Overpaid, Redknapp's no-brainer and tomorrow

Armand Traore has apparently turned down a move to Benfica because it would result in his salary halving. I think this shows that we are overpaying some of our younger players who have no even made it as first team players. Obviously we need to attract in the best talent, however I would argue that a lot of lucrative five year deals have been thrown around too early, before players have done enough to justify such rewards. If we were a little stricter then it would inevitably lead to the odd player being lost for free, however it would mean that we wouldn't be paying so much money to a lot of unproven players and maybe there would be a bit of good natural selection at work, as those who left and didn't stay to prove themselves may well be of a less motivated and determined subgroup of player. I wonder how much the likes of Fabianski, Denilson and Vela are on a week?

Harry Redknapp seems to think that it's a 'no-brainer' to sign William Gallas on a free. Other pearls from the interview include the magical:

"He's a footballer"

That's insight for you, thanks Harry. But seriously the undercurrent of the interview is one of slight desperation from Redknapp. He pretends that Arsenal were dying to keep Gallas, but Gallas wanted to play for the spuds. This is a stretch of the truth, Gallas was offered a contract but he was never likely to accept a massive salary cut as Arsenal didn't really want to keep him, Arsenal's attention had gone to Laurent Koscielny as Arsene had admitted.

Arsene is typically polite regarding Gallas' departure. The reality of Gallas' last few years of football has consisted of some deeply average performances in a back four without a rudder, some incredibly disruptive and petulant behaviour, several team mates not speaking to him and no leadership. Whatever one thinks of Gallas, he has only managed to play over thirty league games once in four seasons with us, showing how injury prone he has been. Obviously the lack of silverware in his time with us is not solely down to him, but his indiscipline and poor leadership have undoubtedly played a massive part in it. Chelsea have hardly missed Gallas either. Notably he has only ever been effective in the Premiership as a full back, he has never really got the hang of playing the role of the dominant centre back. Interestingly numerous clubs didn't think Gallas was worth the money, even on a free, after his poor world cup.

Redknapp seems to think that Gallas has been 'professional' in all that he has done in recent years and that there has been no attitude problem. Ignoring numerous incidents, just take Gallas' behaviour at Birmingham in the video above as one example, that is no leader of men, that is more like a small child who didn't get his sweeties. Gallas showed his completely unprofessional side in that Birmingham incident and in retrospect he should have been shown the door straight after that.

A lot of rotting went on in the months after that game and we are only just beginning to clear things up to create a new team spirit and togetherness. Overall it's a strange one because normally Gooners would be fuming at their ex-captain leaving for the spuds, but with Gallas it's different, no one liked him and we won't miss him in footballing terms either. I am just glad he doesn't play for us anymore, I thought he was a w*nker when he played for us and now I can openly say it without guilt.

Tomorrow sees the visit of Blackpool after that amazing win against Wigan. I'd like to see Kieran Gibbs get a run out, Djourou will come in for the suspended Koscielny. In the midfield we may well see Song return from injury, while Cesc and RVP must be close. Personally I'd like to see Rosicky get a start after his great substitute performance at Anfield, I also think Walcott is a must on the right flank and he will scare Blackpool with his pace. This is my team, I'd keep Cesc and RVP on the bench assuming they're not quite ready yet:

Almunia
Sagna Djourou Vermaelen Gibbs
Diaby Song Rosicky
Walcott Chamakh Arshavin