Arsenal captain William Gallas has revealed a series of bust-ups within the squad in a misguided effort to deflect attention away from his captaincy.
Gallas has gone public on the frictions within the Arsenal squad after repeated criticism of his captaincy.
The Frenchman - who sat on the pitch sulking while the Gunners' season crumbled at Birmingham earlier this year - says that the players need to start fighting the opposition rather than each other.
He has revealed that one player insulted him during a match, though he refused to name names.
"When, as captain, some players come up to you and talk to you about a player...complaining about him... and then during the match you speak to this player and the player in question insults us," Gallas told AP. "There comes a time where we can no longer comprehend how this can happen.
"I am trying to defend myself a bit without giving names. Otherwise I'm taking it all (the blame). It's very frustrating," he said. "I'm 31, the player is six years younger than me."
He has also revealed a bust-up at half-time of the 4-4 draw with Spurs, saying: "There was a problem at halftime. The only thing that I could say at halftime was 'Guys, we resolve these problems after the match, not at halftime.'
"We have to understand that to be champions, you have to play big matches every weekend and fight. We are coming up against teams who are not scared to play football against us, who are not scared to take us on at our place, and this is becoming dangerous for Arsenal.
"We are not brave enough in battle. I think we need to be soldiers. We have to be warriors. There are teams who can do it well against us, and we have to be able to face up to these attacks."
Your Comments
Eazy
"Well, washing the laundry in public again aren't we? Wonder what Arsene response will be."
sodoff
"eamonndunphy...life is short, i couldnt think of anything more dull than reading, for example, the wigan or newcastle pages.
i spend a lot of my time at the emirates, i see how things work at arsenal, then I come on to sites like this, to see comments from people whove probably never set foot in london, never mind the emirates, and they start mouthing off at what a bunch of $%^& everyone involved with Arsenal are.
Sort of like me posting stories telling everyone what a £$%^ you are, but in reality ive never met you and its not my place to comment.
Football365 gives off the impression that football isnt entertainment, its more a means for slagging people off."
Jamesq1986
"I may be mistaken but i am pretty sure that Eboue and Sagna are 25 too and Eduardo so its not definately RVP
Can't see Eduardo complaining with his injury
Sagna is international as well as club team mate of Gallas so can't see him slagging him off
Eboue is a moaner though, it could well be him I guess"
wengbeliever
"Gallas HAS to take the flak. How can he not understand that a leader must protect his fellow players and basically naming Toure as the person he is at odds with is bull****. Adams would never have resorted to this, Vieira and Henry maybe because both of those were sulkers too, not of Gallas stature though. Some of the things he said were true we have to fight more and strike fear into the hearts of teams at home. Up until this year at least 80% of the teams who came to the Emirates/Highbury knew they didnt have a chance of winning and we duly delivered, when lower teams even saw Pires, Henry, Bergkamp on the teamsheet they accepted defeat. However we as the fans have to contribute more. Ever heard the phrase 'Highbury the Library'. I have! I only realised when I talked to my mates that are Pool and Man u fans they have hundreds of chants, we have about 5. Anfield is 2 thirds the size of the Emirates but most teams would rather face our fans than the ones at Anfield. Makes you think....."
michael69
"Hahaha - Arsenal are falling apart. let's all point at Wenger and laugh at him - haha!
Oh, and i just wanted to address the ignoramus mocking the french army in WWII. Just so you idiots know, the French had by far the second strongest army in the world at the time. If anyone else (Britain, USA etc.) had been on mainland Europe, they would have been annihilated in 4 days, not 4 weeks. Furthermore, don't you morons know that the French Foreign Legion is the toughest army int he world today?
"
beautifullgame
"The person Gallas is claiming insulted him is either Clichy or Van persie. They are both 25, as Gallas said whoever it was is, and played in that match."
TheBallsOnVidic
"tlloyd - of the eight players you claimed were at Chelsea before Roman, only three actually were (Gallas, Lampard and Gudjohnsen). Joe Cole, Johnson, Robben, Cech and the former footballer were all signed by Roman."
perrygroves
"tlloyd - "your club is wealthy. just mean. & incredibly envious" - like most people and clubs we live in the real world..."
eamonndunphy
"sodoff- What kind of football fan only reads articles about 1 club. (u should just visit the arsnal website for that) Broaden your horizons and you might actually enjoy and understand the game more"
EssexLad1985
"Ill never respect anything Chelsea acheive. If Roman hadnt come along you'd of never won the league of reached a CL final end of story"
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