Gallas, Toure and Adams: Captaincy

On April 26, 2008 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

This morning there’s some controversy about our captiancy.

Toure has said:

“Gallas was really good for us at the start of the season but then after this Birmingham game he made a mistake, he knows that and we all tried to bring him back to the team and he came back well.When you make a mistake it is difficult after that, it was a really important part of our season.”

“I would be really, really proud to be captain. I am now one of the oldest players in the squad so naturally I feel like a captain and it doesn’t matter if I have the armband or not.”

Toure wants the armband desparately. He could be a good captian, but I don’t think he’s a real leader.

Gallas has hit back:

“They [the media] can say what they want… they will not bring me down, I’m stronger than that. It makes me mad because I don’t think [what happened in Birmingham] was our problem. How can you summarise our season with that thing at Birmingham? That is not why we stopped winning matches.

“It’s true, we shouldn’t pin all of our problems on the Birmingham game, we made too many defensive errors in the last few games, that’s what it came down to.

Read the original article here.

Could Adams be the man to sort out our defence? He is out of contract at Portsmouth and willing to come back. He makes a good point about the defence:

“I just feel that people don’t realise that the best back four win the league. The last two seasons Manchester United have had the best back four and, before that, John Terry and his men were fantastic for two years.

“We’ve kept more clean sheets at Portsmouth than Arsenal have, but I’m not going to question the great man [Wenger].

“I love the club, it was part of my life for so many years and if anyone at Arsenal wants to invite me back, I’m willing to give it a shot”

It would be great to see him back, and he could do a good job on the defence!

Wenger Talks Plus Hleb and Flamini Rumours

On April 16, 2008September 4, 2010 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal1 Comment

Morning,

Just thought I’d mention, if you haven’t subscribed to the ArseSpeak RSS feed you can do it by clicking here! It makes it much easier to keep up to date with the latest posts, why not try it!

Wenger says he’s not afraid to spend big in the transfer market, I guess we all knew that anyway though, he just doesn’t always need to. Really we just need a few quality players, big or small amount doesn’t matter.

There are rumours concerning Hleb and Flamini see here.
Bayern and Juventus are linked to Flamini, while Hleb is being followed by Inter (more ice-cream promised) with more interest from Real Madrid, Juve and Barcelona.

It would be very damaging to us if we lost these guys, they have been two of our most crucial players this year, and to lose half of your first choice midfielders would be hard. I think it is speculation, but a very real possibility.

The Flamster will hopefully sign a new deal in the next few weeks while he’s out injured. Hleb I hope will also see how good he has it here at Arsenal.

They should remember the curse! Players who have left under Weneger never do as well at their new clubs!

Sagna says he could spend the rest of his career at Arsenal. He loves the club and it shows, he has been one of the most consistent performers this year making the right back slot his own! I hope he does stay for a long time.

Glen Little really wants to beat us on Saturday. It’s funny, because Reading players always seem to make these comments, I remember Dave Kitson saying something similar a few months back!

Ade says here that the team owe it to the fans and his mum to win the remaining games.

“What we have to do to achieve things. That is the most important thing now.”

“It is difficult, but I know my mum will be somewhere watching the TV, so I have to play for her, all my family and all the people who love Arsenal.”

“We have to win all those games now, to play for our honour and for our fans.”

“The fans have been great to me this season, always singing my name and taking me into their hearts.”

“I hope to do something better next season than what I have done this year and hopefully bring something home for this club. Those are the things I am fighting for.”

Rosicky is continuing to recover from his injuries back home in Prague.

Interesting stuff here at Arsenal Vision, some really great analysis on the untruths of the media and our squad. Turns out we have a good goal return from the strike force, just lack goals from midfield:

“The fact still remains that Arsenals strikers; Adebayor, Van Persie, Bendtner, Eduardo and Walcott have scored more goals than any strike force in the league except Tottenham’s.”

“56 goals from the Arsenal frontmen. United’s Tevez, Rooney and Saha have 39”.

Wrighty7 backs Gallas against the backstabbers out there, I have to agree. People seem to be looking for scapegoats, especially Adebayor and Gallas. They were both being praised by everyone two months ago, Gallas was a fantastic leader and Adebayor a goal machine. Now Gallas apparently should lose his captaincy and Ade is awful.

How stupid, people should get real and see how much good work they have put in this season. Wrighty also bigs up our excellent full backs Clichy and Sagna.

Hoping we can keep the squad together,

Cheers

Flamini Out For Three Weeks As Lehmann Rants

On April 11, 2008September 4, 2010 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Bad injury news today: Flamini will be out for about three weeks Wenger says here.

This is a blow for us. Flamini has been a revelation for us this season and we will miss him. Le Boss says Gilberto will come in. I was hoping Flamini wouldn’t be out long, but it seems Gilberto is going to get his chance. Wenger said:

“It is a big blow but Gilberto has a lot of quality and experience. He will come in. He can help the team recover and focus. Robin van Persie is available. He had two good sessions yesterday and today. He looks to be OK and we’ll see how we go from here. But Bacary Sagna is out.”

So it looks like RVP will start on Sunday, pity about Sagna.

I really think Walcott has warranted a starting place too. He has been really good all season and his inspirational run in midweek really was a big boost for his chances in the first team. His team mates have been praising him here. Kolo says:

“Theo’s run was fantastic, with a great pass at the end. He is a good player and is improving every time. I think he is going to be one of the best players in England.”

Willy Gallas is pretty low after the Liverpool result. Not exactly what you want to hear from the captain before you go into a big game on Sunday. I hope he changes his attitude sooner rather than later. there were doubts about him being captain, maybe these are showing through now we are at a low point in the season. A captian needs to be a leader. Come on Willy..

Lehmann is ranting on about how he would have kept us in the Champions League. Jens is a bit temperamental and after a season fuming on the bench that was probably too much for him. Maybe he was hoping Manuel wouldn’t save the pen. I don’t think it would have made much of a difference anyway, he needs to shut up, pretty soon!

Henry Winter writes here, about how we have to learn to win ‘ugly’. We have heard this before to be honest but it still makes an interesting read.. He also thinks we should have strengthened the squad and I agree to be honest.

Fergie says Manchester United are ready for Arsenal. Ok ok Fergie, blah blah blah.

Alright thanks guys, thats it today!