William Gallas: Arsenal must learn to win ugly

"If winning isn't everything," Vince Lombardi, perhaps American football's greatest coach, once asked, "then why do they keep the score?"


It is the kind of question they should be asking this morning at Arsenal's training ground as a third season ends with applause but without trophies.

Gallas came to the Emirates from a very different football culture. The Chelsea of Jose Mourinho won two championships to muted applause.

Gallas argued there were two reasons why Arsenal fell short this season. They were unlucky. Their fate in the Champions League was decided by two penalty appeals and they had little fortune at Old Trafford, where Gallas conceded a penalty three minutes after Emmanuel Adebayor had secured what should have been a precious lead.

Gallas admitted it was handball; when he said it was unlucky he meant they were undone by an unfortunate bounce of a ball.

"People have to understand that it is not just about playing well, you have to have the luck," Gallas said. "If it is not there, you will not win anything. For us, the luck went months ago; we drew too many games at home and lost some important points away and Manchester United may have been a little bit lucky against us."

Perhaps. But those sportsmen who have devoted their lives to winning - the Vince Lombardis, the Alex Fergusons and the Alan Hansens - would call conceding goals at Liverpool and United so soon after taking a lead sloppy rather than unlucky.

Gallas also admitted that Arsenal lacked the ability to recover from setbacks - something Ferguson's teams have always prided themselves on. "After they equalised, we were a little bit down and they took confidence from that. In the last few months it has been difficult for us to react well after conceding a goal. Our heads go down very quickly.

"When the season started we were not like this. Recently, after we conceded a goal, we have been in trouble."

Meanwhile, Adebayor has no doubt Arsenal will end their trophy drought next season. He said: "Arsene is a great man and a great manager. He has a vision to bring a lot of good players to this club, like Alex Hleb, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue, Cesc Fabregas and William Gallas.

''They are his players. So, for sure, we will win something, no doubt about that."