Gallas Accepts Criticism

Arsenal and France defender William Gallas believes criticism is easy to take when it is justified, but can be upsetting if you are being unfairly targeted.

Gallas' form has mirrored that of his club, and he says he is prepared to hold his hands up for Aston Villa's second goal when the midlands based club visited the Emirates Stadium last weekend.

Gabriel Agbonlahor took advantage of a through ball and accelerated toward goal with Gallas backtracking but not being able to shrug Agbonlahor off the ball.

The Villan then cooly finished by stroking the ball past Manuel Almunia and into the net to seal the Gunners' fourth league loss of the season.

Justifying Criticism
"I am not annoyed by criticism if it is justified," Gallas told journalists at a press conference in France.

"You can blame me for Aston Villa’s second goal last Saturday, no worries. But sometimes I am being criticised whereas the team drew.

"On a personal level, I have been better than during the game with Manchester [United] but as the team lost, people talked rubbish. I am thinking of the game with Tottenham and of other ones.

"But the fact this game was against Manchester, with extra pressure surrounding the game, we won 2-1...people spoke about Gallas’ game.

"I would not say this does not make me happy," he continued. "But as far as I am concerned, I know when I have done well or not.

"And I have been better than this."

Arsenal's problems have worsened in the past 24 hours with the news that pacy winger Theo Walcott could be out for three months should he require surgery on his dislocated shoulder.