Gallas not certain to be captain next season
Add comment April 19th, 2008
The position of captain has been one of the most hotly-debated topics at Arsenal this season. Â Back in August, everybody expected Gilberto to win the armband, with Kolo Toure as his deputy. Â Probably even Cesc Fabregas was seen as a more likely successor to Thierry Henry than the eventual winner: William Gallas snuck up on the outside to claim the honour of becoming only the fourth captain of Arsene’s twelve year reign.
In the early part of the season, it looked a masterstroke. Â Gallas was taking responsibility and seemed to have regained the focus displayed during his title-winning days at Chelsea.
However, as the pressure mounted, Gallas crumbled. Â His sulk at Birmingham has become a season defining moment – commentator Johnathan Pearce noted he looked like he’d lost every trophy going in one game, and arguably that’s just what happened.
Whilst he’s undoubtedly an excellent defender on his day, Gallas is plainly not a natural leader.  It’s therefore unsurprising (and arguably promising) that Arsene is considering changing the captaincy at the end of the season.  Asked if Gallas would retain the armband, he said:
“I cannot answer that question at the moment. I want to analyse the season after it has finished. At the moment he will be my captain until the end of the season.
I believe he has learned a lot this year and I can only say that his commitment and desire to do well was exceptional. For the rest, I wouldn’t like to go into any individual assessment at the moment.
I made that decision and I have to stand up for that decision, I have to protect the team and the individuals as well at the moment.”
Coming from Arsene, a man not prone to speculation, the open-ended nature of those comments takes on an added significance. How Gallas would feel about being replaced, or who Arsene would even bestow the honour upon are massive questions. With the obvious choice arguably being Kolo Toure, and the admission from most fans that our central defensive partnership simply does not function, is it possible that Gallas could be on his bike this Summer? I certainly can’t see him keeping quiet about being stripped of the captaincy, should that ever take place.
Arsene says he wants to bring in one or two “real quality” players, but those are unlikely to be strikers, with Wenger keen to give more playing time to Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner. That, for me, would be somewhat of a gamble on the fitness of Robin van Persie.
Today we face Reading, and for squad morale it’s pretty crucial we put in a performance and get what is starting to feel like the rarest of commodities: a win. Jens Lehmann could play his last game for the club as Manuel Almunia is out with a wrist injury. Arsene is as yet undecided as to whether Philippe Senderos is ready to return after his harrowing experience at Anfield.
Prior to the game, I’ll be playing in the annual Arseblog five-a-side tournament. My team won last year, so here’s hoping we pick up a similar result this time round.
Come on my team, and come on Arsenal.
