PATHETIC MAKING GALLAS A SCAPEGOAT!

gus ceasar is a legend · Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:28 am

Sorry about starting another Gallas thread but I didn't want this to get lost in the others going.

I have just read five pages of mainly ill-conceived bollocks! The lack of understanding about football in general and more specifically the situation our club is in stuns me.

Now before I start, no I don't think Gallas is the ideal captain BUT among many other things whose fault is it that he is? Was it given out as a raffle prize, a lucky dip or as a Xmas prsesent? No it was given to him by our manager Arsene Wenger!

If Gallas is not a natural leader such as Adams then how can he be blamed for doing a poor job. If Wenger asked Sagna to play left wing or in goal and looked less than impressive at that task would you blame Sagna?

The fact is we have not had a natural leader since Viera left us. We had the same problems with Henry if not worse. The pinnacle being Titi blaming the world and his wife for us losing to Barcelona when he had a one on one to put us two up! Henry was no leader either and seriously fucked off a lot of other players!

People are knocking Gallas's performances and it is true they have not been so clever. However, anyone who knows football would understand how much easier it is to play centre half when you have a good partner beside you and a good screen in front of you. Gallas has neither. Again, whose fault is that? Having to coax a headless chicken such as Kolo through a game whilst also having the flimsiest of midfields protecting you is no easy task and anyones own personal displays would suffer through it. Put Rio Ferdinand in the Newcastle back four and see how assured he would look. You defend as a unit and no matter how good you are personally, if the rest of the unit is sub-standard you yourself are brought down to the level of the collective.

I have also read how Gallas is not in the same class as Adams and Viera and as a player no he is not. As a captain no he isn't either but I tell you what.....I haven't read about Gallas going to prison, falling down night club stairs and smashing his head open or spitting in players faces. Gallas's outburst at Birmingham was wrong but I tell you what, I would prefer our captain doing that because he cared rather than the other examples that have been given. Nobody is perfect so try and remember our past captains antics before you tear Gallas apart.

The problems at the club come from the top and are partially if not wholly Wenger's fault. If Arsene had bought a natural leader, a decent partner for Gallas and/or a decent defensive screen to replace Flamini we might not have seen this circus....in fact we wouldn't have as the playing side would have been stronger and more of a unit. Wenger is culpable for this and it is amazing that the "Wenger can do no wrong" crowd still back him and cannot see that it is Wengers decisions alone that have dropped us in the shit.

In the paper today I read that Gallas is to be stripped of the captaincy. Well fine, it may help but it smacks of a knee jerk reaction! Who is he going to make skipper now? Our vice captain who happens to be the fourth best centre half at the club and who is playing poorer than at any stage of his career? Oh that will help! Another good bit of planning there Arsene! Shall we give it to Cesc? Nope we can't as he is banned anyhow and is struggling so much with his form it is shocking (by the way this can be attributed to Wenger's decision not to buy also). Does Cesc need that extra burden now? The fact is we have no natural leaders in the side so you may as well give it to Almunia or Bendtner!

If you want to blame someone for this then blame Wenger! He has lead us into this turmoil and his grossly flawed decision making has left us vulnerable and struggling. He chooses the captain, the side, the squad and who he buys and sells. Errors in all these departments have contributed to what will no doubt be another trophyless season. Blind faith put in flawed policies equals one thing...disaster! If we fail to even for the CL then that must be seen as a disater by the club and he has to be removed as he won't remove himself.

As a final note, if you are looking for someone to blame why not try Van Persie. Again I read he is at the centre of the in fighting and we have been here before with Robin. He looks disinterested, his form is shite and pathetic acts like at Stoke have left an already weak strike force even thinner and more fragile. If RvP had been banging them in and leading by example then he has a right to dig at others and complain but the fact is he has become an arrogant self serving show pony whose only trick seems to be to moan! If he is the source of unrest then flog this *word censored* in January and not our best centre half!

Start looking at the bigger picture people and not the easiest target. Tough decisions have to be made at out club and I promise you changing our captain because he had the balls to speak up will change very little if indeed anything.

Nice and easy though hey to blame Gallas, the ex-Chelsea player, rather than a prima donna centre forward with an attitude problem or the manager who brought us success in the past but is now looking and sounding like man who has lost the plot!

Wenger has to be held responsible!

Post by **flash gunner** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:57 am

Although i dont disagree with most of what you say Gus ie Wenger appointed him so most of the blame must be shouldered by Wenger and I want him to be pissed off if we lose or if players in the dressing room are fucking about but what can be achieved by going public with it? Whether he should be or not he IS captain so any problems should be sorted out one to one with the player/players or via Wenger NOT through the press, his internet blog or however players do it these days

I would strip him of the captaincy due to the fact alone that he has "air'd our dirty washing in public" his actions can only make the dressing room a worse place this morning and with City tomorrow god knows whats going to happen. The problem with stripping him of the captaincy is there is no successor but that is another story

Charlie! Charlie! · Post by **Charlie! Charlie!** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:07 am

I think we have all known for sometime that things have not been right but this bollox should have been kept in house. The only thing I would say is that AW does seem to ignore the blatantly obvious sometimes and this public declaration of our problems just might force hin into action.... or he will ignore it ad hope it goes away.

gus ceasar is a legend · Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:16 am

Mis-guided to go public maybe but I would prefer to be told the truth by someone prepared to put their head above the parapit rather than being fobbed off with nonsense about the spirit being strong with great potential and belief!

At least he has the balls to tell it how it is and not to hide behind lame, half arsed excuses.

We are becoming a circus of a club and these things are bound to happen when the ring leader is acting more and more like a clown!

Magic Hat · Post by **Magic Hat** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:50 am

I disagree that Van Persie's form has, on the whole, been shocking this season though it has dipped recently.

I think Gallas has become something of a scapegoat. Whenever we have won a tight match, often with Gallas flying forward and urging team on, or come back from behind, Gallas has never got credit. However when we lose or a draw a game we shouldn't have, it is Gallas fault. Even if Cesc missed six open goals and then Sagna smashed a 30 yarder into his own net

Last season the players spoke of Gallas getting them around the table for meals or organising fun stuff (with Jens bringing the beer), something Henry hadn't done

Gallas is not all round captain, he may be able to push us on when we are in trouble but calming nerves, reassuring players when they feel pressure in "easy games", doesn't seem to be his forte. Giilberto was good at the calming down bit but isn't a player whose style suits Cesc so lost out to Flamini. There are not many leaders in the team and Gallas has been left with alternate partners (one of the things Gallas is good at is coping with that. Silvestere and Toure seem to need spefiec centrebacks alongside them) and shod all protection from midfield, as you rightly say gus.

Remember last season when we had Jens with Gallas and Senderos in front of him? Two obvious captain material and one Arsene seemed to think was a possible one. We ended up with headless chicken and the quiet Almunia, form collapsed. Yet look, that two players from the bench, plus Gilberto on the bench. What leaders do we see in Carling Cup squad? Our captain for those is a keeper who likes to talk but is still prone to performance based on confidence.

Arsene needs a dm most of all, maybe two, in January and if none of them are leaders then he should look for leader players to at least help Gallas. A big concern is if the players have lost confidence in Gallas as captain, though refuse to step up to the plates themselves then we have a major problem. This may reflect them more then it does Gallas, guy who they praised last year suddenly now the evil one but it means even at his best, Gallas can do nothing.

We also don't know what other avenues Gallas has tried and this may be a last desperate attempt to wake up the others players and to get the player that is causing the trouble to be dealt with. Sad that we have come to this though

Post by **g88ner** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:39 am

gus ceasar is a legend wrote:Mis-guided to go public maybe but I would prefer to be told the truth by someone prepared to put their head above the parapit rather than being fobbed off with nonsense about the spirit being strong with great potential and belief!

At least he has the balls to tell it how it is and not to hide behind lame, half arsed excuses.

We are becoming a circus of a club and these things are bound to happen when the ring leader is acting more and more like a clown!

Personally (and agreeing with Gus

) I would prefer to have the truth, no matter how bad, rather than the nonsense Wenger comes out with, which quite franky insults our intelligence.
"all is fine", "spirit is good", blah, blah (I understand why Wenger does it, but it annoys me)

Anyway, like Gus, I was a little suprised that it's not WHAT Gallas said that is being scrutinised, but rather the fact he said it at all!
- that, for me, is sad.. as it suggests that nothing he said suprised anyone, which just goes to show what a shambles we are at the moment

So, you have to look at it in 2 ways....

Firstly, If what Gallas said is true - and it wouldn't suprise many - then it makes a joke of Wenger's constant talk of how great our "spirit", "togetherness", "mental strength" and whatever other buzz words he can find on a Google search!

This season is going badly wrong, and Gallas - and Clichy before him - obviously feel that players/team aren't giving their all.. and that's not good enough.

However...

Gallas is NOT being made a scapegoat on this occasion!

Gus, you say "at least he has the balls to say it how it is" but, what Gallas did was cowardly and selfish... not the act of a warrior, which he seems to think he is.

As he said in the interview... "I am trying to defend myself a bit without giving names. Otherwise I'm taking it all (the blame). It's very frustrating," he said. "I'm 31, the player is six years younger than me."

You don't need to be a good captain or leader to realise that what he was doing was wrong!
- any half sensible peson would have realised that comments like he made would make NEGATIVE headlines, and put Arsenal, the players and manager, in a bad light!

He MUST have known that, yet he still spoke out. Unbelievable.. and from a captain, it's unforgivable.

But, finally... the comments he made were very disturbing and I'm pleased he said them, but he really shouldn't have.

gus ceasar is a legend · Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:44 am

G88ner,

I was talking about the amount of resentment towards Gallas as a whole rather than specifis that have occured lately.

I have agreed that it is mis-guided of Galla to come out with this in the way he has but again, part of being a club captain is being a spokesman. If you are liable to these kind of outbursts then you should not be put in that position in the first place.

If you dangle a lamb chop in front of a dog and he eats it can you really blame the dog?

This whole sorry episode is created by mis-management and that is where the buck stops, the manager!

donaldo · Post by **donaldo** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:48 am

THE BLAME IS ALL DOWN TO WENGER.HE REAPPOINTED GALLAS AS CAPTAIN THIS SUMMER.AT THE MOMENT WE ARE LIKE A SINKING SHIP WITH WENGER THE CAPTAIN OF IT WHO HASNT GOT A CLUE WHAT TO DO.
BUT DONT WORRY ARSENE KNOWS

Post by **g88ner** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:56 am

gus ceasar is a legend wrote:This whole sorry episode is created by mis-management and that is where the buck stops, the manager!

I still believe that with the right partner, Gallas is still a top level defender who can be of great importance to us, and I agreed with Wenger's decision to make him captain at the start of last season.

He shouldn't have retained the captaincy this season, though... and I think Wenger has made an awful mess of this, and it just seems Wenger is making MANY mistakes these days, and perhaps this is the beginning of the end of a great manager.

Anyway, I want to get my opinions across before Wenger has his Friday interview, as I'm sure Wenger will sweep things under the table AGAIN, and insult our intelligence by saying what a great captain Gallas is and talk of our wonderful team spirit

barnfield88 · Post by **barnfield88** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:58 am

fine, fine...i blame...Eboue

Post by **DB10GOONER** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:59 am

Good write up Gus. All bollocks of course. ONLY KIDDING.

The one thing I would say in my own defense is I dislike Gallas the Captain because he is all about one thing - himself. His airing of our dirty laundry in public is down to him feeling sorry for himself NOT down to him having the guts to tell the truth.

His "display" at Brum was also all about him feeling sorry for himself. I agree though that it is down to WENGER to find and appoint a good captain but IMHO Gallas is a selfish and piss poor human being, let alone captain...

A little harsh? Maybe... but I genuinely feel that.

Nice_Guy · Post by **Nice_Guy** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:02 am

Good post Gus. Gallas is definitely a scape goat in all of this. People moan about him but who else can take over? Cescs form is bad enough without the added burden of being Captain (which I fear would force him to the sunny shores of Barca for sure), Toure cant even get in the team now & Clichy doesnt strike me as a leader.

I knew people would jump on his back afetr the Villa game for getting "out muscled" for the 2nd goal. Forget the fact that for 90 minutes we had 2 shots straight at Friedel and were already 1 down, no its all Gallas' fault.

What doesnt get reported is that Gallas does things for the players. Heard a story a while back that he took all the youth team players to a 50 Cent concert & sorted it all himself & paid for it. Its not about money, he didnt do it for good press, he did it as Captain.

No he's not the best Captain in the world & he's no Tony Adams. But there is no-one else pushing him for that arm band so unfortunately he's the best we've got.

gus ceasar is a legend · Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:05 am

Personally I do not care what kind of a person our captain is as long as he is the right man for the job at the right time and gives everything for the cause.

Adams and Henry had/still have certain personal traits that I thank god I do not have and the vast majority loved and are still in love with those players.

Gallas is certainly a loose cannon but if you decide to give him a mouthpiece such as the Arsenal captaincy then do not be suprised if someone who is undoubtedly self-centred and egotistic uses this tool to his advantage along the way.

None of us know the players as well as Wenger and he should have had the foresight to see this sham coming. It is like giving Paul Merson the keys to a bar in Columbia with a bookies next door!

donaldo · Post by **donaldo** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:12 am

As i said earlier it is all down the weak management from Wenger.After what happened at Birmingham last season there was no way Billy should have been re-appointed captain.But stubborn Wenger knew best didnt he?

The same thing happened with Greedybayor,a stronger manger would haver shown him the door in the summer but not Wenger and the guy hasnt broken sweat this season.

Its Wengers sheer stubborness which is destroying the club not Gallas.Lack of quality signings, too much faith in youth.Wenger is the problem he picks the team

Juan · Post by **Juan** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:21 am

My issue is that when Gallas threw his toys out the pram, that should have been the end of his tenure as captain (and quite possibly not to play for us again).

Could you see Fergie or Clough allowing his captain to continue in his side after doing something like that? Staam was thrown out as he revealed being tapped up by Fergie in his biography, and at the time he was one of the top defenders in the world. I'd say what Gallas did was far more serious than Staam and yet he has kept his position and the captaincy.

I fully accept that Wenger is complicit in this situation existing. If you look over the last 4 years or so, we have lost Vieira, Campbell, Gilberto & Lauren. Real leaders who have not been replaced. I also accept that the squad really lacks balance in key areas - again the issue lies with Wenger not recruiting.

My three major problems with Gallas' outburst are:
1) The timing. Very tricky game on Saturday, loads of players out. Not a good time to be slating your team mates.
2) As captain he should be drawing the criticism, instead of dishing it out. 'Taking one for the team' so to speak - I've been playing shit, need to up my game. (Although didn't he do that recently?)
3) Most importantly, he has breached the sanctity of the dressing room. You should be able to speak your mind in there without it going any further. Everyone has to be honest, and should feel safe that it stays behind closed doors so that everyone can say exactly what they think. in doing this he has betrayed the whole squad.

Finally Perry Groves was on Five Live this morning - did I hear him right in him sayuing that Gallas has a book out today?