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Gallas under pressure to relinquish armband

21/11/2008

William Gallas' Arsenal captaincy is coming under renewed pressure after he exposed rifts within the Gunners dressing room.

Gallas, who was made the club's skipper last season, told French media that his team-mates were "not brave enough" to win the Premier League title.

His comments, made while on international duty, follow several other controversies surrounding his captaincy.

Last season the 31-year-old held a sit-in protest when Arsenal conceded a late penalty at Birmingham, while earlier this year he was pictured leaving a nightclub with a cigarette.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose side are currently in fourth place in the Premier League nine points behind leaders Chelsea, is yet to react to Gallas' comments.

Former England manager Graham Taylor believes the defender's days as Arsenal captain are numbered.

"I would have thought by now a manager of Arsene Wenger's calibre knows what makes a good captain, and I'm somewhat surprised that he still has stuck with Gallas even after that Birmingham situation," Taylor told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Former Fulham, West Ham and Blackburn Rovers defender Tony Gale, now a pundit with Sky Sports, said that Gallas had made a serious mistake in disclosing dressing room rows.

Gallas had revealed that an argument broke out at half-time during the club's match with Tottenham Hotspur, which finished 4-4. The centre-back singled out one player in particular who he clashed with but did not identify him other than giving his age as 25.

But Gale told Sky Sports that this was unacceptable.

"What goes on in the changing rooms stay in the changing room," he said.

"If your captain is starting to name people then you really have got problems."

But former Gunners back-four mainstay Nigel Winterburn has backed Gallas, despite 'hurting' Wenger.

"Arsene has put his trust in Gallas to lead Arsenal forward - to suddenly turn round and sack him says I don't trust you as a player," Winterburn told the BBC.

"And if you don't trust him as a player it also means he's not going to pick him. Is he going to do that? I don't think so."