So what do people think of this? Is this the reason Arsenal aren't up to scratch this season or just Gallas trying to make excuses?

Of course it's going to affect on field peformances if the players aren't happy with other players in the team. I think Gallas himself has caused alot of this disunity, I know I wouldn't be happy as a player if my captain acted like Gallas has.

Well, like J-Axe has said:

Attitude comes first at this Club.

Gallas hasn't said anything wrong. His attitude is spot on if anything.

We aren't battling hard enough and we need to fight.

Robin van Persie is clearly the guy with the problem. He has a right to have a problem. He has arguments with players on the park all the time - that is healthy. He argues because he sees their mistakes and tells them openly. That's what you need as well. Walcott has been on the end of some words from van Persie on many occasions. It's good for the lad to take this. You can't waltz around and waste opportunities and feel OK about it, you need criticism.

It's natural for a team like that to feel in a bad state after poor form. It'd be unnatural if there weren't any dressing room problems.

I don't see the big problem here. van Persie fights more than anybody at the Club for a win. HOWEVER yhe thing Gallas is doing here is deflecting criticism from himself by bringing the entire team into it - which is WRONG. He had been our biggest weakness and at fault for a lot of our defeats actually. He's admitted himself before that his form was bad, but after the United game his head must have gone to the sky.

The media make it all look innocent and not much of a deal though.

Or we could just follow his example and run away into the other half of the field and sit down and cry. (Where's the edited emoticon when you need one).

Gallas is a [edit]. Basically.

Damn! I'm agreeing with you on all of the above almost 100%.
The only thing i would disagree with is Gallas deflecting criticism from himself being wrong.
If he was completely to blame for the division in the locker room i would agree,but if van persie is complaining about Walcott's lack of good decision making then that has to come into play.On Numerous times i have neraly kicked the tv in in frustration by critical mistakes by Theo that could have changed the game for the team.
I don't think Van Persie's belief in the Arsenal system can be called into question as i think he's just signed a new contract,so he's in it for the long haul. I think everyone except a very few players on that team have to stand up and take some blame for what arsenal are going through right now.Taht is everyone except Clichy who gives 100% every game ,even though he's been responsible for an own goal and a slip that cost them a goal.
what i find IS surprising to me reading the interview above ,is that it seemed they were arguing at half time of the Spurs game ,where they were demolishing tottenham.That is quite shocking to me personally and in fact very troubling,because if they are arguing when they are winning easily something is deeply wrong inside that team and Wenger needs to react immediately.

There is no dressing room that has 100% harmony. And it's a fact. There will always be clashes of personality in the dressing room. It's like a family, I'm sure each and every one of you have arguments with your sister/brother, mother/father and so forth. It's all the same thing.

You can't expect a dressing room full of football players to get along; just like you can't expect everyone on this forum to get along; just like you can't expect everyone in your household to get along 100% of the time.

If a player from another club happened to air out his dirty laundry to the media, I'm sure there's worse. Could you imagine what Tottenham's dressing room was like during their poor start, surprised no one came out in a body bag. How about Newcastle when everything seemed to fall apart for a month or two. I can bet there were plenty of fights and finger pointing in those two dressing rooms.

I can't get my head around this...

Not a good week for Arsenal really. Lose to Villa, Lose Walcott and now Gallas as captain comes out and says publically that we're having tear ups in the dressing room......our captain...our leader!....... Bleeder more like!

Wenger really needs to take a hard look at this situation. Obviously there isn't harmony or team work going on within the side and it's becoming more apparent. It's also obvious Gallas is talking about Van Persie but he didn't even play against Villa! I assume they we're meant to have sorted it all out by that game. I reckon the players think Gallas is a idiot, he's the only player that has a lot of experience in the side and I believe the players find it hard to look up to him and that's what might be a bit of a problem in the side at the moment.

When I think back at Gallas and his behavior it's quite embarrassing to think he's our captain. He's the person to follow in the footsteps of Tony Adams and Patrick Viera?

I mean what must the players be thinking of him right now. of course it happens everywhere that players have tear ups in the dressing room, but I mean your captain coming out publically and telling everyone about it and defending himself. It's utterly embarrising. The joke is that his performances has been awful for Arsenal and I hope Van Persie let rip into him because someone needed to. Maybe he thinks he can get away with it because he's captain?

Wenger I know is a intelligent man but surely he must know how important it is for side that's supposed to challenge for major honors to have a great leader the players can look up to?

For me the sooner we get rid of this clown the better. He's not fit enough to wear the shirt let alone be captain of Arsenal.

Bell-end!!

Pokey, you are spot on mate. The guy's a disgrace - he's BETRAYING the dressing room by washing his dirty linen in public. Everyone knows the unwritten law of professional team sports: what goes on in the dressing room stays in the dressing room. He's exposing the disharmony of an underfperforming squad and this is the worst time to do it.

In times of crisis, everyone should be pulling together and show unity, whilst keeping their mouths shut in public. Gallas has destroyed that notion.

Attitude does come first at Arsenal - the Captain has plenty of it.

He has also publically singled out Van Persie. That is disgraceful in my opinion. This isn't the first time a captain has done something like this however. One of United's greatest ever captains Roy Keane slagged off a number of players in an interview with MUTV. He went on to slag off Rio by saying "Just because you are paid £120,000-a-week and play well for 20 minutes against Tottenham, you think you are a superstar."

And then he was told to sling his hook.

Hahahahahahahahaha! What is Gallas thinking coming out with stuff like this to the media?!

Sell him, get a proper centre-back in (prefferably one who's mentally stable), and elect Toure, or Fabregas, or anyone as Arsenal captain.

It was specnur wasnt it that I was recently having the discussion with that Gallas is not fit to be captain, the man is a disgrace and should keep all this type of stuff in house. To run to the media about it and single out his players for criticism is deplorable.

I would be seriously angry with him if he were Spurs captain and was doing this tpye of thing.

That is disgraceful? You mean you actually care THAT much?

There's not anyone except van persie's mother or wenger that actually cares about that issue ,and no one here can convince me otherwise. I didn't see an article that singled Van Persie out,all i saw is the the player was 6 years younger than himself.
The thing about what keane said if i remember rightly is that he was on his way out when he said that ,if that is the case then he didn't care about the team at that point,which is a different scenario.

what does Gallas expect to achieve by speaking out like that ......will it bring the team together .....probably more likely to cause more unrest and disunity .. I do agree with some of what he says but you dont go and announce it to the world ......it only adds to the problems we are facing right now .....

Gallas should be stripped of the captains armband and it should be given to Toure or Fabregas .....whether Gallas remains at Arsenal i dont know ...he can be superb at times ....but is he too much trouble to keep .

I think that's easy enough to understand if you read my post.

The comments he made about attitude, warriors, battling, courage etc. was correct. However he was doing it all in order to deflect criticism from himself which was wrong. So his comments were fine with me, but why and how he did it was wrong.

I agree with the majority. Gallas should be sent on his ear. This isn't the work of a Captain. Whilst he's a top footballer with a real winning mentality, he's not got one ounce of responsibility or leadership in truth. You cannot do this, no matter how great you think you are.

If all he has said is 100% from his mouth and it has the same meanings portrayed by the articles, then Wenger needs to act on it. This is more serious than Walcott's injury actually - whilst the young lad will recover and it was an accident, Gallas' outburst will have a permanent effect really and he will be Captain until he retires I assume. Wenger needs to sort that if he wants some proper leadership for this young side, especially in a difficult spot.

Wenger should have the guts to do what Fergie did when Keane was out of order by critisizing his team mates to the media. Me and all Man Utd fans were devastated to see Keane go off that way but it shows the character in Fergie. But i just feel Wenger is a softie when it comes to that. Somehow, I guess a huge factor why Gallas is captain is cos he is french.

Well 'Then Jericho' looks like Wenger's no softie. Gallas has been stripped and is no longer the Arsenal captain.

I'm gald Wenger has taken a stance against such a idiot. This in my opinion is the last of Gallas in a Arsenal shirt and he'll be off to France. (If they even want him)

Rubbish.

Now the question begs who will be Arsenal's new captain? I've heard it's going to be Cesc but we're have to see. I reckon he'll go for Silvesre. I'm glad this has been sorted sooner.

Oh well. Dig deep Wenger in January!