On Arsenal
Gallas sympathy for Gunners fans
I’ve got sympathy for the Arsenal fans. They’re watching their club fail in a title race and they’re frustrated because the club didn’t give itself the best chance of winning the Premier League this season.
Some fans are really upset with the players, and they’re against the manager, against the club.
At the beginning of the season, after what they did last year, everybody thought they would win the league.
We all know what the problem is. They didn't buy a striker during the preseason and that's the biggest mistake they made. Arteta put too much trust in his attacking players.
I’ve been saying that Arsenal need to sign a world-class striker for two years. If you want to win the league, you need to have a striker that can score at least 20 goals. It didn't happen.
Arteta had confidence that he had enough in his squad, but as the season has gone on, the injuries have stacked up and it looks like a huge mistake to not bring in a striker.
Arteta is not the right man to end Arsenal’s 21-year Premier League wait
My conclusion from what I’ve seen at Arsenal over the last couple of years, and especially after what has happened in the Premier League title race this year, is that Arteta is not the right guy for Arsenal to win the league.
He had that opportunity to do it. He didn't do it. The simple truth is that the best managers make the right decisions at the right time. The best managers, the world-class managers, they do whatever it takes to win the Premier League.
They make difficult decisions. They live with the consequences of upsetting players if they have to, and for me, Arteta didn't make the right decision at the right time – he should have signed a killer to score the goals that Arsenal – any team – needs to win the Premier League.
Gallas slams Arteta decision-making
Signing a striker seems to be a blind spot for Arteta. That’s why Arsenal have finished second for two seasons running, and it will be an unwelcome hattrick this season.
Every season, you always want to bring in one or two players. You need to add strength to what you have, and you need to keep players sharp, that’s what competition does to a squad.
Arsenal should have signed a big striker in the summer of 2023, but they didn’t. They should have signed one in the summer of 2024, but they didn’t. Top managers don’t make that same mistake two seasons running. That is completely unacceptable.
It’s unacceptable for Arsenal to be making the same mistakes year-after-year with the same manager. I don’t want to hear the excuses. I don’t want to hear about injuries. There are no excuses that are good enough when you’ve got a winning mentality. I don’t think he has it because Arsenal should have won at least one, maybe two titles and they couldn’t get it over the line.
Arteta played the game. He knows that injuries can happen at any time, he knows that he can lose key players, that's why you need to have a big squad. If you want to win, you don't win the league with only 11 players.
Gallas questions Arteta’s ability to handle big players and says he isn’t a world-class manager
You win the league with 24 players. But those 24 players have to be competitive.So to be competitive, you need to have big players. And the manager needs to have a strong personality to deal with those big players.You need to be a big man to deal with big players, especially when you start putting them on the bench. That player is going to be upset, he's going to start to talk, to speak badly. He will come to training furious. You’ll have to deal with that.
That is the difference between a world-class manager, a good manager, and an average manager.Right now Arteta is a good manager, not a world-class manager, because a world-class manager makes the difference. A world-class manager wins titles.
When you see Arne Slot, he’s in his first season, and nobody expected him to win the Premier League. He arrived with a big personality. Look what he’s done in one year.People are going to say he has a good squad. But last season, Arsenal had a good squad, but Arteta has shown too much faith to his players – his squad should be better this year, and the performances are worse than last season.
I don't really read the newspaper, I don't really follow things, but nobody asks Arteta the right question.
What would you ask him? Why didn’t you sign a striker?
I'm going to ask him that question. If I get the chance, I'm going to ask why you didn't buy a striker? Everybody knew your striker, Havertz, he’s not a world-class striker. A world class striker scores a minimum 20 goals.
Everybody knows that Kai Havertz is not that player. So why didn't you buy a world class striker? Don't wait for the last moment. One guy gets injured and then you say you need a striker? You should have built a better squad. You should have signed a striker two years ago.
Arteta has got people who are working for him around the club, looking at recruitment. I don't know how many people are working on transfers – we know Edu left in November – but this problem should have been addressed ages ago. The Arsenal recruitment team needed to step up.
Sterling hasn’t been given a chance
Arteta brings in players, and puts them on the bench, you never give the guys the chance.
Why did you bring the players? Why did you bring Sterling? Everybody knew that he didn’t have the quality he had at Liverpool and Manchester City, but when you brought him at the start of the season, you never gave him a chance.
Especially when you should have been rotating, you never gave him minutes on the wing. Instead, you kept him on the bench, always used the same players, and now they’re tired and Sterling’s confidence has completely evaporated.
That’s why I say he’s a good coach, but not top class, not world-class.
Arsenal beat Man City 5-1 at the start of February but then lost to West Ham and drew with Nottm Forest. Is it the games against the so-called lesser teams where the Gunners need to improve?
This has been Arsenal’s problem for years. They drop too many points against the smaller clubs in the Premier League. Yes, they drew to Forest, they lost at home to West Ham, but have you seen some of the other results? Ten draws is too many for a team that wants to win the league.
Premier League champions don’t draw at home to Everton and West Ham. They don’t lose to Bournemouth away.
It’s unacceptable for a club like Arsenal to drop point like this year-after-year. Yes, we all know the Premier League is very competitive, we all know that the level has gone up across the league, but when you keep making the same mistakes, you have to question the mentality of the players. Winners don’t settle for draws or defeats, they win at all costs.
Liverpool have drawn seven games, OK, but they’ve lost one.
You’re only going to get so many chances to win the league. When the door opens, you have to walk through it. In the last three seasons, the doors opened twice, and they turned around and locked it.
It's so annoying. And what is very annoying, it's not because Arsenal made their own mistakes. It's not because the opponent was too strong.
It’s because Arsenal drew games, dropped points against small teams. If it was against a big club, a big team, I would say, okay, no problem. But when they take the lead and they can’t hold on to it, it’s frustrating.
What do they do next season then?
I don't know what they're going to do next season. It all depends on who is going to be brought in.
Which striker is he going to bring in? Which defender is he going to bring in? I think Arsenal need some experienced players, maybe someone that has won big prizes regularly and knows what it takes to get over the line.
Saliba and Gabriel, they’ve got experience now because they’ve been playing together for years, but who is behind them? Kiwior? He has hardly played this season.
When you look at Arsenal’s defenders, nobody is shouting. They’re all nice guys. They all want peace even when they concede.What is this? That's why I said they don't have the winning mentality.
I didn't see one defender shouting, fighting, arguing with his teammates. I didn't see one midfielder arguing with his striker.
And you know what is also frustrating? For eight years, not one London club has won the Premier League. Where’s Chelsea? Where’s Arsenal? And Tottenham?
If they finish second again, it's three seconds in a row. But this year, something doesn't feel right for me anyway. When I'm watching the team, the performances aren't as good. They're obviously not going to be as close as the eventual winners, Liverpool, now. Have they gone backwards?
Yes, Arsenal have gone backwards. Look how many points they got. Of course they went backwards. I said before, it looked like Mikel Arteta’s words are not getting the same reaction from his players anymore. Arsenal have dropped too many points with draws. I mean, 10, 10 draws.So for me, it's very unacceptable.
You can ask yourself two questions. You can blame the players, or you can blame the manager. But for me, at the end, you can blame the manager because he didn't have that special quality to boost his players and to stay at that level and to win the Premier League.
Management is all about communication. You need to have the right communication with your players, you need to send them the right message at the right time.
Let’s look at Pep Guardiola for example. For many years, he had the tactics, he had the words, he made the right decision at the right time. He made Manchester City the biggest club in the Premier League for many years.
But slowly his message starts to have less impact on his players, because they’re tired. Or they’re full up, they’re full up with victories. And sometimes when your stomach is full, it's really difficult to move. You know what I mean? The desire is not there anymore. It's very easy to speak about it, we can only speculate, because we are not in that situation inside the club.
Maybe Guardiola wanted to give some players the chance to win four Premier Leagues in a row, or to be the only player to win five in a row. But maybe he should have brought in half a new team, who had never won the Premier League, and maybe the club would have won five in a row.
Is there a striker that you would like to see Arsenal try and sign?
I think Victor Osimhen would be the man I would try and sign. He’s been performing well for Galatasaray, obviously on loan from Napoli, and he’s only going to be there for a season.
He’s a good player. Maybe not the player, but maybe he can score 20 a season. But if he doesn’t, he gives you movement, he gives space for the second forward to exploit and score goals. He takes the focus of defenders, so he could play with Kai Havertz or another striker.
He will be a little bit more free and then he can score goals for the club. So that's why a striker like him would be good for Arsenal. I was talking about this many years ago.He was too good, I think, to go to Galatasaray. I'm still saying the same thing. I know the club’s fans are going to be on my back again.
Is he too much of a big player for Arteta? Maybe Mikel Arteta doesn't have the personality to manage players like Osimhen or to deal with players with personality.
Big managers like Klopp, Guardiola, Ancelotti, Mourinho and Ferguson. Even Arsene, he had the personality of being our friend, but he knew how to speak to players.
You have to know how to speak to your players. It doesn't mean you're going to have arguments. You have to know how to deal with them, that’s all.
I mean, the only thing that Arsenal have got to play for is the Champions League.
Even when I saw that game, I didn't celebrate, to be honest. 7-1, okay, you are qualified already. But after, it doesn't mean you’re going to win the Champions League.
Arsenal can maybe win the Champions League if they’re lucky, if they don't play against Real Madrid. That is the only thing. You can go very far if you don't play against Real Madrid because that means they will lose against Atlético. You will have a big opportunity to go to the final. Otherwise, how?
I can’t see them beating Real Madrid over two legs, not without a striker. You know, you are traveling to Madrid, with friends, with fans, singing on the airplane, you sit on the terrace, have some beer, there is a blue sky, sunglasses, you know, two, three, four beers. You go to the stadium, nice stadium, unbelievable stadium. And then, the game starts. You are excited.
But at the end, you go back home, and you don't win. I would rather stay at home. I'm telling you!It's like a series. You are in front of your TV, you are watching a series. The season stops and then you are waiting to see what happens next. But it's the same with Arsenal, always.
On Arsenal vs Chelsea
Arsenal need to win that game. They don’t have to win to be champion, because we know the title race is over. But the players, the staff, don’t want to be booed, they don’t want to throw in the towel. It’s a London derby – it’s special for the fans – Arsenal need to find something to lift the mood at the club.
For Chelsea, it's different. For Chelsea, the game is important. It’s important for because it’s a derby, but for Chelsea it's about having a better position in the league. It’s about trying to qualify for the Champions League and trying to build confidence for the final stretch of the season.
On Chelsea
Are you confident that Chelsea will be playing Champions League football next season?
I said at the beginning of the season, Chelsea will finish in the top four and will qualify for the Champions League, they will finish in the top group. No problem. They will do it.
The only question maybe a few months ago was if they're going to finish fourth or fifth. With the Premier League getting five places in Europe next season, there’s no doubt in my mind about Chelsea not playing in the Champions League next season. Chelsea will definitely do it.
Nottingham Forest is still there, they're still fighting. I’m convinced that they will drop points in the run in.
There are ten games to go. Aston Villa doesn't look good, up and down. Newcastle as well. It looks like its Chelsea’s place to lose.
If Enzo Maresca gets Chelsea in the Champions League and wins the Europa Conference is that a pretty good first season for him?
We will see if he can win the Europa Conference League and qualify for the Champions League. Right now, I'm sure they asked him to finish in the top four, and bring the club back to the Champions League. I'm sure that was his target.When he said Chelsea was not ready to challenge for the title, that was because he knew his target was to qualify for the Champions League.
He's in a good position for next year, next season, it will be the same. He has to make some decisions about his players, and he has to be strong. I’m confident that he will do that though because he made some big decisions last summer.
On Chelsea’s summer plans
For how many years have I said that Chelsea need to buy world-class defenders? Two years ago, I said that. When Thiago Silva looked like he’d be leaving.
For me, Chelsea never replaced him. Thiago was a monument, he was a giant of a defender, one of the best that has ever played the game. If you ask me to design a world-class defender; a perfect defender, I’m telling you to look at the DNA of Thiago Silva.
Chelsea play young players at CB, but when you play two young players in the middle of the defence, it’s very complicated. They have so much pressure, and they shouldn’t have that much pressure when they’re so young. Pressure should be shouldered by more experienced players who can deal with it, and you need these experienced players to act like a shield for the young players to play their game.
That’s why Colwill makes so many mistakes and finds it difficult. He doesn’t have anyone next to him who he can learn from.
Will the experience of being the main man help Colwill in the long-term? Will he have improved from these experiences this season?
Next season, it will be the same for Colwill. If he doesn’t have someone alongside him to guide him, then he’s likely to keep making the same mistakes. He won't improve when you see the player alongside him is Adarabioyo.
When you think about all the money that's been spent at Chelsea as well and it's not like it's not like Chelsea haven't tried not to sign center-halves.
Fofana £70 million, Badiashile £35 million, Disasi £35 million, Koulibaly £33 million. Maybe you take all of that money and buy one Rolls Royce.
The problem is when the new owner arrived, everyone knew he was going to spend money, but he had no clue about football. Football is not like NFL. When you have someone buying players at that price, it’s ridiculous. Disasi, Badiashile, where are they?So that's why you need to have the right people around you to give you good advice.
On Cole Palmer’s dip in formI
think it's very difficult for the young players. It can be very difficult to deal with everything from outside, the distractions.
I’ve seen people say that Palmer has played too many games, but when Messi was young, when he was Cole’s age, he was playing many games, and he was still performing every week. I appreciate that not everyone is Messi, but Palmer is a really special talent.
I don't know Cole Palmer, I don't know I don't know his life, but from outside it looks like maybe the club should manage him better and maybe not to give him so many games. Rotate him a bit more.
Also by exposing him less, teams have less chance to figure him out. He’s the man who makes the difference in most games, but when you come up against someone new, there’s a bit of confusion. Last year, clubs didn’t know about Palmer’s movement. They didn't know his skills, but this season, they knew him.
So that they knew how to defend against him. So perhaps that’s why he has dropped off. Maybe to stay at this level he needs to change his style and start doing a few things that people don’t expect him to do.
On Harry Kane And Spurs
Harry's had an unbelievable career, and I wondered, when you saw him training when he was younger, was it clear that he was destined to have the career that he had?
No, but in football anything can happen. It happened to me as well. Nobody expected me to have a big career when I was young.When I saw Harry Kane for the first time, I said, he just wants to shoot, because we did the five-a-side game, a little tournament, and he was always shooting from everywhere, right side, left side.
It’s just unbelievable what he did. What he's doing as well at the moment, too. It shows that when you are a young player, you have to believe in yourself, but at the same time, you have to listen to people.
He was very intelligent because he received so much advice from players, and he was working hard as well, staying at the end of the training. He was a machine, and he had a target and don't forget, it was a different generation.Because now, this generation, I don't know if they do that and stay behind at the end of training and work and work. You have to give him credit.
Well, OK, with Tottenham, obviously, it's a sort of a situation now where it's only the Europa League is really all there is to play for.
Does Ange need to win that competition to keep his job?
To keep his job, he definitely has to win that competition because next season they want to qualify for European football, and they won’t be able to do that with their fin al position in the table.
Now the question, can they win that competition? That won't be easy.
When you see the last game they played, they drew against Bournemouth. And they scored quite late.It looks like whatever Ange is telling his players, they’re not listening anymore. His message doesn't go through anymore. It’s completely different to Arteta – he got his team to perform consistently – but with Ange, the players nought into the football for the first half of last season and ever since it’s been a disaster. Now he's in trouble.
Cristian Romero’s dodgy return
Against Chelsea, when he came back against Chelsea, he got injured, because the manager was so desperate to bring him back.
He's a true defender; s footballer’s defender. When you come back after a period out and play your first game, it's always difficult to have a good performance.
When they have an injury, and you come back, they will do a very hard session at training, but as we know, the training is not the game. It's completely different because the atmosphere, the movement, it's completely different.
The question is whether Romero had one or two friendlies before his game against Bournemouth, and if not I think it's a big problem when you're a player and you're trying to get back into match fitness.
When they have an injury and you come back, they do big training sessions very hard, but as we know, training is not the match. It's completely different because the atmosphere, the movement, it's completely different.
Romero has to be patient because it will take a few games for him to get back to his best level.
PRIME CASINO
Join Prime Casino and embark on your journey with a choice of welcome offers,exciting promotions, innovative features and one of the biggest selections of online casino games available. Transcend the Ordinary with Prime Casino – where exceptional experiences await!
