William Gallas' much publicised public outburst following Arsenal's humiliating home defeat to an outstanding Aston Villa side last week has come as a surprise to the Arsenal fans and of course Arsene Wenger. The North London side cannot afford to have someone as captain who frequently chooses to go public with his side's internal problems and glad to see Wenger has taken appropriate action.
What made Gallas think he had the right to talk of player fights and animosities in front of the media when there is a sincere and a committed lot of top coaching staff in place to give direction to an inexperienced side? The likes of Tony Adams, Patrick Viera were strong leaders even though they had disciplinary problems of their own. They were successful and so was Arsenal because they handled the media well and their off the field strong attitude reflected on the ground. Gallas clearly let the power get to his head and how misguided he was.
William Gallas is not the same man that he was with London rivals Chelsea. Since his arrival at the Emirates in 2006, the Gallic defender, it seems, is a frustrated man having failed to win a single trophy of any sorts since his move. Last season's agonizing 2-2 draw with Birmingham City that virtually sealed the Gunners' fate in the Premiership revealed William Gallas' frustrations towards the end of the match when he went off the playing field at St Andrew's virtually in tears even before the home side's injury time penalty was taken. Gallas showed no signs of a captain by watching the penalty from the touchline when he should have been in there waiting for any potential rebound. Arsene Wenger should have taken action against his captain at that very moment yet some force which the French manager knows himself prevented him from taking.
After his scathing attack on Arsenal's young guns, it seems Gallas has taken the issue too far and Arsene Wenger now has an added responsibility to look after, to prevent deep friction within the side which could snowball into something serious in the next few weeks wrecking Arsenal's already faint title aspirations. The mood has changed unbelievably in the past week. A fortnight ago the Emirates came to life with a battling victory over champions Manchester United but all the good work has come undone by events both on and off the field over the past week. Wenger has made the right decision to strip Gallas of the captaincy, which was in the best interests of all, and we can only hope that Wenger looks to appoint someone who possesses all the necessary attributes and one who is befitting of the Arsenal armband.
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