Gallas Guns For Arsenal's Youngsters

So what advice does Gallas offer the Arsenal young guns who he leads into battle, week in and week out?

Well, surely William must be pretty high up on Fabio’s Christmas card list after his words of encouragement have given England a galvanised Theo Walcott. Do you think that hat trick in Zagreb would have happened without these pearls of wisdom given last March?

“He [Theo] must be less predictable and more focused. He can also take too long on the ball.”

For all his moaning, William Gallas does highlight the issue of young players suffering a loss of hunger for the game and the issues they appear to have being motivated. Even his on pitch protest at Birmingham last season, though heavily criticised, did show support for teammate Eduardo who was left picking his bones up from the St. Andrews turf.

Three summers back when William Gallas and Ashley Cole swapped shirts and Arsenal pocketed £5million it looked like Arsene had pulled off yet another successful transfer coup.

Granted, the deal itself was precipitated by a bun fight between Gallas and Chelsea. The defender had refused to play in an FA Cup semi-final, failed to report for Chelsea’s training camp in America, and even threatened to score an own goal if he was selected in the first game of the season.

Despite all this it was reported John Terry and Claude Makelele were upset by the loss of such a consistent performer from the Chelsea ranks.

Then Ashley Cole was forced to view the halfway line as an electric fence under Jose Mourinho and lost the buccaneering instincts which made him the most highly rated left-back in the world. While over in North London Gallas was adding that much needed steel to Arsenal’s youthful and lightweight outfield.

Sadly for Arsenal, that steel has buckled once too often already this season while over at Stamford Bridge Scolari has restored Ashley Cole’s mojo. 

A lack of calm and assured leadership on the pitch has been central to what looks like another pointless season for the Gunners. Sporadic performances from Arsenal’s big number 10 have left fans wondering which Gallas will turn up on any given day. Gallas did , however, look at his imperious best in the recent home win over Manchester United.

“Against Manchester it was the whole team that fought for victory,” Gallas said. “But when you stop fighting together, there comes a time when the midfield will sink, the defenders, unfortunately, can also sink. That’s what happened against Villa.”

Sacking William Gallas is not an option for Wenger. Arsene knows this latest indiscretion will pass and he will deal with it a private manner seemingly alien to Gallas.

The worry for me is that it will go down as another black mark against Arsene and will contribute to his ousting from The Emirates.

It will be a sad day for English football when Wenger goes. Arsene will become football’s Brian Jones and while I hope he can steer clear of the swimming pool, Arsenal will steady the ship with a Mick Taylor before going on to a more regulated version of success under their Ronnie Wood.

When this happens no one should ever forget the man who started it all in the first place.

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