Contrary to reports earlier this morning (which we then shared here and then had to scramble to correct) William Gallas, and not Gilberto Silva, has been named captain of Arsenal for the 2007-08 season. The 30-year old French defender succeeds Thierry Henry, who, let’s be honest here, never really seemed to take to the captaincy.
This seems an odd choice considering he’s only just come over last season from Chelsea, not to mention all of the complaining he did through the press last season. To be fair, he has been saying all of the right things so far this pre-season, but it remains to be seen if he’ll actually back it up with some excellent play on the pitch.
Kolo Toure and Gilberto will serve as joint co-captains for the upcoming campaign which starts this Sunday against Fulham at The Grove.
47 Responses to “Gallas named captain”
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August 9th, 2007 at 9:40 am
What? Arsenal website says GALLAS is the new captain. Gilbo and Toure are vice.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:47 am
That’s why we should wait till it’s official.
Expect Gallas to leave after this season and to put up half hearted displays like his predecessors.
Or maybe it will be third time lucky for Wenger. It’s his third successive French captain since Adams retired.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Oops!
August 9th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Frankly, I am pissed at this decision. How can one be made captain after just one year of service??? I’ve not been a fan of Gilberto, but the way he lifted his game last season and led the side was exemplary. How should he be feeling right now?
August 9th, 2007 at 10:16 am
So i guess if you bitch and complain about the youth and lack of big name spending as well as be directly linked with giving up 2 preseason goals you get to be captain. Well Wenger’s the boss he must know something we dont
August 9th, 2007 at 10:22 am
gallas is a bit of a surprise to me as well.
what, if any, implications does this have for gilberto? do you think perhaps this means that gilberto is not an automatic selection, with the likes of denilson and diaby on the bench waiting to get games? plus, i’ve seen a story about how ranieri was preparing a 4mm bid to take gilberto to juve.
August 9th, 2007 at 10:26 am
As someone over on BigSoccer said, this move seems to be more a “pro-Gallas” move rather than an “anit-Gilbo” move. I think perhaps Wenger is challenging Gallas to organize the defense, and lead from CB, which he claims is the position most suited to the captaincy.
August 9th, 2007 at 10:55 am
i think this is a stupendous blunder from wenger. just 12 months ago this guy was a chelsea twat!!! i wonder how long it will take for him to demand a transfer. our last two captains have been moody frenchmen and gallas is the moodiest of them all.
that said i dont think the captains position is that important. and to be fair to gallas he is the loudest player on the pitch.
and a possible /hopefully good omen is that he has already won two “trophies” in his short captaincy! so maybe he is a lucky captain.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Make a person captain to challenge him and get the best out of him.
Make a person captain to keep him at the club and commit him for long.
When are we going to make the best person for the job as captain? Atleast, Vieira was that when he was made captain.
Whatever it is, just one year at the club and captain is sending all the wrong signals.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:31 am
I’m happy with it. I like Gilberto but he is just too passive and placid to be captain. You want your captain to have a bit of attitude and balls when the teams line up in the tunnel. Everything was too nicey-nicey with Gilberto and indeed with Thierry Henry before.
As Fred said though, the captaincy issue isn’t really gonna effect Arsenal’s inability to defend crosses and put away chances so it’s not really a big deal.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:34 am
By the way, Man United will walk this league. Chelsea will put up a fight but Nani and Anderson are brilliant signings. Saw both of them last night and they both bring different dimensions to the team. Unlike the Arsenal youngsters, they don’t fall apart around the box either. Both have composure. Anderson is more solid, coming from deep, while Nani is basically Ronaldo mark II.
I was hoping Ferguson had gaffed with those two but they look the business.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Wenger doesn’t have much choice - the squad is too young to pick anyone else. Gilberto is not very vocal on the pitch and giving it to Toure full time would be a bad idea because he has a tendency to panic.
If you give it to Gallas he might knuckle down and keep his trap shut even if the team is doing badly. There’s no way he has earned his captaincy, so I agree from that point of view it’s ridiculous - but that’s just where we are with the squad right now.
August 9th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
@ mazza: what quality of opposition did nani and anderson play against so far that u already crown them better?
when nani played against chelsea he was utterly useless….so ronaldo mark 2 is way off - for now.
August 9th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I still think it should have been Kolo Toure. Gilberto may be too passive, but Toure is not the captain, I’d rather have it be Gilberto than Gallas. Maybe they gave it to him to stop his complaining. maybe that’s why he’s been saying “all the right things” this pre-season.
August 9th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Oh my oh my…what an interesting choice.
I really am not mad about Gallas being made captain. Gilberto is a great player and a great leader by example, but he is not the type to yell at a player and straighten him right out. Toure — well, someone else on another site pointed out that he will be gone for the ANC for a while…and he, like Gilberto, is a bit of a yes man. A Captain needs to be fiery and outspoken. And whether you agree with him or not, Gallas is pretty outspoken. To paraphrase yet another site, promote the outspoken outsider = standard military practice. I trust AW…I think it will be alright in the end.
Now, as for the actual play of the defence? We have a ways to go, lads.
August 9th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Good points. I agree that Gilberto seemed the likely choice, but we do need someone that will not be afraid to put his boot in someone’s a**! And as far as the pitch perspective Gallas’s position is perfect. Like we’ve said, hopefully he’ll keep his mouth shut off the pitch, and put in some hard work on it.
August 9th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Last season Gallas was not inspirational on the field of play. He’ll just be a whiney captain as he’s tended to whine whenever things have gone wrong. Sure Gilberto is not as aggressive as some of us would like but he did lead by example on the field of play especially last season when Henry was not around. Gilberto seems like the kind of player respected by other players and that is important in a captain. I mean he even led Brasil to victory in the Copa America although he missed the final!!!
Away with petulant Gallas the captain !!!! Bah !!!!
August 9th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Gallas: vocal, crazy as a bucket of frogs and French, he is perfect for the job of cap’n!
August 9th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
i seriously hope this is not a precursor to gilbertos sale!!!!
cos i dont know why song and flamini are still around … and why are being connected with diarra.
we cant let someone of his experience go, no way. so wenger please, please, please, dont do what i think you are thinking.
August 9th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Gilberto is going NOWHERE……..once he is fit, he will be first choice in CM…..no worries Fred….
Gallas is an interesting choice. I reckon it is because he has no qualms about getting in people’s faces. Gilberto is too nice for that stuff.
August 9th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Fred, it doesn’t matter about the opposition. Whether it was Glentoran or AC Milan they still showed great movement with and without the ball and were very game intelligent. They may struggle with the pace of the premiership and take a while to settle in but they proved to me quite conclusively that they are better than Walcott, Diaby, and Denilson. They should do, they cost alot more.
And Fred, you make me laugh how blinkered you are about Arsenal’s squad compared to Liverpool’s and Tottenham’s. You called Liverpool’s reserves “laughable” which is a complete joke of a comment. Apart from Gabriel Palletta they are all very good players. They have Sami Hyppia as a back-up defender- a proven class performer albeit a bit old- and we have Phil Senderos. They have Harry Kewell as left-wing back-up, we have that clumsy oaf Diaby, who is terrible on the wing. Danny Murphy is more creative than Denilson. Our back-up is probably the worst out of the whole top four and probably on par with Tottenham.
August 9th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Where do you guys get the idea that Gilberto’s a softie? Is it because he doesn’t run his mouth to the media? Is it because he doesn’t yell all the time? Exactly what can anyone truthfully say that proves Gilberto’s a softie? Besides, being a big mouth is not a requirement to being a good leader.
August 9th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
While I’m disappointed with this decision, it’s clear that Wenger has learned making a striker captain is definitely not the right answer. It’s a common tactic in the army to give guys more responsibility to get them to realize their potential and perform better. While I’m sure this is what Wenger is trying to do, I just hope Gilberto won’t feel undermined. He was next in line, he proved he could do the job, and it was his turn. It’s essential that Arsenal don’t lose Gilberto now.
I visualized Gilberto, as captain, having a similar affect that Frank Riijkard had on Ajax in ‘95. He was a senior guy surrounded by a bunch of talented but very young kids and helped them punch well above their weight. Perhaps Wenger wants to sell him while he can still make some money but I think his loss would be bigger than Henry. But neither of us knows what goes on in that dressing room. Wenger got the captain wrong last time so we can only hope he’s got it right this time.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
“I’m happy with it. I like Gilberto but he is just too passive and placid to be captain. You want your captain to have a bit of attitude and balls when the teams line up in the tunnel. Everything was too nicey-nicey with Gilberto and indeed with Thierry Henry before.”
Totally agree. At the end of the day, we want a captain to LEAD “ON” the pitch. Regardless whatever Gallas said OFF the pitch, he does look more a natural leader than Gilberto (a bit too quiet) and Toure (a bit too nice).
Henry said a lot of nice words at the past, that how he loved Arsenal, how he would never leave… at the end of the day, it just goes on and prove that - whatever a player said, nice things, bad things, in the end, it all doesn’t mean a thing.
As long as anyone can get the job done ON the pitch, whoever be the captain will be fine.
Another plus side is - at least from now on Gallas would be more awared of his responsibility and would keep his mouth shut - as u can’t be a captain, a leader while at the same time be a baby.
August 9th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Joshuad, I love ur comparsion of Gallas and our young side to Ajax 95. Indeed, the sceniro look so similiar!
Ajax went on to 2 successive CL finals and won one with that bunch. I can see this current group of young guns just as talented as Ajax 95, if not more.
They got Kluvert, we got van Persie. They got Kanu, we got Adebayor. They got Overmars, we got Hleb and Rosicky and Walcott. And in terms of depth, we got even more depth than Ajax 95.
BTW guys, i don’t think AW’s decision to hand the captain armband to Gallas implied anything of Gilberto’s future at all.
Let’s not to forget Gilberto was not the captain last season, he was the deputy of Henry. So he didn’t get “stripped” away his captaincy.
And personally i think Gilberto is too good a professional player to worry about minor issue like that. Not as if Gallas get a pay rise after being named captain anyway!
August 9th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Even though I don’t agree with the choice, I believe Wenger must have seen something in preseason or training that led him to this decision.
August 9th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Honestly I am just not happy with Wenger’s decision. I just hope it works and Gallas changes his ways and acts more like a man rather than a spoilt brat. I fear however that if the team does not “match his ambitions” by the end of the season we might have have a third want-away captain come summer time next year. No matter how I look at it I just cant see this being a good decision. First of all everyone keeps talking about how Gallas is vocal and Gilberto is too quiet and King Kolo is too nice therefore Gallas deserves the captancy …..I have to disagree. First of all agression does not necessarily equate to good leadership even in football. I believe the captain should be someone who is well respected by the team. Just a few weeks ago Gallas was talking trash about our young guns! There is no way you can tell me the players have a greater respect for Gallas than Gilberto and Toure. Secondly the captain should be someone who embodies what the team stands for. A large part of this is displaying a certain level of committment to the team and having been through the good and bad times with the team. Lastly I think the captain should be someone with charater. For crying out loud just a year or so ago he was threatening to score own goals for Chelsea if they did not grant his transfer request! Now he is our captain???? I dont understand it but I just have to accept it. Just hope it all works out in the end.
August 9th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Mazza, Danny Murphy is more creative than Denilson? Are you kidding me?
I wonder had you been a Liverpool or Spurs supporters, how would you feel of Arsenal’s back up then?
The thing about judging players in ur own team and other teams is - with ur own team, u watch EVERY game of them, and easily for u to pick up every little mistakes, weakness of the team for u to critise them.
With other teams, u normally only watch them every now and then. Don’t think any fan of a certain club would bother to watch every game of his rival clubs.
So it’s like watching YouTube, u only get to see them playing well, their weakness are not as easily to spot than the one u watch week in week out.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Mazza, I think you are being too harsh. Our youngsters may not be the real deal yet, but neither are Nani or Anderson. Remember Ronaldo, he was falling all over the place and still carries a diver tag. How many years did it take for him to shine?
Our only problem is that we have too many youngsters, so it puts a lot more pressure. If Nani fails, Fergie will rest him for a while, as there are other more experienced folks to take over. Imagine the pressure on RvP this season.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Saw a report that Drenthe is joining Real Madrid. Obvious options for a left sided midfielder are running out.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:44 am
@ mazza: why do u like talking bullcrap sometimes?
after a game against an UTTERLY talentless side u say they showed “game intelligience”. alex song will DEVOUR that team…if u watched any of charltons matches late last season Song showed a lot of “game intelligience” as well.
liverpools reserves are UTTER RUBBISH. especially their defense. hyppia and gerrard were there when our reserve massacred them. and we even had baptista, aliadiere and song our WORST players on the pitch! go figure!
hyppia now has one third the pace of senderos. GO FIGURE.
you know absolutely nothing about danny murphy? denilson at age 19 is 3 times the player he currently is. please watch 5 of his matches before arguing with me. if u have not watched him please dont argue with me.
if you are refering to the formations i made on a previous post u would note that diaby is NOT one of our backup leftwingers. so why are u comparing him to harry kewell?
yeah our reseve team is utter tosh? it doesnt matter that they massacred liverpool at anfield and humiliated spurs FIRST TEAM while putting on a creditable showing against a first team chelsea in the final. ofcourse they are rubbish! rubbish i say.
August 10th, 2007 at 1:20 am
“While I’m disappointed with this decision, it’s clear that Wenger has learned making a striker captain is definitely not the right answer.”
Joshaud, you think Wenger just learned this? From his recent comments on choosing a captain, I gathered his preference, center-half, which is the norm. However, that doesn’t mean Henry’s tenure opened his eyes, it may have just been a special case.
My only problem with Gallas’ appointment is his tenure with the club. Sure, part of me wonders how sincere he is, given his shift in attitude recently, but I like his passion and his comments about the squad make me feel good about the season ahead. I know it’s just talk, but it’s a welcome change from all the doom and gloom that’s supposedly taking place at the club.
I also really like how Gallas conducted himself at the Emirates Cup. After the trophy presentation and with most of the team in the locker room, he remained on the pitch and “compelled” a tired Traore to go to each side of the stadium and lift the trophy for the fans still in attendance. A great moment.
August 10th, 2007 at 1:27 am
“you know absolutely nothing about danny murphy? denilson at age 19 is 3 times the player he currently is. please watch 5 of his matches before arguing with me.”
Danny Murhphy will be lucky to get 5 matches with Spurs!! ; )
August 10th, 2007 at 4:16 am
Yeah, JC, I think Wenger did just figure that one out. If he knew better then why make Henry captain? Also if he took this knowledge for granted so then why would he deem it necessary to mention it?
To be fair to Wenger he didn’t have much of a choice after he sold Vieira so abruptly. But a striker with the armband when you’re trying to win a championship is never the right answer.
I’ve said it many times before that good strikers are brilliant weirdos types that only have one thing on their mind. They need to be fully focused on doing what they are good at and you need someone more objective to be in charge of leading the team.
August 10th, 2007 at 5:48 am
Gallas has a bit of mongrel in him….every winning team needs that. If he sees leading this young Arsenal squad to glory as his destiny then it could be an inspired choice.
He says what he thinks, but if he gets his head straight and takes up the challenge then he is just as likely to use his big mouth positively by cajoling the younger players and putting the critics in their place.
….I need to keep reminding myself that despite his lacklustre start to his AFC career, at Chelsea I would have to say that he was top of my list as an alround defender. That quality is still there.
August 10th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Wenger has sent Djourou on loan to Birmingham till Jan. Good for the defender, but not for Arsenal. Senderos is the only backup CB while Gilberto and Song can play in an emergency.
August 10th, 2007 at 7:34 am
a second disaster move in 2 days from wenger!
so now Song is our 4th choice defender!
August 10th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Quick Mike, create a thread for the Djourou discussion… I think Song is the 5th choice defender. Even odds for Senderos vs. Gilberto as 3rd choice CB IMO. Just look at last year… Wenger is always planning several moves ahead and this move is for next year. Djourou will be 3rd choice CB next year. Anyone else think it curious that Wenger is planning 1 month for Gilberto to regain fitness? I think he regards several CM as ready for the bigtime and this will give Diaby and Denilson extra playing time.
August 10th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Much as I’m a little bemused at sending Djourou on loan (yes, he’s raw and needs the games, but still), from what I’ve seen of Sagna he has some springs and is probably good enough in the air to fill in at CB should the need arise…this would give Arsene the justification to buy Diarra and add to our surplus of RBs/CMs.
Maybe Bendtner could be converted to CB!!!
August 10th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Danny Murphy was a class player, just a bit lazy and unmotivated. Different player to Denilson- more of a luxury- but just as effective on his day. And yes, I know quite alot about Danny Murphy, living in England all my life and all that. Very good player at Liverpool.
Never thought I would quote Stag, but alot of Arsenal Kool-aid being drunk here. There we go again, completely overrating our youngsters AGAIN.
Also, I don’t really care about your formation diagram. I know for myself that Diaby played left-wing for Arsenal quite a few times last season and was shite. He will probably fill in there again this season.
That Anfield result has clouded many peoples judgement, and anyway, we only looked better than Tottenham in those games when Fabregas and Hleb came on in the first leg, and Fab and Rosicky came on in the second leg.
August 10th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Alex Song was shit at Charlton as well. He made a few good passes. Wow.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Wow the arguments on here are fascinating… we just need Stag now to liven it up…
But Mazza, The Anfield results proved that arsenal’s reserves are better Liverpool’s - we smashed them. Twice!
I’m an Aussie (altho living in London now 9 years and season ticket for 2 years), and not even I would take Kewell over Diaby!
Whatever you say about the kids, they almost won the Carling Cup last year, surely that is better proof that there is fantastic potential there, rather than them being overrated….
Denilson is class too, I woudl be more than happy with him starting in CM.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Bendtner a CB? where is the winking smiley?
I’ll agree with Mazza in part about Song- his play is very uneven. He had moments at Charlton where he looked assured and play that way but other times he was making rash challenges and practically passing the ball to the opposition! Given the choice between Flamini and Song I will take Flamini every time.
In terms of over-rating younger players I think the real risk us optimists have is over-estimating their upsides. I think the youngsters demonstrated their quality in the CC but what we (and every team) needs is difference-makers. IF Fabregas keeps progressing, IF Diaby improves, IF, IF, IF… Some of these guys will plateau. I want the Senderos from the 2005-6 campaign back…Same for Eboue. That said I believe our players have and will improve just don’t know if it will be enough for a respectable title challenge.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:39 am
mazza, theres probably no point me arguing with u since like stag u have entrenched opinions anyway. danny murphy is a class player??? ok. i agree…u know what u are talking about! for sure!
anyway, next time u going into an argument dont use the performance of a player in one game against parttimers to forsee their “greatness” in comparison to our young players. because when u do u call to question your own knowledge of the game.
does gibbs “game intelligience” in that friendly mean he is earmarked for future greatness then????
August 10th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
You can’t give your opinions if they differ from the masses Mazza!
I agree that United look extremely strong and with Tevez just being added after all the red tape, they’ll be even better. Their two Portuguese kids are very good.
Chelsea has their great depth and will be there all year long as well… and Liverpool could surprise the lot.
Djourou being sent out on loan makes little sense in my eyes… an injury or 2 and we are screwed…
Gallas as captain?! Thats a laugh.
Just shows that no matter what Arsene or Arsenal does… some folks are going to follow and say BRILLIANT…
Double the price of seats?! excellent idea.
$10 beers. Fantastic.
Wearing flip flops instead of cleats. great!
It should be a fun and interesting season regardless, and I am very happy football is BACK tomorrow!
August 10th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
“Yeah, JC, I think Wenger did just figure that one out. If he knew better then why make Henry captain? Also if he took this knowledge for granted so then why would he deem it necessary to mention it?”
It was mentioned because it was germane to the discussion of selecting a captain among a handful of names. I’m sure Wenger would have given you this same insight two years ago before Henry’s appointment. Saying that center-halves are best, doesn’t mean you always have to select one; it’s simply a strong bias in your decision making which he thought Henry was strong enough to overcome.
I would hate to think that a manager of Wenger’s genius and experience would only come to this conclusion recently. Call it a mistake, but I think he understood what he was doing.
August 10th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
WILLIAM GALLAS!?!
after one year, blah blah (it has been previously said 20 times above me)
But am I the only one who think Jens may not be a bad idea as Skipper?