Gallas tantrum shows that Arsenal are feeling the pressure
On Saturday morning, with some bookmakers, you could get odds as low as 8/11 on Arsenal regaining the Premier League title. And with their lead over Manchester United standing at five points with just twelve league games to play, some people may have argued those odds as fair.
Yet flick through the sports pages and websites today, and you won’t have to look far to find someone who is convinced that yesterday’s 2-2 draw away to 10-man Birmingham (coupled with United’s emphatic 5-1 demolition of Newcastle), proves that in fact Arsenal should not be regarded as favourites for this title. Have the bookmakers, not for the first time, got it all wrong? Or are the doom and gloom merchants gathering around the Emirates guilty off the typical sports writers’ error- over-reaction.
Firstly, the facts. Yesterday, Manchester Utd reduced Arsenal’s lead at the top to three points with a swashbuckling victory away to Kevin Keegan’s hapless Newcastle. It was a lesson in devastating counter-attacking, and ruthless efficiency in front of goal and came just hours after a last minute James McFadden penalty had denied Arsenal a win over a Birmingham side that played the best part of 90 minutes with ten men, after Martin Taylor was dismissed for an ugly looking challenge that left the Gunners’ Croatian striker Eduardo Da Silva with a sickeningly broken leg.
Despite the disruption caused by the injury, it was certainly two points dropped by Wenger’s men, and the manner in which United callously swotted aside Newcastle in front of their own fans suggests that Sir Alex Ferguson’s men knew it too, and hammered home the advantage in typical fashion.
But that isn’t why the cynics are queuing up to hand the initiative back to the defending Champions in the race for the title. Well, not entirely anyway. Yes, United are now just a victory away from regaining top spot (thanks to their slightly superior goal difference), but there is a genuine belief that the draw at Birmingham may not only have come at a cost to Arsenal, but also exposed the mental frailties within Wenger’s young side.
For a start, Eduardo will miss the rest of the season (and probably much more). His injury was horrific; the photographs in today’s media will be remembered for a long long time by anyone who saw them. It is always saddening to see a player pick up such an injury, and one can only hope that the talented Croatian is able to resume his career at the top level in due time. For Arsenal however, the repercussions of such an injury are hard to overestimate. With Robin Van Persie, and now Eduardo, sidelined through injury.
It leaves Emmanuel Adebayor as the only senior striker in the team, with youngsters Nicklas Bendtner & Theo Walcott able to offer support in a bit-part role. An injury or suspension to Adebayor would leave Wenger with a massive problem in attack, as would any loss of form for the Togolese frontman. With Kolo Tourè (calf), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) & Emmanuel Ebouè (suspension) also set to miss at least the next couple of league games- against Aston Villa at home, and Wigan away- it could be a crucial fortnight for Wenger’s depleted squad as the pressure mounts.
And the pressure certainly appeared to have gotten to William Gallas, yesterday. As McFadden prepared to take a 94th minute penalty against his side at St Andrews yesterday, was the Arsenal captain poised on the edge of the penalty area, ready to pounce on any rebound? Was he verbally planting seeds of doubt in the mind of the taker or consoling the visibly rattled Gael Clichy, whose inexplicable misjudgement of a loose ball led to him conceding the penalty?
No. Gallas instead chose to stand alone in the Birmingham half, some sixty yards away from the action, wearing the expression of a child who had been denied a second helping of ice cream. And when McFadden dispatched the penalty powerfully past Manuel Almunia into the Arsenal net, did their skipper attempt to rally his troops? Did he grab the ball from the net and prepare for the restart?
No. Gallas instead chose to petulantly kick the advertising boards in frustration, having to be restrained by the fourth official in the process, before spending the next minute berating someone- Clichy? The referee? Wenger? - in an unbelievable show of immaturity.
Indeed, when the final whistle blew almost immediately after the restart, Gallas opted to spend several minutes slumped dejected on the St Andrews turf, before being ushered off the field by his manager. No claps for the away fans who had been particularly vocal in their support, no show of strength in adversity from the captain, no encouragement for his team-mates, who had been forced to witness one of the most horrific injuries ever witnessed in the Premier League, just sulking and self-pity from a man who really should know better.
What must Sir Alex Ferguson and his side have made of Gallas’ antics? I know what I thought. I thought it smacked of someone who was cracking under pressure, and who believed that yesterday’s dropped points would come back to haunt his side come the end of the season. It is hard to imagine Wayne Rooney, or Paul Scholes, or Rio Ferdinand, slumped on the turf at St James’ Park had yesterdays roles been reversed.
Gallas is the most experienced (regular) outfield player in the Arsenal side, and the only player (Clichy, who played a bit part role in the 2004 title winning side, aside) with a Premier League winners’ medal. He really should be setting an example to his younger team-mates who haven’t experienced a genuine title race yet- the likes of Walcott, Bendtner, Fabregas & Flamini- yet who showed far less sign of feeling the pressure yesterday. Wenger said after the game that Gallas’ actions showed that he was a winner. He was wrong. They showed that he is a bad loser (or draw-er?).
On the positive side, they still created chances almost at will (perhaps to be expected against a ten man side battling relegation), and had Adebayor been his best and Maik Taylor not, the game would have been long over by the time Clichy’s mind went AWOL, Theo Walcott finally added an end product from the wing as he picked up his first (and second) Premier League goals, and with Eduardo & Van Persie absent, he might well have a crucial part to play between now and the end of the season.
And it appears to have been lost in the furore of the weekend that Arsenal ARE still top of the Premier League, despite yesterday’s result. And that it only took a highly debatable last gasp penalty decision to stop them from maintaining a five point lead. Clichy’s challenge on Stuart Parnaby was a desperate one, as the Frenchman looked to make up for his failure to deal with a loose ball in the box, but replays suggest he played the ball.
On another day they would have got away with it, and perhaps their odds would have shortened as the number of games remaining did. As it is, they didn’t. And it will be interesting to see whether Gallas can get all his toys back in his pram in time to lead his side to the title.
- Should Arsenal fans care about Gallas?
- Why Wenger made Gallas Arsenal captain
- What do you remember most about Gallas’ first season at Arsenal?
- Arsenal need Wenger to play more mind games
- Arsenal face the unthinkable
Discussion - 40 Responses
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you know, the reason Gallas was made captain was because of his experience.
you need a strong, inspirational captain when the chips are down and you can see that there are times when United have missed Neville (and Keane) - Giggs is a great player but not the best captain.
with Arsenal, I said it at the time of appointment and I say it again, Gallas is the wrong choice for captain. Agreed, there are few other senior options (Wenger must have seen the decline of Gilberto and Lehmann before us) but that doesn’t mean you make a volatile player captain. He’s not done his team any favours, not with his comments last season nor his actions this season.
as for the pressure thing - the striker thing will count but I think that increasingly, Chelsea’s role in the title race will be more and more important. If they keep up the pressure and especially if they beat Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, that will give the title race a very interesting twist (I am, of course, assuming that Arsenal will lose at Old Trafford).
Well of course he is going to flip out like that, I mean his teammate was destroyed by a tackle that was done on purpose. You can tell that it was intentional if you look at the reaction taylor has after making the tackle. He’s smiling and laughing, that’s why he should be suspended for life because he intentionally went out onto the pitch in an attempt to cause pain and suffering to another player, particularly a Croat. What better way for England to get revenge than to pussy foot there way into a World cup with Eduardo out of Croatia. Anyway Gallas obviously wanted to get the win and it should have been there win as there was no free kick or penalty. It was bad refereeing. Of course they wanted to win for Eduardo at least. So to explode like that is acceptable due to circumstances
Ahmed, you assume Arsenal will lose at OT do you? Like you assumed Man Ure would have beaten Man City and got 3 points at the Spuds.
Lets not kid ourselves these games are played on paper.
Like Arsenal apparently havent a prayer against Milan, well track record in Italy is very good in recent years (Juve, Inter, Roma) all won playing 2nd legs away…
Yawn
Lazy bullsh*t article. The same garbage thats been trotted out time and again this season.
Gawd knows what emotions the players were going thru that day? Gallas’ reaction, for me, was perfectly understandable.
Injuries are the only thin g that may hinder the team, not this garbage non-argument about mentality.
BORING.
I´m not sure that Gallas’ actions can be criticised too vehemently. That’s not to say that they were correct, but the circumstances were extreme (unlike last week), and Gallas at least primarily damaged himself (by sulking) rather than lashing out at others. Sure, as captain he might’ve been more responsible. But it must have been a pretty emotional time, and Gallas has always been a hothead. Not sure which way I swing on this one. Either way, expect a swarm of Arsenal fans to send you hate mail or the blog equivalent for deigning to suggest that Gallas acted immaturely.
Ahmed;
Gallas has been a top captain and Wenger’s decision in making him so has already been proved correct. The guy aint an effin robot. If St Terry of Chavski had done it, it would have shown his passion and winning mentality. Coz its a scummy foreigner then its petulance and a bad mentality.
vinko you are a plank.
Not one professional observer has concluded that Taylor was guilty odf anything oither than not beoing quick enough to deal with a player who was too skillfiul for him.
You do yourself and your club no good, much the same as the charmless nerk that is Wenger.
They say a team embodies it’s manager, well Arsenal do. Wonderful and fluent when things go their way, petulant, sulking and irrational under pressure.
That is why you probably won’t win the league.
Howard Zend sums it up very well. Lazy BS article. The pressure is on Arsenal. The pressure is on all teams in the Premier League race. Given the run of injuries and bad luck it’s clear the pressure is on. No points for getting that. But Chelsea for example are under much more pressure. £600M spent, out of the Carling Cup, only a miracle can see them win the league.
In Any case the young Arsenal team have proven they can handle the pressure.
The daftest part of this otherwise balanced article is where you write that United are just one victory away from topping the table. You seem to assume Arsenal will lose again. United are more likely to lose. They have done so 4 times already this season.
I’ve always said it of Arsenal, and yesterday against Birmingham (and the week before against Manchester United), William Gallas, captain of the team helped prove me right… They are the worst losers and most childish team in the league. Probably the world… This is why they will struggle to see out the league in first place… There’s a long way to go.
Mind you, failing to beat a team struggling to stay in the league with a one man advantage… I can understand the frustration. But it’s how the individuals (and the team) deal with it which proves their character and worth.
You Man U fans do yourselves no favours spouting such ridiculous rubbish. Keep gloating. We’ll see what happens come May…
This is just another bias article. Fans of Arsenal all over the world are now praying for Eduardo to recover, not talking about how many points gain or loss. ManU are forever a sickening team that enjoy mounting agony on others. They are the worst bunch of players that prey on others misery.
OUR MANAGER AND CAPTAIN ARE CRAKING UNDER THE PRESSURE . THE PROBLEM IS THAT ITS SELF INFLICTED . HE CHUCKED 2 CUPS AND HAS PUT ALL HIS EGGS IN 1 BASKET , THE LEAGUE . IT WAS A MASSIVE MISTAKE WHICH WILL BACKFIRE ON HIM COME THE END OF THE SEASON .HE HAS MADE TOO MANY BIG MISTAKES THIS YEAR AND IS NOW IN DANGER OF TURNING THE SEASON INTO A TOTAL DISASTER .NOT GOOD MANAGEMENT .
I agree that Arsenal is under pressure but what kind of rubbish is this article and the following responses truly?
I would hope that people who are contributing to this site voluntarily would not be lowering themselves to the level of the everyday press.
Arsenal lost a game, in which one of their players was ruined possibly for life, on two dubious calls from the ref. Look at the score line. After losing a player for the rest of the year and conceding a goal in the first half they rallied to take the lead and then were undone by a bad penalty call.
Then their captain who is a very emotion driven player gets upset about this turn of events and all of a sudden Arsenal are cracking and the league is lost to them?
People, get you heads on straight and stop making the season into one game or one moment of one game. Comment on facts. Arsenal’s injuries and Manchester United’s quality are the only two things that are really relevant at this time. ManU and Arsenal have been running neck and neck pretty much the whole season. Both teams have had snags along the way and decisive victories as well. Not one of those games alone is going to tell you how they will finish the season.
It was 1 point for the Gunners this weekend and 3 for ManU. The most relevant thing to come out of this weekend is that and the fact that Arsenal lost a starting striker.
Boom - surely you can understand a discussion about Gallas’ reaction? Not from the doomsayers’ “Arsenal have blown the title” angle, but in terms of questioning Gallas’ credentials as a captain. It’s not the reaction I would have wanted from my captain - I would have understood it (again, this week, not last week when it was simply a case of being sore losers) from one of the younger players, but not from the man who is supposed to set an example. As we have both stated, Gallas is an extremely emotional type. But captains have to swallow their emotions at times and subsume them into leadership. That’s the most valuable question I feel to come out of such an article.
Every considered that Gallas my just have felt utterly devestated by seeing how the food of one of his teammates got almost seperated off and then Birmingham getting a very soft penalty rewarded. It might not have been the behaviour of a captain but it was a very human reaction.
Ahmed Bilal, Lehmann is not in decline, he has been massive for Germany and he did a fine job when he came in for Arsenal and should have kept his place after the game against Milan. Almunia cost us two point yesterday with his bad positioning for freekicks again.
And Gilberto’s decline is Wenger’s fault. He snubbed him over the captaincy, benched him and now his fantastic form of last season and his confidence is gone. Sometimes a player is in decline, sometimes a coach destroys a player.
A bit bias, but generally a good article. Gallas’ actions on Saturday were laughable - He was acting as if he lost a cup final. I’m not saying he isn’t the best choice for captaincy but I don’t think he’s a great captain. Can you imagine Keane or Gerrard sulking/throwing a tantrum in the same situation? Great captains never give up. Whatever Wenger says about his actions, sitting like a dumpling in the middle of the pitch can only have negative implications on the Arsenal title race. What would you think of your captain if he acted like Gallas?
Its pointless to commnet on this article, especially with many comments echoing my own sentiments. Are you going to critisize Theo for downplaying his celebrations after scoring? The author seems to have forgotten that someone was badly injured and after seeing Cesc’s and Hleb’s faces after the injury, its surprising that we got something out of the match. Plus the last foul was not a penalty but there was a definite foul on Adebayor just before that.
As for Wenger, he hit it on the spot when he said, “To stop Arsenal, you have to kick Arsenal, and this happened because it was allowed many times in the past”. I couldnt have put it better……………..
Sue writes in:
I really object to your piece on William Gallas. How dare you slander our captains name.
Different people have different ways of dealing with shock and if you dont realise that then you are not human. Get off of his back!!!!
Agreed Sue, but football is a game for professionals. Gallas was unprofessional, and as his status as Arsenal captain the Arsenal fans deserve a lot more.
I think we should stop and consider for a second the fantastic composure shown by most Arsenal players in the aftermath of the injury. Seriously, quality stuff and worth respect.
Having said that (and I doubt Neil’s forgotten the above, he’s just focusing on something else), Gallas is not a worthy captain.
Wenger’s comments are inflammatory and feed the paranoia that he has built around the club, a paranoia that the fans have readily bought into. Siege mentality is a tactic used in desperation - for a team 3 points ahead in the table, these are hardly desperate times.
I played with words a bit above, but you’ve done nothing different iqnadir (well, you quoted Wenger, I just pointed out an alternative viewpoint), I hope you’ll allow me that space too.
Not to mention that Wenger retracted those comments afterwards
Ahmed, go work for the tabloids. You are unprofessional, ya little brat.
I would love to see you in Gallas’s shoes and walk around them for a bit.
Gallas is under huge pressure to perform and lead a young, but immature team past the MOST-HATED team in the world. One of his team’s best strikers is out of the season from a really nasty injury. I would be a little heated too.
Gallas showed the world that is human just like all of us.
I pray for a quick recovery for Eduardo and hope Gallas can become less emotional during matches.
**NOTE: Manchester United fans are the most-hated fans because they are the most spoiled fans in the soccer world. **
I am also directing my previous post to both Ahmed Bilal and Neil Jones, the original writer of the article.
Neil: go work for the tabloids.
Gallas is only human.
Sohail, you can’t say that Manchester United have the most spoilt fans in the world, considering the type of slander Arsenal fans constantly berate other clubs, when things don’t go their way.
Iqnadirshah, I can’t agree with you more that to stop Arsenal, you have to kick them. But this is true with any other big clubs. Oh how you forget the treatment of Arsenal on Manchester United! It is part of the game, accept it. Eduardo isn’t the first person to sustain this sort of injury and he will not be the last! The tackle on Eduardo may be bad but the treatment of Taylor is far worse. I don’t remember Eboue being regarded as blasphemy!
Besides that, Arsenal fans, cool down. The article is just speaking of Gallas who is never captain material. He is as worthy of the captaincy as Eboue is worthy of a right-back spot. Adebayor looks the more likely candidate for the job in my opinion, inspirational and looks a real class act. But that is just me.
“**NOTE: Manchester United fans are the most-hated fans because they are the most spoiled fans in the soccer world. **”
Really Sohail!! Get your facts straight please. It’s because Utd are the biggest, best supported and most dominant PL team and have been for 15 years. Utd fans wouldn’t have it any other way!!
The pressure is now on. Gallas hasn’t got the emotional strength for the job. Don’t bet against a major display of petulance from the Arsenal players at Old Trafford in a few weeks.
If things don’t go their way the only thing guaranteed is that Arsenal will spit the dummy and Wenger will have selective vision as usual.
Dumped out out of the FA Cup by Utd, a good display but ultimately bad result against Milan leaves them on the brink in Europe and they cap off the week by dropping 2 points they should never have dropped.
Signs the pressure is getting to Arsenal??”
This Arsenal team has bags of ability but have they got the bottle for the battle??
You can be damn sure Utd do.
Dave, keep your wise ass ideas to yourself and whichever club you support. Gallas is our captain appointed by the Boss and he will be captain till the Boss rules otherwise. True he showed severe hotheadedness(if thats a word), but so what? It happens on a daily basis. What doesnt happen is a player going for a stupid challenge, tackling with the other eventually on the ground writhing with pain, and the filthy f**kface looks at his teammate, shakes his head, says something to him and walks, not even looking at the player he’s injured. Now Cesc, a teammate comes, looks at Eduardo, puts his hands to his head and calls for the first aid immediately. There’s also his team mate Hleb who looks extremely shocked.Thats concern. And by the way, there were no B’ham players anywhere close to Eduardo even if it was only out of curiousity. If any of the retards here are going to tell me that Taylor didnt mean it, he’s completely distraught at the injury he’s caused, well he certainly didnt look in the least ‘distraught’ till he received his red card.
It’s a bad blow to us but we’ll regroup and start playing again with Gallas as captain(with the blessings of the Boss)………..
To the writer of this article, your statement about how someone like rooney would not have acted in this “unsportsmanlike” manner goes to show that you are not the best judge of character therefore the objectivity of your article is immediately thrown into doubt. Aside from the fact that man utd are one of the most unsavoury teams when things are not going their way, Gallas’ behaviour can be justified depending on how you argue it.
He was obviously very emotional over the loss of a team mate and then a moment of madness from Clichy gifted the opposition a penalty. In addition to this, this is the second time in 2 successive premiership games that Clichy has given away a goal so it is understandable that Gallas would be upset. Everyone loses their cool and i think it was quite justified. After all, this is the league title we are talking about here.
Boring article, Gallas’s reaction was bad but in light of the circumstances it was completely understandable, the best point is that John Terry would have been exactly the same, as would most captains. Maybe thats why the author has to lie about Gallas berating Clichy.
Now I know when things don’t go well most Man U fans tend to pretend football doesnt exist and so arent aware of negative feelings but just try imagining if Anderson got his leg snapped by an aggresive oaf and Man U conceded a dubious penalty in the very last minute of the same game. would ferdinand have done the same thing? Maybe, maybe not, either way you would have defended his action just like we are.
Whilst i understand the concerns about Eduardo and his sickening injury, i deliberately kept my opinions on Taylor and that tackle well out of the article as it is a touchy subject and one i dont think i deserve to comment on, i wanted to concentrate on what i saw as genuinely poor captaincy from Gallas in a moment of huge adversity for Arsenal.
(by the way, i was speculating about who he was verbally berating- hence the question marks- i never claimed it WAS clichy, but it does seem feasible, even if i was unable to lipread his rant)
Simmy, have you observed how Rooney behved on the three ocassions he was made captain? He was an angel.
As for Gallas not being a good captain, we should just let it to rest. True that the boss might give the armband to someone, but if the feeling in the dressing room is not a pleasant one and the captain does nothing or little about it, then another player will become a “dresing room captain”. Did you see the way the Drogba, Lampard and Terry took turns in encouraging their team mates yesterday? That is what I am talking about. On top of that I am willing to bet that the main motivational force in the Man Utd dressing room is not Giggs, Neville, Ronaldo or Scholes. The real leadership come from Ferdinand, VDS and Rooney.
So whether Gallas is a good captain or not is irrelevant as are his reactions. If the players feel leader-less they will turn to someone else.
The fact that all arsenal fans are trying to avoid is that they drew against a relegation threatened side.They played against10 men for 87 min and failed to win.United now smell blood and will chase like a dog after a little cat.Dont give me that bullshit that they were emotionally affected.Newsflash!Manutd dont give a fuck!Manutd now are playing the best football and arsenal are rattled.They failed to take full advantage of manutd earlier season problems and now it will haunt them.gallas was pathetic.Crying?give me a fucking break,he was supposed to the experienced head but the younger players behaved better.What message does this show to the rest?
I take my comments back for insulting Man U fans.
I was just defending Gallas in the position he was put it in and got a little too emotional.
This is not to justify anything, but I’m putting it only as a reminder to Arsenal fans about our captain’s conduct and the supposed lack of leadership qualities. Arseblog reports that Gallas spent much of the last week with Sagna after the death of his bro consoling him and his family. So i guess that clears our captain and he knows how much every wrong decision that goes against us means to everyone and he just showed his disgust at the official(who deserved some more). We have some tough matches ahead and we do count on Gallas to lead us, he he………
iqnadir,
it doesn’t clear the captain of acting like a petulant retard and setting a bad example for the team on the pitch.
yes, a teammate is supposed to watch for his comrades, which Gallas does in the incident you refer to. But how does that exonerate Gallas from another, unrelated event that happened on the pitch?
then again, he should be fine, so should Arsenal.
AHMED U ARE A CLOWN; APPERANTLY U ARE THOSE ANTI ARSENAL GUYS FROM THE MAN UNITED CAMP. I AM NOT AN ARSENAL FAN BUT IF YOU ARE FAULTING GALLAS BEHAVIOUR GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCE U ARE JUST BEING RIDICULOUS. MIND U THIS IS FOOTBALL, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN TO ANY PLAYER IN THE NEXT 11 MATCHES. I AM NOT PRAYING IT HAPPENS TO ANY TEAM OR ANY PLAYER. BUT WHAT IF IT DOES HAPPEN TO MAN U PLAYER I AM SURE U WILL HERE DEFENDING THE COMMITMENT OF THE PLAYER INSTEAD OF FAULTING THE UNPROFESSIONAL DISPLAY OF A FRUSTRATED PLAYER. GALLAS IS HUMAN GIVE HIM A BREAK, HE JUST SAW A TEAM-MATE BEING TAKEN OFF WITH A CARRIER THREATENING INJURY AND ANOTHER TEAMMATE FOOLISHLY GIVEN AWAY THE POINTS AND HIS EMOTIONS TOOK THE BETTER OF HIM SO WHAT?I AM SURE YOU WILL NOT PERFORM BETTER THAN HE DID GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCE. SO DROP THE ISSUE AND GROW UP
STALLONE-ROCK. you’re very wrong here…no manutd fan r anti-arsenal, they r anti-liverpool.
gallas is NOT a good captain , but that is my personal opinion , its down 2 wenger 2 decide. but lets be fair recent captains in manutd n arsenal were not calmminded( viera, keane). actually controlled himself…he did not karate-kick a fan , did he?
N, really arsenal should not be under any pressure… remember last year, everyone was predicting they were goind 2 end 5th? actually, the pressure should be on manutd 4 their moneyspending 2 a title winning side…
This is all getting rather ridiculous. Neil wrote a article about the reaction of Gallas after the game and the effects it could cause to Arsenals psyce during the title showdown. But as it often goes, its turned into a slagging match between the upset Arsenal fans (due to a horrific incident, a unjust penalty call and unexplainable Captaincy) and the Reds fans.
I think what Neil wrote was a genuine article of HIS opinion. The debate is whether or not it was just a reaction of a highly emotional afternoon or that Gallas was showing he and maybe his team-mates are feeling the pressure of a very impressive United team - nothing else.
In my view, Gallas was wrong to do what he did no matter what emotion he was feeling. He is the CAPTAIN and senior figure in a very young side and it his duty to lead them through tough times with his head held high. He is the LEADING EXAMPLE.
But however much you debate on whether it was emotion or pressure it tells us nothing, because at the end of the day leagues are won by points, not the amount of stress you can put on a team.
And united are chasing!
I don’t really care about Gallas being a good/bad captain (in fact, the shitter, the better) nor Arsenal cracking under pressure (hope they do though).
To me its just funny how Arsenal management, players and fans share the same trait - the ‘Love for Excuses’.
If you pay someone a COUPLE of MILLION pounds, you’d EXPECT him to behave PROFESSIONAL. (at the end of the day, we the fans are actually paying the players).
The injury was a bad one (my sincere condolences to Eduardo), but compare the reactions with that of a similiar injury to Alan Smith about 3 years ago (against bitterest rivals), and it’s easy to see the immaturity/unprofessionalism of some super-rich boys.