William Gallas has given a brutal assessment of Mikel Arteta’s attempts to end Arsenal’s league title drought.
The Gunners have not won the Premier League since their Invincible 2003/04 season – 21 years ago.
Former Arsenal skipper Gallas laughed when he was asked for his view on Arteta[/caption]
GettyArteta and Arsenal look set to miss out on the Premier League title once again[/caption]
However, Arteta has guided the club to back-to-back second place finishes in the last two seasons.
And his side look set to suffer the same fate once again this term, sitting 15 points behind leaders Liverpool with ten matches remaining.
Former skipper Gallas has now shared his thoughts on the Spaniard, and it’s safe to say he’s not been impressed by him this season.
Gallas, who spent four years at the Emirates between 2006 and 2010, appeared on talkSPORT Drive on Friday where he was asked what he makes of Arteta.
The 47-year-old simply proceeded to laugh, leading co-host Darren Bent to quip, ‘What a start’.
After composing himself, Gallas said: “I’m a little bit disappointed to be honest about what Arsenal is doing this season, because for me, I think they didn’t improve from last season.
“And this season, I think it was a great opportunity to win the Premier League.
“Mikel Arteta, I think, made some mistakes. Not only him, I think players make a lot of mistakes when they draw some games in December.
“And for me, I don’t think only for me, but I think as well for the fans, it was very difficult to accept some games they drew.
“Especially against, for example, Everton at home, they lost at West Ham, they drew at Fulham and if you want to be champion, you can’t make that mistake.
“It’s not the first time with Arsenal, it’s every season they make that mistake. And for Arteta, some people were talking about this, about that striker they didn’t buy. And they should buy that striker maybe at least one year ago. And they didn’t do it.
“That’s why they are in that situation. And about the rotation as well because when you got the squad, 24 players, good players, some players didn’t play for some reason, I don’t know why.
“So that’s why he used always the same players, but when you play the Premier League with another competition, the Premier League is very tough, you have to do rotation. And he didn’t do it.”
The Gunners are into the quarter-finals of the Champions League once again this term, where they will face Real Madrid next month.
But it’s the Premier League title that fans are dreaming of, however Gallas believes Arteta isn’t the man to bring glory back to the red half of north London.
Pressed as to whether Arsenal will win the top-flight under Arteta’s tutelage, Gallas stated: “Good question.
“What he did with Arsenal is great because Arsenal, maybe five years ago, they were in a difficult position and he built something with that squad and he did very well.
“Now the question is, can he win the Premier League? And at the moment, my answer is no. Because now he’s almost, yeah, he’s three times, he’s going to finish second.
“This season, Manchester City was hard for some reason. I think they were tired, mentally it was very difficult for the players.
“And this season it was the best opportunity to win the league. And when you see Liverpool were in front, OK, they did well.
“But they had the new manager and how, as we know, sometimes it’s very difficult for the new manager to arrive in the new club and to try to do his best for his players to be on the top.
“Sometimes you need some time. But with that manager straight away they got a good result. But Arsenal was not there.”
Arteta penned a new deal with Arsenal in September to keep him at the club until 2027.
The extension will take him through to the end of a seventh full season in charge in north London.
However, he has not won a major trophy since lifting the FA Cup eight months into his tenure.
