William Gallas insisted today there is a greater togetherness in
the Arsenal squad than when he joined.
After late goals from Robin van Persie and Alexander Hleb helped
Arsenal snatch a 2-1 win against Fulham at Emirates Stadium, Gallas
explained he detected a shift in the mood among players during the
pre-season.
The Gunners skipper, who joined from Chelsea a year ago, said:
"When I came here the one thing I wanted to do was win. Last year
was not easy because we had too many injuries and this year
everything has changed.
"I can tell you it changed from pre-season - how the players train,
how they fight on the pitch, and when I saw that I said, 'we will
do something'."
The Frenchman believes the fightback will enable Arsenal to lay
down a marker to their title rivals.
He said: "We showed everybody we can fight. Maybe something will
happen this year. Maybe we can win something, I don't know. The
squad are very compact. They want to win. They want to fight. They
want to go back home and enjoy it. If you want to have that, you
have to work very hard on the pitch.
"Last season, we drew our first game and that happened a lot last
season. This year, we take three points. It was very important to
win this game because we don't play in the Premier League on
Wednesday which means we will have three points less."
In a public show of unity, Gallas called the players together for a
post-match huddle seconds after the final whistle.
He explained: "We don't have to show everybody we're together, only
for Arsenal.
"In pre-season we spoke a lot about that. We have to be compact, we
have to play together. If we win, we win together. If we lose, we
lose together.
"Today, I feel we were a little bit nervous. I know game by game we
will play better, score a lot of goals and not [have to] fight how
we fought today. I know if we play our football, everything will be
okay."
The game was his first since being appointed captain by Arsene
Wenger on Thursday.
Gallas said: "When he said 'you will be captain' I was very proud
and said 'thank you'. I didn't think about being captain but, trust
me, I'm happy.
"I'm 30 years old. I have experience and I have to speak with the
young players to give them good advice.
"I don't have to shout because they know what they have to do. I
have only to speak with them, that's it. For me the most important
thing is the squad, it is not to be captain. I'm very proud to be
captain of Arsenal because before me you had [Patrick] Vieira and
Tony Adams."
The greatest thorn in Arsenal's side was Fulham's replacement
goalkeeper Tony Warner, who only knew he would be playing 20
minutes before the start after Antti Niemi injured himself during
the warm-up.
Warner pulled off a string of fine saves before his resistance was
finally broken by Van Persie's penalty after Kolo Toure was impeded
by Carlos Bocanegra.
"I thought it was a bit harsh. There were a few penalty appeals
early on where there were dives. I thought he just ran into the
player," said Warner.
There was a brief melee as the Arsenal players tried to get the
ball back to the centre circle, which resulted in cautions for
Warner, team-mate Papa Bouba Diop and Arsenal's Mathieu
Flamini.
The Fulham goalkeeper said: "They wanted to get the ball up the
pitch. As far as I'm concerned, when we concede the goal it's our
ball as it's our kick-off. There was a conflict of opinions.
"They were a little bit keen but that's football. You expect
it."
Dives? go rot him la. Just say
that you're very upset that you lost. wth. Hleb must keep up with
his good form and his wish to get 10 goals can be
fufilled.
