Wenger: Gallas Still Struggling, Nasri Too Injury-Prone

William Gallas has been at the centre of a witch-hunt. That's the verdict of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who felt obliged to strip the experienced Frenchman of the club captaincy last month, with star player and fans' favourite Cesc Fabregas appointed as his successor.

Gallas' conduct on the pitch (with his sit-down protest at Birmingham City living longest in the memory) along with his erratic form and occasional misdemeanours outside working hours (such as getting caught smoking a cigarette outside a nightclub, to the disdain of many) saw his position become as good as untenable.

Wenger obliged, but not without his own troubles. He revealed, "On the human level, what happened with William was the most difficult thing I have had to handle in my career because I have a lot of esteem for him.

"He was caught in a media storm, a witch-hunt that isolated him to the point where it became a handicap for the team. He has refound the stability in his game but I am not convinced that, in his mind, he has refound his stability and his joie de vivre."

Moving from one Frenchman to another, new signing Samir Nasri has impressed in spurts, scoring two minutes into his Premier League debut against West Bromwich Albion and memorably netting a double in the win over Manchester United, but Wenger is still far from happy.

"I thought Nasri had the qualities to be, say, a mixture between [Robert] Pires and [Aliaksandr] Hleb," said the coach, with an interesting though perhaps accidental use of the past tense. "The dribbling of Hleb and the passing, vision and finishing of Pires.

“His contribution? He has had too many injuries, far too many. It’s perhaps down to the fact he played sooner than I would have liked without being sufficiently ready for the Premier League.”

Nasri joined this summer from Marseille for €16 million.

Sulmaan Ahmad, Goal.com