Speaking exclusively to Lord Ping, William Gallas gives his thoughts on
Chelsea and their FA Cup loss to City
Arsenal and their win over Wolves
Arsenal v Chelsea in their midweek Premier League clash
The North London Derby
On Arsenal vs Chelsea
What are your immediate thoughts after the match?
Earlier in the week, I predicted a draw for this game, but when I saw the Chelsea line-up, I knew that Arsenal were going to win. When I saw the back four, I was concerned. I knew that those four players wouldn’t be able to control Arsenal’s attacking players.
I expected Arsenal to win, but not by five goals. Five nil against your rivals in the London derby, that should never be allowed to happen. That is a crazy result, but a good one for Arsenal. Everyone knows about Arsenal’s attacking threat – they’ve scored many this year and, this season, they’ve changed their mentality. They are ruthless. They keep going and play to score as many goals as possible. The score line didn’t flatter Arsenal. They could have won by more.
As a former Chelsea defender, it was really difficult to see that performance. Full credit to Arsenal, they didn’t give Chelsea an opportunity to breathe, even though they did have a few chances to score.
If I’m not mistaken, I think that this game will be in the history books for the wrong reasons from a Chelsea perspective. I think it was the first time that they have been beaten 5-0 in a London derby.
Chelsea definitely had a few moments, but there were parts where Arsenal stepped it up and they couldn’t live with them. Once the game had got away from Chelsea – it looked like a lot of the players lost all of their fighting spirit.
The Chelsea players didn’t have the belief once they conceded the second goal. The character and the personality wasn’t there, and they played like they knew there was no way back. They looked like and played like they knew they were going to concede a lot more goals.
The body language of the players was really bad. No one was shouting. No one was trying to lift the players. This result showed you exactly why Chelsea need some experienced players. The squad is so, so young. When you play a game like this, you need players that are warriors, and I didn’t see any warriors wearing a blue shirt. The players just accepted the defeat.
I thought it was quite surprising that Thiago Silva didn’t start, given the experienced of the back four. I found it even more surprising that he was called from the substitutes bench so late in the game with the score 5-0.
It was strange. I didn’t understand why Pochettino made that substitution. When I saw that Thiago Silva was on the bench, I thought it could have been because he played on Saturday, and he is thirty-nine-years-old. Perhaps he was tired. It’s hard to play every two or three days at his age.
When he came on, Chelsea went with a back five. If you’re not going to start him, why bring him on with ten minutes to go? It was a difficult decision for me to understand.
From a players point of view, if you’re a player who has had a career like Thiago Silva, to get brought on at 5-0 down with ten minutes to go, you’re going to be upset.
Of course, Thiago would have been upset by Pochettino’s decision to bring him on. It also all depends on the conversation between the pair of them. If he hasn’t been picked to start because Thiago is tired, why put him in the squad? It would be better to give him some rest. Maybe they wanted him in the dressing room because of his experience. Yesterday, it was only Thiago Silva and Raheem Sterling (with experience).
On Chelsea’s Youth Strategy
Chelsea’s transfer strategy is to focus on youth recruitment. Yesterday’s result shows you that it’s not possible to play an entire season and be competitive without experienced players. You can get away with it for one or two games, but for a full season, you can’t just rely on young players.
The board have made a big mistake only recruiting youngsters. A big mistake.
Pochettino’s comments before the match said it was an opportunity for Chelsea players to prove they are not Cole Palmer FC. Those comments have come back to haunt him – without Palmer, Chelsea look very ordinary.
Listen, even with Cole Palmer, Chelsea don’t look good. It’s obvious that things need to dramatically improve at the club. All you need to do is look at the Premier League table. Have they won anything since the new owners arrived? No.
Palmer is the best Chelsea player. He’s had a brilliant season individually, and I think he will be recognised with the Premier League Young Player of the Year award. He should definitely win it.
The players around him, who have been brought for a lot of money, these players are not at his level. We expect them to be top players because of the amount of money that was spent on them, but they are not at Palmer’s level yet.
You’re looking at this Chelsea team. Who if any are the players you build around, and who are the players that need to move on?
Cole Palmer is a player that you can build around. You also have Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, but I still think Chelsea are missing a player in the midfield. I think they need to change tactics a little and find a player that can play box-to-box.
Chelsea are missing a player like Michael Essien. When I was there, we had Claude Makelele, Michael Essien and Frank Lampard. Caicedo can play in the front of the defenders like Makelele and Enzo can be more attacking, but then you need the Essien-type who provides the midfield with more balance and has the engine to get up and down the pitch.
Those are the only three players in the Chelsea squad that you can build your team around.
There are a lot of question marks about Reece James – he’s injured at the moment – but when he is fit, he is a wonderful player. Unfortunately, he is someone that you can’t build around because of his fitness problems.
On Chelsea
Thiago Silva is a player that you admire. His contract expires at the end of the season, and he will likely leave the club. How do you think Thiago compares to some of Chelsea’s modern day defensive legends like yourself, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Gary Cahill?
Listen, for me, I think he has had a perfect career. When you look at your career when you hang up your boots, your status in the game is determined by the trophies that you have won. There have been some great players that haven’t won that many trophies, perhaps they were at the wrong club or played under the wrong manager.
Thiago Silva will aways be remembered as a legend. Not just at Chelsea, but for what he has achieved throughout his career with AC Milan and PSG. I will put him just behind John Terry, honestly, I think he is that good and his career has been magnificent. I would class him as the second best defender that Chelsea have had over the last twenty years. Only John Terry is better than him.
Speaking of John, I saw this week that he was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame. Do you have anything to say about that having played with him and won two Premier League titles with him.
John Terry deserves the recognition from the Premier League. I joined Chelsea in 2001, so I saw John Terry growing into the player and the man that we all know him to be. I watched him grow into a wonderful player.
He was a young boy when I joined Chelsea. You could see at twenty-years-old that he had that personality, that spirit. You could tell that he was destined to be the captain of the club. When I joined the club, Marcel Desailly and I were the first-choice centre back pairing because we were a little bit more experienced than John, but we knew straight away that he would catch-up with us and was the future. We knew that he would be ready to play for Chelsea.
As soon as I joined the club, Marcel said to me, “William, there is one young boy here who is the future captain of Chelsea. His name is John Terry. Right, left foot. No problem. Short passes, long passes – he can do everything! You will need to work hard.”
When I saw John in training, I said to myself oh my gosh! I’m going to need to work really hard because the boy is going to be on my back, and I don’t want to be on the bench (laughs). He deserves the award. He won everything with Chelsea.
I played many games with him, left back, centre back. We always had a good connection. When we played together in central defence, you have to communicate with your partner a lot. We developed an understanding really quickly and after a few games we had a telepathic understanding of each other’s game; our strengths and weaknesses. We complimented each other beautifully. He was big, strong. I was quick and could read the game well. We had so many great games together. It was a perfect partnership.
On Arsenal
Kai Havertz must have enjoyed himself against his old club. As someone that has done it, what’s that feeling like for a player?
I have to admit that Kai Havertz played well. He had a good game against Chelsea. He scored a couple of goals; he could have had more. He tried to be a good team mate in one situation by laying on an assist when he should have had a shot, but he had a great game.
It’s always the same thing when you play against your old club. There is double motivation. You have to control yourself and your emotions. You need to find the right balance between not being too nervous and not being too relaxed. It’s not easy to do that sometimes.
It happened to me (scoring a goal) when I played for Arsenal against Chelsea and also when I played for Tottenham (against Chelsea).
It’s never easy to find the right balance when you’re playing your old club. Sometimes you can be too motivated. If you try too much, sometimes you don’t have a good game. It’s a little bit similar for defenders and strikers. As a defender, if you make a mistake, everybody will always say it’s because you couldn’t handle the pressure of playing your old club and it’s the same for a striker if you don’t score and miss two or three chances.
Does the goal in the derby mean more? is it more enjoyable to score against your old club?
It all depends on how you left your former club. Normally you don’t celebrate when you score against your former club. Sometimes, it can be difficult to control yourself, especially if the fans have been giving you stick for the whole game. You have to stay calm.
Tottenham vs Arsenal
How can Tottenham start to compete with Arsenal on a regular basis?
From a Tottenham perspective, there are two motivating factors. The first motivation is the fact that it’s a north London derby. That motivation will always be there – Tottenham will want to be better than their rivals in the Premier League, so that is one factor.
The second motivating factor, and I’m sure the fans have been thinking about this for a while and will be letting the Tottenham players and staff know that they can potentially stop Arsenal from becoming champions. I think the Tottenham players will do everything to put a serious dent in Arsenal’s title challenge.
It’s double motivation for Tottenham on Sunday. This season, under Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham have improved a lot. This game is going to be absolutely electric.
Arsenal will go there with a lot of confidence. I’m sure that we’re going to see quite a few goals on Sunday.
Defensively, Tottenham have been a little bit leaky. Why do you think they’ve had a few issues recently and how can they resolve them?
We don’t know how Tottenham are going to approach this game. Postecoglou generally sticks to his guns, so we can expect the team to press the ball very high and to also play with a high defensive line. They can play in this aggressive way without the ball because they have players that are very quick, especially at the back.
Arsenal can play beautiful football. They have players that can exploit the spaces that Tottenham will leave, so I think it will be difficult to stop Arsenal, especially after the 5-0 result against Chelsea. This is a group that are full of confidence. They are playing without pressure. I think Arsenal will win if they can score first. They will travel to the Tottenham Stadium with the same spirit as they approach the Chelsea game.
If Tottenham score first, I think it could be a little bit different. They could sit back a little bit and play on the counterattack. With the way that Arsenal play, if you want to beat them then you have to score first.
How impressed have you been with how Arteta has adapted this season (such as when playing v City) and has that been the key to them being genuine title challengers?
Of course, the performances against Manchester City and Liverpool have been crucial in Arsenal’s pursuit of the title. Those results and performances show you that Arsenal have gone to another level this season.
To win the Premier League, you have to win against your direct rivals. You have to beat the big clubs. At the same time, you have to beat the small clubs and Arsenal haven’t always been able to do that. That has been Arsenal’s problem: dropping points that they shouldn’t drop at home to teams like Fulham and West Ham. Losing at home to Aston Villa.
On Chelsea
What are your immediate thoughts on how Chelsea played in the FA Cup semi-final?
I’m disappointed with Chelsea going out of the FA Cup to Manchester City. Why? Because this was the best opportunity that Chelsea have had to beat Manchester City this season – they had the chances to do it. Chelsea had the opportunity to get to an FA Cup final and they blew it.
Manchester City were down. Physically and mentally, they were exhausted after what happened against Real Madrid. They were making mistakes in the game that they would never normally make, and when that happens, against a team as good as City, you must take advantage.
Nicolas Jackson had so many chances to score. He should have scored at least one or two goals in the game. His job in the team is to score goals and take chances. He didn’t do his job well.
The Chelsea squad are young, they don’t have many experienced players, and being honest, when I was watching them miss chance after chance in the first half, I knew that Manchester City would win. You can’t miss that many chances against Manchester City and expect to win.
They created so many great chances, most of them falling to Nicolas Jackson, and couldn’t take them. If Chelsea has a better striker up front they would have won that game.
I really wanted to give Nicolas Jackson the chance to prove that he had the ability to be Chelsea’s main striker and lead the line next season. This is his first year in the Premier League and he is a young player, but for him to prove that he is good enough to be the main striker at Chelsea, he needs to score a minimum of 15-20 goals. I said that at the start of the season.
His performances haven’t been good enough for the club to trust him with being the main striker at Chelsea next season. When you have the opportunity to play in almost every game, you have to take it. You have to score more goals.
If you’re the owner or the Sporting Director of Chelsea, and you see your striker miss three big chances - chances that he should have scored - in the FA Cup semi-final, then your first priority is going to be signing a world-class striker in the summer. Next season, I’m sure that Chelsea will bring in one world-class striker. For me, Jackson can’t complain about losing his place in the team. He has had so many chances to stake his claim (as the club’s main striker). He has had his opportunity, and he hasn’t grasped it.
That is a problem with some of these young players at Chelsea. They don’t understand what it is to be a world-class player and to play at the highest level. When you get the opportunity to play on the pitch for a club like Chelsea, you have to take it. You have to put in good performances. It’s simple. They haven’t done it.
It’s another match where Chelsea have gone toe-to-toe with one of the big boys. Did the performance give you a reason to be optimistic for the future of this team?
I think Chelsea’s squad will be ready to challenge for the title in two more seasons. Some people think Chelsea will be ready to compete for the title next season. No. In two years they will be able to compete for the Premier League.
The squad is not ready to compete for the biggest prizes. The players are not mature enough and they don’t have enough experience to compete for a Premier League title yet.
Thiago Silva and Noni Madueke’s contrasting reactions at full-time
Chelsea have just lost a semi-final. The players are shaking hands and Thiago Silva is in tears because he knows that this was the last chance to win an FA Cup with the club – he has lifted so many trophies during his career. Behind Thiago Silva, Madueke was joking with Jack Grealish. Someone needs to explain to me how Madueke can behave like this. Someone tell me why Madueke was smiling. You’ve just lost the semi-final. You don’t share a joke with your friend on the pitch after you’ve just lost a game of this magnitude. I was shocked by Madueke’s reaction. It upsets me a lot.
The Madueke incident just shows you that this Chelsea team lacks maturity. I’m sorry. I don’t understand it. You’ve just lost your last chance of a trophy and you’re smiling? Don’t you care?
Thiago is thirty-nine-years-old - he’s won it all – and he’s in tears. Then you see a young boy who is twenty-two and he’s making a joke! It’s difficult for me to understand (how a player can do this).
You would think that Madueke would have a bit more awareness, especially after the penalty incident against Everton.
After what happened against Everton, Noni Madueke should know better. I don’t know what is going to happen with Noni Madueke after this. I think the club and the manager have to stand up and take the responsibility and discipline the player. I’m sorry. He shouldn’t be in the squad for the Arsenal game.
There are so many cameras that film absolutely everything on the pitch. After losing a semi-final, it was not the time to have a joke with your friend on the pitch. I’m sorry. This isn’t about older generations or new generations of players and the differences between them. There will be a lot of people who were offended by his actions, it won’t just be me.
When you contrast the emotions between Madueke and Thiago Silva
Thiago Silva has won everything! This was one of the few trophies he hasn’t won, and he wanted to win it. That is why he was so upset. Madueke hasn’t won many trophies in his career and he is smiling because of a joke with Grealish. It shows the difference in mentality between Thiago Silva and Madueke – one has the warrior mentality and the other less so.
Where are you on Pochettino? After his first season, no trophy, no European football, but some decent performances against the Premier League’s better teams…
Pochettino has failed in his first season as Chelsea manager. There is no other conclusion that can be drawn. At the moment, he hasn’t won any trophies, and it is almost impossible for the club to qualify for European football.
He hasn’t brought any trophies, Chelsea are ninth in the table, OK, Europe isn’t over yet, but it will be nearly impossible. At the end of the season, if he hasn’t taken the club into the Europa League, then he has failed. It as simple as that.
Do you think that the club has the confidence that he is the man to lead them next season?
I think that the club will keep Pochettino, and he will lead the club into the next season of the Premier League. Let’s see how he gets on at the beginning of next season. He will be starting under a lot of pressure and will have to demonstrate that Chelsea have improved and are capable of meeting their objectives. He will have five-to-ten games to do that and, if the results aren’t good, he will be sacked.
On Arsenal
It was a gutsy performance against Wolves in a match that puts Arsenal back on top of the Premier League. How important was it for the club to win after a difficult week?
It was so important for Arsenal to win this game, especially after the disappointment of getting knocked out of the Champions League. This was a very big game in the title race and Arsenal needed to win it and they did.
For the players, it would have been so hard to play a match like this seventy-two hours after the Bayern game. Mentally and physically, they would have been shattered. It was a good response from Arsenal, and they are back on top of the league. The result puts pressure on Manchester City.
It will be very difficult for Arsenal to win the title. I’ve said since the beginning of the season that I don’t think that Arsenal will be champions this year. Unfortunately, they lost at home to Aston Villa and dropped points. They lost the initiative. It’s always the same story with Arsenal around April and May. Perhaps there is too much pressure on their shoulders and when they need to be strong, they can be found wanting.
Manchester City are out of the Champions League, so they can really focus on the league. They are in control of their own destiny when it comes to retaining their crown and, with six games to go, I can’t see them making any mistakes.
On Arsenal vs Chelsea
From an Arsenal perspective, they will have to win every game to have a chance of becoming champions. Will the opportunity for Chelsea to spoil the party serve as motivation? Do you think Chelsea’s players will be motivated by that?
Listen, I don’t think that Chelsea will be thinking about anything other than securing a good result for themselves. They will not find any extra motivation in trying to disrupt Arsenal’s title challenge.
They know they will have to try and get a good result if they are to have any chance of qualifying for Europe. They need at least a point, but a victory would be much more helpful in the quest for European football.
For me, Chelsea must go to The Emirates and give absolutely everything. For this season not to be an abject failure, Chelsea needs to be playing European football next season.
What kind of a game do you think we will get on Tuesday evening?
It will be an electric game, a proper London derby! When you look at how Arsenal have played against the big teams this season, they’ve had good results this season. They will push to score from the start on and look to get control of the game, however it will be Arsenal’s third game in 7 days so physically they will be tired, so it will be important for Arsenal to not go 1-0 down as Chelsea have the ability to play like they did against Manchester City, be very compact in midfield, have a mid-low block and look to counter attack. I think it will end as a draw.
PLAY LORD PING
Lord Ping is an online casino with over 3000 online slots and live casino table games.
LORD PING, THE ONLINE CASINO FOR OPINIONATED PLAYERS!
Disclaimer: Opinion content is provided by experienced journalists and are not the views of Lord Ping
