If Almunia the next captain then it'll be the same problems because he can't give an order inside his box.
Well i guess you right, only time will tell.

Anonymous said...

during the Gallas captain reign at Arsenal, he has been poor. He's got a big gb, but loves to shoot his gob off to the media and public, than to use that big mouth of his on the pitch to rally the team when things are going bad.

This was the last straw for him, as he's had a pattern of stupidity.

*The Birmingham situation last season.
*He publicly judging Walcott to the media.
*Talking to the media about rifts in the dressing room.

What kind of leader does that. The players in the team, wont trust him as a human being, let alone a Captian. He's lost the respect he ever had and i'm sure the players now, will probably work better now the poison has been removed from the team

Anonymous said...

the most damning is that there is no standout replacement for captain at arsenal. Only wenger knows how this once proud club has become a playground with a bunch of spoilt kids, making mills without winning shit. The wider question this raises for me, is it wenger that has lost the dressing room.

Anonymous said...

I agree with everything. He may not have been the best there is, but people never gave the guy a chance, nor a break.

Anonymous said...

Firstly, it must be said that Gallas must never play for Arsenal again. To be blunt - he can fuck right off!

An extremely average defender hyped up by his close friends like Henry who called him the best centre-half in the world - which was rubbish of course. As a captain he was weak and pig-ignorant of his duty. He attacked the young players, in particular Walcott, has been completely at fault for many match-losing goals, has no aerial ability, has very little pace (completely humiliated by Agbonlahor last week), zero positional sense at defending set-pieces and lacks any moral dignity with his expose trash that has spewed from his lips this week - merely to promote his book - because, poor soul, he has to make sure he sells enough copies because he needs some more money.

I haven't called anyone this since I was 14years old (& I'm now 34!) but Gallas is a Wanker. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Anonymous said...

Gallas was far from perfect, but Arsenal are a bigger shambles without him. Arsenal have so many arrogant players, Nasri, Bendtner, Adebayor, Van Persie, Eboue, Denilson Song. They won't listen to anyone and don't give their best. Wenger is to blame for assembling this squad of overpaid kids who think they're better than they are. Gallas is the fall guy. Arsenal will not be better without him. Now the players have absolutely NO-ONE to turn to. They have shot themselves in the foot.

Wrighty7 said...

lp,

It seems there are a few of us who didn't hate Gallas that much mate!

It has to be said, its happened now and hopefully Arsenal will start to perform.

Wrighty7 said...

Sorry to delete the comment Asian Beast but that could be perceived as racist mate!

Anonymous said...

how the fuck do u know if eboue and denilson are arrogant.just say shit without any proof fucking bitch

Anonymous said...

wow..just wow.. yes it was wrong that gallas told eveyone whats up in the dressing room, but im glad that i know whats going on, if no one can get along how will appointing a new captain from our young spoiled lads help us even more????? the situation will become more worse, and now since our defence is shite it will become even more shite because now we are going to lose gallas. sorry but i dont agree with the arsenal fans that say that giving gallas the axe will help our season , the ship is now going to sink deeper, just brilliant

Anonymous said...

Wrighty, i know you are pleased really :)

rico

Anonymous said...

Willie hasn't had a single 'Warrior' game for us but quite a number of 'Big Girls Blouse' games.
Anon 12:46 is spot on.

Anonymous said...

I liked his emotions and his fiery nature.
IMO...the team needs more players like him.

He was in a tough position for a couple reasons:

1) He got the job when Gilberto was stripped of the "C"
2) He was new to the club

3) He didn't have another veteran to help him dealing with the youth corps at Arsenal.

In the end, it sounds like he was tired of the captain role...tired of the BS and criticism that came with it.
Who knows??...Going public with this stuff may have been a tactic to unload a responsibility he no longer wanted OR that was hindering his ability to focus on his own game.

if he still stays in arsenal maybe he will play much better, because of no more pressure???

Wrighty7 said...

Ha ha,

You are cheeky Rico! ;)

Anonymous said...

Listen,you Arsenal Fans Do you think that with William Gallas living Arsenal and Arsenal will be better. No, you are dreaming. So why no to target the real problem who is Arsene Wenger himself who thinks that he is God. To be honest, you can not condamn Gallas because your stubborn manager Arsene Wenger is the only one who did create this situation, not seeing far and with his limited vision, He was unabble to buy some more experienced players for longtime because he doesn't want to spend the Arsenal money and he thinks that Arsenal money is his own money. Arsene Wenger did create this atmosphere at Arsenal dressing room by giving so much responsability to this kids who think that they know everything.
they become more and more arrogant. Arsenal Fans we should be honnest and see the geniune problem for arsenal. it is Wenger himself who is creating pression on people and himself. Be honest, come out out and speak. Leave Gallas in peace. Arsenal got their problem for longtime and this is the reason why players are living. Don't be blind and liers.
You should target Wenger himself, not Gallas. So don't dream of a change becauseg it will be geting worse. you are talking about Alumina, so what kind of keeper he is. He is no David Seaman.

Anonymous said...

i agree with the guy above

Anonymous said...

To me the whole Birmingham situation was nothing.

The team let itself down and dishonoured the sacrafice of a maimed Eduardo in that match.

It was the turning point of the season because it cost us Eduardo and it showed the weak minds of the squad.

It's a pity the other players didn't show more emotion during and after that match. Maybe then they could have fought on and won the EPL.

Why does John Terry's cry-baby routine after choking in the CL Final get a free pass??

Gallas the "Bad Cop" needed a quiet veteran a la Denis Bergkamp to be the "Good Cop" and everything would have been fine.

Another reason why Gilberto Da Silva should have been retained for another year...he could easily have played the "Good Cop" role.

leon said...

wright i do agree that arseanl have little lack of leadership but quite frankly gallas does instill alot of team spirit,the big problem with gallas he is not team player,i also feel that fact he just came in and wsa just given the captaincy above gilberto and toure did not help.also is far to selfish ,never encourged the younger players,you dont have to be captain to be leader. this has nothing to with age some players are just borne leaders and that is not gallas.wenger in my view made huge mistake in not buying experienced players, but evon with with all these young players tony adams and veria would have alot better because there born leaders

Anonymous said...

spot on wrighty

whats funny is everybody seems to think all arsenals problems come from 1 player.
cesc ade the most recently talked about players must take the can also. everybody speaks about if cesc goes. id rather a vieira type midfielder any day. heskey is playing better then ade. ade was like the best in the world last season.
gallas is a man among rich hip kids and absolutly out of depth. gallas is not the violent type so they dont respect him. if we had a john terry or keane or the best vieira then if they were not in line in the back of there mind they know when nobody is looking they would get it. its good of gallas to reveal this. not so good for arsenal. but we need some english grit. ever since i saw ian wright play ive supported the gunners so i know how wenger operates. this was the excuse he needed to get rid of gallas. at 5'10'' he was not the 1.
so 2 things we need a tall no nonsense cb and some english player to keep them in line. it will never happen but when hesky played for liverpool there was a time when i wanted wenger to get him. they would not answer back to hesky.

Anonymous said...

On the subject of William Gallas, he's best at left-back and was never good at centre-back (his so-called preferred position). He's a failure as a captain but not by a huge margin. The captains of Arsenal are of a different class and calibre. Sorry to the Gallas supporters, but Arsenal can surely do better without him.

Anonymous said...

I can't see Gallas staying beyond January. He has expressed a desire to return home to his native France so perhaps we could offload our captain to Olympique de Marseille in exchange for their captain Lorik Cana as we are in desperate need of a defensive midfielder - because we have none. Alex Song is not the answer. Also being captain of Marseille he has what it takes to lead the side and his fiery temperament and willingness to run like a madman is just what we need to replace the Flamster.

Wenger must also be prepared to spend big to bring in a centre back of high quality and i would propose a choice out of Metzelder of Real Madrid (who is a leader and a rock) or Zapata of Udinese who although younger still has experience and is also versatile as he can play both fullback positions. There is also the possibility that we could loan or even purchase Sylvain Distin of Pompey. Now I'm a Pompey lad and follow my home team and can tell you that this guy is immense, a man mountain and stopper of the calibre of Sol Campbell. I don't see why that shouldn't be possible considering that Arsenal have a good relationship with Pompey and now Tony Adams is manager there it should be that much sweeter.

We need a centre forward also to replace Adebayor and from his sale surely we must have enough to purchase some one of high quality. I reckon Amr Zaki must be worth a gamble. If he is doing so well at Wigan, he could do wonders for us. I also have this feeling that because of his summer shenanigans and big-headed, egotistical nature the rest of the squad resent having to play with AdeCan'tHitAbarnDoor.

I also feel it's time to give Fabianski a run in the side because I have no faith left in Almunia. And if I, as a spectator, don't have faith in him, imagine how the players in front of him must feel when he continually fails to command his 6 yard box and gets beaten too easily at his near post with alarming regularity.

Also Wengers must stop playing Diaby on the left and Bedntner up front alone. Diaby is not a left winger but would flourish in Fabregas' position. Bendtner is not a lone striker. He needs support, so why not pair him up with Vela because these two can play well together.

Rosicky needs to hurry up and get fit, and stay fit. If he can't manage that and succumbs to injury again then I say sell the little faggoty piece of shit for a tough midfielder like Bastian Schweinsteiger.

I also feel that this season will mark the end of Fabregas' stay in the premier league as I feel that other teams have figured out our little Spaniard and have come to realise that there is little else to his game other than passing so therefore teams will quickly look to stifle our game by snuffing him out which is exactly what has been happening this season. The future for the Arsenal midfield I think is to have two central midfielders (take your pick between Diaby, Denilson and Ramsey) who are also tough tackling and able to play wide supported by a play-breaking nutcase in defensive midfield. It saddens me to think that he could leave because I have witnessed some sumptuos passing from him but I honestly don't think that his playing style suits the EPL anymore and would thrive in a continental outfit. That's not to say he's shit but that the standard of refereeing in this country is appaling with so many blatant fouls (especially against Arsenal players) going unpunished and this is the reason why England will never win another trophy because of the ugliness of the english game where studs in challenges are applauded.

Anonymous said...

All football fans like Arsene Wenger because of his style of football. His teams always play great football and he has the best eye for talent of any other manager.

However, the reality is Arsenal are a feeder club for European giants under Wenger. Any player that makes it at Arsenal is usually looking for a move to a bigger club more likely to win titles.

Wenger is a not a man who is obsessed with winning titles. Arsenal need to win a few European Cups to be a real European giant. They won't ever do that with Wenger. Arsenal is more his pet project now for his own reputation than London's biggest club.

It's time for a new man. George Graham won 2 league titles for Arsenal. Wenger has only three in 11 years. Big clubs put silverware first and style after. Wenger would never have survived so long at bigger, more demanding clubs.