Regular readers of my blog will know that I rate William Gallas as a world-class defender and I'm more than happy with him being at our club. I always supported him, even when many Gooners were ready to throttle him.
I believed that he was a great captain for Arsenal. I'm ready to admit I was wrong on that part. The captaincy was too difficult a job for William Gallas at Arsenal. I don't think he was helped by the media jumping on his every mistake but maybe it was a step too far for him.
He was never really accepted by many Gooners as the new skipper either. What we needed to remember was that he was new to the job and had to learn how to be captain. He was never given that chance.
Whats certain is that since the captaincy has been removed from him we Gooners have seen Gallas produce arguably his best form in an Arsenal shirt since he joined. That says a lot to me. It proves he is strong mentally because he could gone to pieces like many people said he would.
Instead we have seen William Gallas come out fighting and producing the kind of performances we expected from him. I think he deserves a lot of credit for that and I hope that the Gooners who doubted him now realise what a good player he is.
A lot of people (including Gooners) predicted that Gallas would be trouble when he was demoted as skipper. We haven't heard a peep from him. If anything it seems to have motivated him into proving people wrong. What a reaction from Gallas.
I think Gallas is misunderstood. The rant that finally cost him the job of being captain was true in many ways. He only told the truth and really he was only echoing what many Gooners were also thinking at the time.
Maybe he should have kept quiet but perhaps he believed a kick up the arse was what the players needed. It worked. Look at Arsenal now. A long run of unbeaten results have since followed. Would people have reacted the same if the words were spoke by Patrick Vieira when he was captain? I doubt it.
Anyway, Gallas is proving a lot of people wrong and I hope they realise it and are not too stubborn to admit it. I've admitted I was wrong that Gallas was a great captain. The circumstances didn't help him but it was a step too far for him to take.
Arsenal are now seeing the true player Gallas is. And I'm glad.
Keep it Goonerish..............
23 comments:
great post. he has really been returning to form in recent matches. get djoruou in next to him, sorted
True that he is finally putting in several decent performance,spurs was definately one of his best, however not only has it taken a season half to do this but he is still not the long term answer. Neither is toure mind you. A quality centre back is still very much needed Mr Wenger.
Gallas is crap and if you cannot see that then shut down this blog now.
Just goes to show how biased some fans are, even when they can clearly see that the man is an outstanding CB. I hope he stays with us, his partnership with Djourou is really good and he's performing really well.
oi oi Wrighty.
You are right, but the only two things that I would say is. He cost a lot of money, if you take Cashley's transfer into consideration, probably about £15 million. Has he been worth that sort of dosh?
The other thing is we don't really know what went on between him and Kolo recently causing Kolo to hand in a transfer request.
I have always liked Gallas footballing ability wise but there have been times when I have wondered that whether it would have been better for the club as a whole if he left.
The demise of Toure since Gallas arrived has been startling and I am not sure why this is but Toure cannot seem to win a header any more and is often caught out of position.
If Gallas keeps his mouth shut and gets on with the game then fine. Def think we need a big strong CB though in the Stam or Vidic build. Easier said than done. I think we look more solid with Djourou and Gallas paired. I will say also I have been slightly disappointed with Sagna. In his first season he seemed to be bombing on down the right and getting some good crosses in. Don't see him doing that so much this season - perhaps it just tactics.
How about the mistakes he's made since being demoted? Namely the ridiculous penalty he gave away to Villa. No experienced defender should do that! Not to mention other headed goals who he's supposed to be marking.
He needs to leave in the summer, pure and simple. Givve me Kolo any day who actually loves the club.
Gallas is our first true captain since Adams left.
Anonymous said...
'Gallas is crap and if you cannot see that then shut down this blog now.'
LOL at this comment....talk about over dramatic.
joppa road: totally agree with you on sagna. he needs to assist our attacks down the right. and he needs to improve his crossing. our crossing in general this season could improve, even though the man utd game proves the crossing quality is already there
He's had two good games. He's rubbish. He gave away a ridiculous pen recently.
He's rubbish. And old.
New blood please.
Fanner said.. Since Gallas arrived, he made more errors than Toure. I am sick of reading Gallas being a world class player, no matter what silly mistakes he made, on and off the field.
Im with you on thsi one and always have been.
Gallas is our best defender Toure is the weak link at the moment some fans will never see it that way and thats a shame we cant aford to lose players of his caliber.
Gallas has proved his ultimate worth. Against Spurs he is coming into form when we need him most - the run in. The mr Anonymous who said he is crap is one of the boo boys who never goes to the Emirates so ignore him.
Gallas is our best defender. If he has had anything to do with Kolo's poor form, please show me the proof.
End the witch hunt. It has done enough damage. So-called Arsenal supporters need to get behind the team, no matter what their personal feelings are about a player.
Anonymous, not only are you a spineless clown but you know nothing about football if you cannot see Gallas's quality.
I'll eat humble pie when I see Gallas performing well regularly. Everyone seem to think he played really well against Tottenham but I saw him lose his man in the box twice and make some big errors. He did make up for these by putting in a good performance at other times in the game, but overall he needs to get his game to it's highest level of quality, and soon.
perrygrovesworld i'm a season ticket holder so shows what you know. i'm not a booboy and i support my team. i only vent my frustrations on forums like this in the vain hope wenger might stumble across them someday. gallas is rubbish. as the other guy said he lost his man plenty of times against spurs. but i will grant he had a good game other than that. however he has been shite most of the season. djourou has to play. he has to play. then one of either toure or gallas. toure i dont think has been that bad recently too. gallas should go. i'd even play djourou and song as cb. to be honest gallas is a worldclass leftback esp as he is a million times better than clichy getting forward. clichy has been rubbish too and wenger should have moved gallas there ages ago. i cant believe he plays that useless plank silvestre there instead of gallas. unbelievable.
very good post as usual
i think arsenal have to put personel feelings apart and just think about how good player gallas is and if they do they have to atmit that gallas is world class defender far better than toure.the big problem he had as captain is he is not a patient person and he take losing well at all.he is without dought our best defender however at 31 is only got 1-2 years left so wenger must get 1-2 top class defenders.but toure has not being playing well for 1-2 years and quite long while senderos was playing better than him until the liverpool game in the champions legue.i know toure is alot more popular than gallas but toure is not good en not been hasough for me,his contract ends 2010 and so far he been offerd a new conytract i think he may be gone in the summer
Good post, but seriously apart from a couple of (admittedly very) bad public displays of dissatsifaction he hasn't done much wrong ever sice he's been here. Faster, stronger & more aware than Toure. So he gave away a penalty. Name me a centre back who hasn't! Toure did in CL final moments last year - I know Babel dives but Toure was where he shouldn't have been. I like Toure but between the two? Toure hasn't been the same since his bout of malaria.
My God... some people just will not give credit, it's unbelievable. Gallas is rubbish? I think that statement pretty much sums up what these people know about football. That's like saying Messi is average, or Ronaldo can't score. Dislike the man if you will, but don't talk crap about the football player, he's the best CB we have. If/When he goes, if we don't bring in a world class replacement then we're really screwed, as Toure, Djourou and Silvestre are all panicky and can't rely on each other when they're not partnered with him.
Gallas has also delivered quite a few very timely goals in big games eg. Last year in final few minutes against Chelsea & ManU. He hates losing & can lift the team when his passion is well directed. Does everyone forget that he carried the young team last season as far as February on top & if not for the penalty & leg break at Birmingham he would have captained a Premiership winning team.
there is no doubt he is a quality player but he is unsettling things behind the scenes. kolo is a true gunner and is rediscovering his form when playing with djourou who is a fantastic player. i feel we should sell gallas in the summer and buy a new centre back, 25 or 26 who is tall and pacy.
Totally agree wrighty, Gallas has been a warrior 4 us in the last few games,against spurs he was outstanding and the real leader on the picth, i feel RVP & NASRI should eat humble pie, respect your elders listen & learn.If ADE,RVP,NASRI,EBOUE,SONG,DIABY had the heart of gallas we would be challaning 4 top honors our top goal scorer has 9 0r 10 goals an wants 80k a week an CPL football guaranteed.WHAT! Well get the F**king goals 2 get us there.Defence is doing its job the rest aint!Nice 1 Wrighty.
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