So after slagging of his team-mates in the press, being stripped of his captaincy, and a bout of sulking, Gallas is now getting some good press. Scoring the winner on the weekend might have had a part to play in it, the emotion he showed after that goal showed that there is still passion and fight left the former captain.

Gallas has moved from dressing room pariah to team saviour.

Almunia has claimed that Gallas is the real leader at Arsenal, this coming on the heels of Diaby saying Gallas has the heart of a captain. The cynic in me says that the club has realised the value of William and is mounting a media campaign to get him onside during the transfer window. The truth may be the players know that Gallas has the best interest of his team at heart, but doesn’t engage his brain before expressing himself.

The whole episode of Gallas’ captaincy was a miscalculation by Wenger. While the central defender does have some qualities you look for in a leader, he had a record of media blunders and continued this poor record during his stewardship.

Most of the things Gallas said — lack of fight, lack of respect, etc. — was correct, even in the Portsmouth game you could sense his exasperation when he bombed forward on occasion. He did so because no one else cared to. His propensity to come up with important goals for the team cannot be down to luck, he is the type of person that will always fight to the last. However to express to express your displeasure with the team in the press the way he did was not the best way to address the issues.

Being stripped of the captaincy was the correct thing to do, and although it took a while to get over that disappointment it’s plain to see that with the burden of captaincy being lifted he has started playing the way we’ve expected him to play.

I have had my say on the way Arsenal Football Club is be portrayed in the media, yesterday I came across an article exploring 5 media myths about Arsenal.

• A club shouldn’t worry about getting its finances right.
• Injuries can hurt other teams but never Arsenal.
• Arsenal are always in crisis.
• Arsenal players have no quality
• Wenger has lost it.

I don’t necessarily agree with all the arguments but it’s a good read nonetheless.

In other news Jay Simpson has signed a new “long-term” contract with the club. All to often we see players brought up by the club and leave for pastures green in the name of playing more games.
Simpson won’t be playing many games in the first team but he’s 20 and has time on his side. It would have been a tragedy to lose him only to see him tearing up the league a few years later.

Finally meanwhile the club website has revealed that Xabi Alonso is quite the conscience stricken lad, and is on the phone with Cesc everyday. I hope Cesc is dropping not-so-subtle hints to Alonso about becoming an Arsenal player.

Thanks for reading, don’t forget to add your views in the comment section.