Morning all, let’s start with William Gallas, shall we?
Opinions are really divided on this one. I wrote yesterday that he needs to ‘shut up’ after criticising the Arsenal medical staff. I stand by that 100%. I don’t think there’s any benefit to him or to the club by washing his dirty laundry in public. To my mind it’s disrespectful and it’s just not the way things are done at Arsenal.
Then we have more in today’s Sunday People where he says:
We made mistakes that players of experience would never make. Am I going to ask Arsene Wenger to sign experienced players? Before saying it in the press, I will ask him face to face. I knew the team was young, but it was only bit by bit that I realised it really lacked experience.
Now, he says he’s going to ask Arsene Wenger face to face before saying it in the press yet he’s saying it in the press. Anyway, what fucking business does he have asking Arsene Wenger anything about transfers? As for his misconceptions about the make-up of this Arsenal side it sounds to me like he’s making excuses. He knew who the players were at the club before he joined. He knew, while he behaved in such a way that made it impossible for Chelsea to keep him that there was no more Campbell, no more Pires, no more Bergkamp, no more Cole. Now, 6 months down the line he says he only realised bit by bit this team was inexperienced? I don’t buy it.
Now, before I get slated all over the place I think that a lot of what he says has merit. Sure, we need to be more ruthless in front of goal. Yes, we need to win ahead of playing so-called ‘pretty’ football, but it’s not as if we need William Gallas to tell us that and we don’t need him telling it to the French press week in, week out. I noted here my objection to his slagging off of Alex Hleb a week after the PSV game. Yes, it was a stupid free kick to give away but Gallas bleating on about it does nothing for anyone apart from cause problems in the dressing room and if he wants to act out the role of senior player then causing those sort of problems is not something he should be doing.
He talks about the young players then, saying:
We don’t have any killers. You can’t rely only on Thierry Henry. The youngsters must understand that. They want a place in the first team. Okay, it’s up to them to show they deserve it.
No, we can’t rely on Thierry Henry but that’s why we have Robin van Persie, who’s injured unfortunately but was our leading scorer. That’s why we have Freddie Ljungberg who doesn’t score any more. That’s why we have Julio Baptista who gets worse each week. That’s why we have experienced players like Alex Hleb and Tomas Rosicky who haven’t taken up the slack in the absence of our strikers.
No Arsenal fan will tell you that this team is right. What I have always said is that the youngsters need a bit, just a bit, more experience around them to bring them along. For me the bright spots this season have been young players like Cesc, van Persie, Denilson, Clichy, Djourou and Diaby. The disappointments have been the experienced players above who haven’t delivered. Players like Rosicky who has spent more time out injured than on the pitch, players like Baptista who came with such a great reputation and has turned into one of the biggest flops of Arsene’s reign, players like William Gallas who has been out injured and who should be getting his head down and playing the sort of football we know he’s capable of instead of trying to point fingers and blame players who really don’t deserve it as much as those he fails to mention.
It’s funny. Adebayor came to Arsenal with a reputation as a trouble-maker and people were worried about the effect he might have on the team. Since his arrival though he’s come through a bad patch after some bad misses and a lot of criticism and his attitude, work rate, commitment and performances have won fans over. William Gallas arrived having kicked up at Chelsea, complained constantly about being played out of position, failing to turn up for a pre-season tour and everyone defends him now that he’s showing the same kind of behaviour at Arsenal. Why are we surprised?
On his day and fully fit William Gallas is an excellent footballer. A footballer that could bring a lot to this team. However, as of yet we haven’t seen that William Gallas. The William Gallas we’re seeing is a petulant loudmouth who seems to spend more time talking to his friends in the French press. Maybe some people like that William Gallas, I’d prefer the one who plays football well and that is my whole point.
Cesc says this season has been ‘hard’ because we’ve been knocked out of all the competitions, he says the PSV exit was disappointing and to be so many points behind United is ‘not good enough’. “What’s the difference between him and Gallas?”, some might ask – Cesc has proved his worth to us on the pitch, Cesc isn’t singling out one player or groups of players, Cesc talks about the team and not individuals.
Away from him Emmanuel Adebayor says he’ll be considering his international future after receiving death threats before Togo’s game with Sierra Leone. He says:
Thank God I scored two goals in this qualifying match against Sierra Leone. I do not know what would have happened to me if I had not scored those goals. Now I am going to go back to Arsenal to think about my future. have to protect my life and I have a family to look after.
Considering the death threats came warning him to play the match or else then he’s got a lot of thinking to do. You’d have to ask yourself is international football worth the bother. Which it isn’t, of course.
Inter Milan want Tomas Rosicky for £10m. Tempting but hopefully we can get him properly fit and with a decent run in the side he can show us what he’s made of.
And that’s that. More tomorrow, enjoy your Sunday, and don’t forget if you’re feeling tired it’s because the clocks have gone forward and you’ve lost an hour’s sleep.
