Why William Gallas Wouldn’t Last Five Minutes With Scolari

Thinking about captains' reactions when things aren’t going well, it’s true that John Terry has recently questioned Chelsea’s attitude, notably after the Roma game.

However, in sharp contrast to William Gallas’ recent outburst, Terry included himself when he was talking about player responsibility. Not so William Gallas, whose sole purpose when telling the press all about Arsenal’s in-house squabbles was to absolve himself of any blame when it comes to their current situation—not to mention trying his hardest to defend his position as an adequate Arsenal captain.

 

Now, we all know how Arsene Wenger felt about Gallas’ little rant, but how does Scolari view his own players airing their grievances? Well, the Chelsea boss seems to be okay about it—within reason—suggesting:

 

“John Terry may be critical because he is more angry than other players. But, in the dressing room, all of the players are critical. The players respect my level and I respect the players.

 

"We talk—I understand, the player understands, the board understands, we finish the problem. They are very professional and I like this so much. My authority is the normal authority. Sometimes I am a friend, a father and sometimes I am a coach. Sometimes, as a coach, I need to say ‘you are wrong’.”

 

Scolari seems to be pretty big on a happy dressing room though, stating:

 

“The good atmosphere is a minimum 50 per cent for any success. If you don’t have a good atmosphere you start the game in a bad condition. We have a very good atmosphere here every day. If you are happy, you make your job fantastic. We need to create good training conditions and atmosphere between me and the players, the staff and the players and the medical staff and the players.”

 

So what’s the difference between Wenger and Scolari when it comes to tensions in the dressing-room then? I mean, Wenger has been at Arsenal for donkey’s years whilst Scolari’s only been at Chelsea five minutes, and it’s not as if Chelsea haven’t had disappointing results themselves.

 

Well, on Chelsea’s reaction to these results Scolari says, “Bad results sometimes create some problems. But I need to involve the players so they understand that one bad result here and there does not change our focus.  Then, in the time after a defeat, you only need to say, ‘Remember what we said. Remember’.”

 

So is it that Scolari’s stricter in general or is it because he has bigger stars with possibly bigger egos to manage whilst Wenger has a bunch of bickering kids? On his own management style, Scolari says:

 

“I’ve had many problems in my career. Sometimes you give the chance to players to say something and they say more than they should.  At that point you need to say ‘Look, that’s where your place is’.  I’ve had problems before—not once but 15 or 20 times.  But we talk things through and there’s no more problem. Solved. It’s not difficult.”

 

Not that Scolari lets the players push their luck mind you, and it certainly sounds as if he lets them know who’s boss, with him stating:

 

“I encourage my players to speak between themselves and to me. I am part of this group and many times one player says something before the game or at half-time. I look for the players to talk about certain situations and, afterwards, I have my time because I am the man that needs to decide that happens.

 

"What they say can be negative, it’s not only positive.  We need to look and receive questions—to wait sometimes one or two minutes to see what happens. And after this, it’s my time.”

 

And the Chelsea boss adds, “We have lines. As long as we have respect, we accept them.  If they cross those lines we need to say something.  Until now, nobody has and I think that’s very good for Chelsea.”

 

I wouldn’t dare any of the players to go up against him somehow!