When William Gallas chose his own website as the forum to be
critical of Arsene Wenger's recruitment strategy, it was not
unreasonable to assume he could have been shown the door by his
manager.
Gallas's first season at Arsenal had been a frustrating one,
hampered by some casual performances and a thigh injury that
limited his involvement to under half of the club's fixtures.
Where was the player, supporters wondered, who was a mainstay of
the best defence in Europe during Jose Mourinho's two title-winning
seasons at Chelsea and who, some Stamford Bridge regulars claim,
was even more influential than John Terry?
The answer was at Emirates Stadium on Saturday. Pumping his fist,
thumping his chest, kissing his badge and hugging his manager after
denying Manchester United victory with a last-gasp swipe of his
right boot.
He is now so influential he is likely to be only one of four
players retained from the draw with United who starts against
Slavia Prague tonight.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has taken the decision to rest key
men Cesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb, both of whom did not travel
with the squad to the Czech Republic, while Kolo Toure and Tomas
Rosicky are injured.
Emmanuel Adebayor, Mathieu Flamini and Bacary Sagna will probably
all drop to the bench against a team beaten 7-0 at Emirates two
weeks ago.
Promoting Gallas to the captaincy ahead of Gilberto and Toure,
even Fabregas miffed many Arsenal fans. But perhaps it is another
Wenger masterstroke as he has led from the front in the very best
tradition of inspirational Arsenal captains such as Tony Adams and
Patrick Vieira.
"When things go well everybody is a leader. When things are
difficult you need somebody to step up and you look for your
captain. Is William that type of player? He can be," said former
Gunners defender Nigel Winterburn.
"He is a terrific player. The problem he has had since he came to
the club is that he has been injured a lot and in and out of the
team. If he has a run of 10 to 15 games we will see the best of
him."
Gallas has occasionally alienated himself from Arsenal's players
with his outspoken views on their displays. One such outburst
earned a stern rebuke from Wenger last season, prompting Gallas to
moan to the French media that his particular brand of frankness was
unappreciated.
For all his foibles, Gallas is a born winner with an abundance of
top-level experience. Club insiders say he is the most vocal
presence in a dressing room not bursting with extroverts. One
school of thought is that Wenger felt the best way of keeping the
temperamental 31-year-old focused on the cause was to give him the
captaincy.
But Winterburn said: "Knowing Arsene, I don't think he would give
anybody the captaincy to make them toe the line. It's just down to
instinct and choice. Arsene sees something in William that he
likes."
One Arsenal fans' website reckoned after Saturday's encounter that
Gallas is a better captain than his two French predecessors, Vieira
and Thierry Henry, and the best the club have had since
Adams.
Yet Winterburn insists it will take a lot for Gallas to be
remembered in the same breath in N5 as Arsenal's legendary
centre-back. "You need to spend 15 years to emulate what Tony
achieved," said Winterburn.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have yet to get to the root of Rosicky's
niggling injury problems.
Pavel Kolar, the Czech team doctor, claims the club are not aware
of the nature of Rosicky's muscle problems and believes they
require a five-month daily regime of correctional exercises to
fully cure.