Gallas Could Miss Important Run In

Well thank goodness that Silvestre is fit!

This is a massive blow. Since his case of verbal diarrhoea and stripped of the captaincy he has been exceptional at the back for us! I have got faith in Silvestre or Djorou though, especially now Kolo looks back to his old self.

Is that sarcasm Amos? lol

It's a little tongue in cheek but Silvestre is at least experienced cover though not with the pace and match sharpness that Gallas has been playing with. On the plus side Kolo looks to be somewhere near his best form. Hopefully he stays fit and whoever he is paired with can do a decent enough job.

Yeah Kolo has been masterful in recent games, quick, commanding, strong in the tackle, it's wonderful to see our last invincible stepping back up to the plate after a rough ride....... and who was it who said he'd never get back to his best? You know who you are!! lol

Gallas is a huge huge lost for u, don't think any of the remaining CB can fill the entire void. Silvestre is experienced but I think he's past his prime. Djourou looks calm but prone to lapse of concentration and occasional errors, perhaps more match practice will help.

Gallas is a huge huge lost for u, don't think any of the remaining CB can fill the entire void. Silvestre is experienced but I think he's past his prime. Djourou looks calm but prone to lapse of concentration and occasional errors, perhaps more match practice will help.

That's an immense loss, possibly the worst loss we could suffer considering that Gallas is the only player with significant experience of the kind of games we are playing now. But Toure has been in very good form of late and I have faith in Djourou, but I fear the gamble to do away with the over 30s will bite us without Gallas, a lack of experience undid us this time last year and I fear the same again given our inexperience. Silvestre is experienced, I accept, the problem is, he's *****. (Well, he has been since his cruciate injury a couple of years ago, good player before that. Ready for the knacker yard now).

with all the speculations about Gallas moving from The Arsenal in the summer, have we seen the last of him? Probably. Though he has been good for us, he seem to have lost the joy, IMO. I think Djourou will be our best back up, with Silvestre on the bench, bar the odd game against lower opposition.

I can't believe the way Gallas got injured, someone falling on you. What would be the odds on that ? It's such a blow with all the matches we have in the next 6 wks or so. But I hope it's not the last time Gallas plays for us.

Djourou and Toure works just fine for me. Individuals do matter of course, but in many cases it's a case of being poor defensively as a team that costs you, like Senna's goal for instance.

Toure is still not back to his best in my opinion. But you have to remember that I made those comments in relation to medical "expertise" made on several Arsenal websites and I even looked it up on medical sites. I think he is getting better, and the Malaria does not seem to have any real effect on him, but I am still not a huge fan.

I was sweating when I saw Silvestre warming up! Thank goodness Arsene brought on Djourou instead. The boy has stepped up this season and has looked solid alongside Gallas or Kolo. Gallas will be a big miss, no doubt. If Kolo/Djourou got injured/suspended (knocking a big piece of wood!), I seem to remember Sagna playing well enough as an emergency CB; Eboue at RB then. And I think the younger players have learnt a great great deal from the away trips to Roma and Villarreal, that's something you can't teach at the training ground. I'm cautiously optimistic.

You don't need to be a fan to see that he's been playing very well recently, and last night he was the best player on the park ..... by quite some distance.

Let's hope he plays against Chelsea, I wanna see what he might do if you lose. lol

We still have Song to slot back at CB if needed. RvP demands a place in team when he fits, so I dont see our midfield trio of Fab - Den - Song stays.

Begs the question: has he played his last game for us? I desperately hope not. I still think he'll stay...

Same here, Lou. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Silvestre warm up last night. His experience maybe valuable on the training pitch, but I fear that he will cost us points. I have faith in Djourou and Toure IS coming back to form, So I hope we'll be fine in defence. Song can always go to CB and could do well coz his confidence is high. During the end of last season, it was Toure & Gallas, our experienced players, who cost us points with errors. Hopefully, Djourou will be solid enough to eliminate that.

kev, now aren't you more creative than that? I imagine if we lose to you, he won't be happy. Same reaction when you lost to the spuds, not to happy at all.

I hope Wenger allows CB pairing of Toure and Djourou, not Silvestre and Toure. With Djourou, we have some height and Kolo and Djourou will be our main CB pairing in the future, maybe as early as next season. Hopeful, Toure doesn't leave Arsenal in the summer, looking from the news of him leaving the club during the january transfer window.

I'm not saying that just to wind you up. Gallas is an eccentric fella (remember the Mr.T haircut?). Just saying that he could go crazy again, that would be fun to watch.

In all fairness k_chelski, Gallas did play a lot better with the 'Mr.T', and Djourou tried to copy it, and he found form too, as did RvP.

What about Senderos? for next season I mean. I am a huge fan of Phillipe and he is one player that gets lots of grief from fans but I think he will be a fantastic CB in the very near future and I hope his loan spell will inspire him to come back and prove a point instead of encouraging him to leave and settle for the slower,older and less intense Serie A.

I think he weak mental state will lead him to eventual failure at any top club. But as a defender, he is excellent.

D'arsassin, did you see Senderos in Milan's dramatic game v. Lecce last weekend? He played a full game (as did Flamini). Incredible game. Lecce kept Milan at bay for 90 mins. It was absolutely incredible watching Pato, Ronaldinho, Becks, Pirlo, Kaka, etc. throwing everything they could and they just couldn't get thru. Every Milan player bar the keeper kept pressuring and pressuring. You barely saw Milan's half of the pitch. It looked to be a 0-0 draw. Senderos and Flamini were very much a part of the pressure, it was a very intense game. 91st minute, Milan get a set piece. Senderos (who had just done the same thing in a previous set piece but missed narrowly) heads the ball in powerfully. Cue mass hysterical celebrations by his teammates all crowding Senderos, you couldn't see him anymore, they were all over him. Fans at the San Siro chanted his name. Unfortunately, he couldn't get credit for it because the replay showed that he headed it toward Dinho (who was right in front of him) and the ball touched Dinho who helped it on its way to the net. So Dinho got credit for it. But it was Senderos who got the ball with his head and powered it toward goal.

Wow Jaelle sounds like some rare glory for Philippe at San Siro, I'm happy for him! I still think he can become a good CB and hope he'll come back next season.