But onto the major issue; Gallas has come out to say recently that all is not well in the Arsenal dressing room. These comments were obviously mainly because Gallas was tired of everyone blaming him for Arsenal's failures this season, which I don't think I've ever done myself (Gallas isn't at the root of our problems, not even close). But what he said was the most revealing. Here's a small snippet:
"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. I am trying to defend myself a bit without giving names. Otherwise I'm taking all the blame. It's very frustrating. I'm 31, the player is six years younger than me.
"There was a problem at half-time at Tottenham.The only thing that I could say at half-time was 'Guys, we resolve these problems after the match, not at half-time.'"
There are currently four players "six years younger" than Gallas (25). They are Robin Van Persie, Emmanuel Eboue, Eduardo and Bacary Sagna. So who is it you ask? Well, obviously it's not Eduardo as he's been injured forever and wouldn't have been around to be a disruption. And I highly doubt it is Sanga, as he seems more like a quiet and good-spirited player.
This leaves Eboue and Van Persie. Eboue could very well be the man, and I'm not going to rule him out, but I tend to think it's Van Persie. He seems to be of the character of someone who could potentially be a big disruption in the dressing room. Remember how quickly he seems to rise to anger sometimes?The problem if it's Van Persie is that he's a massive player for us. If we were to lose a currently fit Van Persie it would be a big blow, as he is probably the most technically-gifted player at Arsenal right now (although a strong case could be made for Fabregas). If the problem is Eboue I say chuck him right out. He's not terrible, but since moving to midfield it has become obvious he doesn't have that much to offer. He's a good solid backup player, but if he's disrupting the team, he's off in my opinion.
But this reveals what the big problem is behind the team right now. There are obviously problems on the field, but they can be fixed. The problems behind the scenes however are often much harder to correct, and responsibility must now fall squarely on the shoulders of Arsene Wenger to make things right.
I think it's time for some sort of impassioned speech or change of strategy from Arsene Wenger. This may well be the defining moment of our season: there is discord off the pitch and inconsistency on it. The time has come for Arsene Wegner to prove to everyone that he is truly a great manager as we all believe he is and set things right. He has the power, and hopefully the know-how, and he needs to address it right away.
We will see over the next few weeks if Le Boss has sorted everything out, but until we see some more concrete evidence all we can do is hope for the best. I know I am, and I encourage each of you to as well. Till next time,
Fab 4
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FINALLY an article that doesnt blame gallas!! yes it might be true that what he said wasnt out of order but i dont blame him!! every1 else seems to before hand and i blve thts what led him to spilling!! plus it could be a ploy to get that player (as im sure wenger knows who he's talking about) offloaded in january as he is clearly causing a disturbance to the team!! as for the suspects...my money would be on vpersie too, as eboue was on the bench during the match against the tiny totts so i doubt he had anything to complain about, and sagna is too new to piss ppl off!! plus van P does seem rather playing alone in recent games as he tends to shoot alot rather then pass and he visibly gets aggrevated at players who dont give him the ball!!
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ReplyDeleteMainly walcott from our team and opposition players aswell (sorensen)
Van Persie is right to complain at the defense. The two first choice centre backs are not good enough and cliche has become a liability. Van Persie has high standards and is right to demand better.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree Gallas is not our only problem you will be exceptionally surprised at how well people can respond to a good leader - please see Obama. I don't give a ton of credit to the general American public, but the election results and inspired attitude and look in the eyes of his supporters say more than enough. While Vieira didn't need to do very much captaining because last generation's squad was just world class Vieira still gave off an aura whenever he was on the pitch and whenever you saw him leading the team from the dressing room. Vieira was in every scrap and argument with referees for the team. Gallas does not exude that and the team senses that and feeds off of his mediocrity as captain. He was a sidekick at Chelsea and he's a sidekick now, except with an armband. I honestly don't think we have anyone of Vieira like stature at the club but there are still better candidates than Gallas in the current team.
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