Wenger: William has my full support
Manager Arsène Wenger has defended captain William Gallas and
his style of leadership on and off the pitch.
The former Chelsea defender was a surprise choice for many when
he was chosen to be made captain at the start of the season, and
has come under fire for a public display of emotion in recent
games.
Gallas has also come under fire in the English press for
apparently criticising Theo Walcott, and saying that he has no
friends at Arsenal, comments which obviously have been
misconstrued.
Wenger said: "I believe he had not the best of performances on
Sunday, and he would be the first to agree with that, but I don't
question his leadership nor his position in the team.
"You have the same William Gallas - and the same people said it
was a good choice to make him captain when we were five points
ahead, and you have not to go too much overboard.
"He said Walcott could be the next Wayne Rooney, but he has to
work. What is wrong with that? You want at 18 years of age to not
work? It's unbelievable.
"I read it really carefully, it didn't say anything wrong on
that. After the way it has been turned, yes.
"If you want to win the World Cup you have to accept that your
players are highly exposed, you have to accept that you have to
work.
"Is it an insult to say somebody has to work? I don't know, I
don't think so.
"I believe at the moment when you don't go well, everybody is
analysed a little bit more, with scrutiny.
"But what we want to do is perform well as a team again and we
know we can do that.
"And on Sunday, for example, we played okay, but we have to
improve. Recently what punished us a lot is that defensively we
have made big mistakes.
"William has my full support and my full backing and I am
completely behind him, and behind the team as well.
"We are going through a bad patch, I agree with you, but we want
to come back and win the games again that we can win."
