Giving the captaincy to William Gallas seemed to be a bit of a curve ball by Arsene in the summer yet it is reaping benefits already as the Frenchman has discovered humility, apologising to the staff at the club for being, well, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. William is quoted as saying,

I know it might have been difficult for the rest of the group because I wasn’t always smiling when I was in the dressing room…So I want to say sorry to all the players and all the staff

Sadly for him, it comes a no surprise he was a miserable sod during the time he has been out. It must be frustrating for him to be injured and also watching the team go on a long winning run immediately he is out of the side. I am sure, provided Domenech does not push him too hard, that he will be back for the Bolton game, probably at the expense of Senderos. Without wishing to be a Merchant of Doom, there is no way, surely, that Arsene can contemplate him returning at Anfield given last season’s debacle under similar circumstances.

Talking of Domenech, Arsene was reported to be offering an olive branch and putting their feud behind them, for the good of the French team. It depends really on your interpretation of the words used as to whether or not the hatchet is buried somewhere other than in Domenech’s head,

My relationship with the French boss so far? There is no need to make a great fuss about it anymore

Hmmm, more diplomatic way of saying, “I think he is an idiot but I am fed up with the media attention on this subject“, is where Arsene’s true feelings lie. In a true patriotic bitesize sop to the French press and TV, he has held out a true olive branch for this weeks matches,

I am keen to accept for a decisive qualification match an Arsenal player, who is slightly injured, can play

Who can that be? Not William by any chance? Perhaps Flamini has a small knock? Either way, should they come back less than fully fit, that phrase may well come back to haunt him. The club is in a no win situation with the nations holding the power to decide who is fit and who is not, this is more an acceptance that whatever Arsene says, Domenech is going to ignore him over fitness matters and go his own stellar route.

It seems that once again the international break is the sign of formenting media dissent in the ranks. Joachim Low has told Jens that if he is not back in the Arsenal first team by December, he will have to move in January otherwise he is not going to be the Number One any more. As if Lehmann needed any more encouragement to throw a strop. It is a tough decision for him because there is no guarantee he will come back straight away given that Almunia has performed well in his absence. A debate that neither side of the fence can win decisively because no matter what daggers Lehmann may put in the back of the Spaniard, football is about current form not what you have done in the past. Whilst the assertion that Almunia has not won anything with the club in his career is correct, Jens is merely deflecting attention away from the fact that in two of his appearances this season, he has dropped a huge ricket. That should not be held entirely against him for aside from those he has not conceded any goals in the rest of the playing time but they have put unnecessary pressure on the rest of the team, meaning either ninety minutes of chasing what should have been a comfortable game or dropping the only points of the season.

Nicklas Bendtner has been quoted in the Danish media as saying he may well move on if he does not make the grade at Arsenal. Which is correct. The headlines no doubt will scream about him wanting out but the truth is exactly as he calls it,

I will stay at Arsenal to fight for my chance and in case it doesn’t work, I will join a different club permanently

In other words, if I don’t make the grade here, I’ll have to move on to have a career. Alas the media choose not to see it like that and will be stirring up a crock to give the impression that all is not well at The Emirates. His national team coach chooses to add petrol to those flames. Morten Olsen is quoted as saying,

A young player like him needs to play matches. It’s up to his coach to judge but he needs to get more playing time soon

That may come post January and the vested interest of Olsen should not be dismissed. Bendtner will, I think, be more of a challenge come the time of the heavy pitches when fatigue becomes more of an issue later in games and also as between now and December, there are just about two games every week for the first team squad with the climax of the Euro 2008 Qualifying Campaign coming round next month.

Fran Merida is hoping to garner positive attention this season, the current bout of media interest though is sadly for the wrong reasons. A Spanish Civil Court has ordered the player – not the club – to pay €3.4m in compensation for his ‘development’ costs although it is widely assumed that Arsenal will foot the bill. It is not surprising that Barcelona took this course of action for it hides in many respects their own administrative shortcomings, similar to those shown in the case of Fabregas where it is rumoured that on Laporta’s first day at the club, he found a file on his desk from his predecessor concerning the player with a note saying, “You’ll have to explain how this one got away“.

That the courts were involved shoots more holes in Blatter’s recent assertion that football must stay out of the legal circle, be seen to be above the law and resolve it’s own disputes. Barcelona complained about Merida, and Fabregas for that matter, to those authorities about Arsenal and had their cases thrown out. This ruling whilst in their favour creates them some problems. For example, they are likely to have to foot a number of costs in similar cases where they have taken players from Spanish clubs yet it offers them some protection as it seems that Merida simply walked out on them for several months beforehand. That does not appear to be ‘correct behaviour’ and possibly counted against him in the judge’s eyes. At the end of the day though, €3.4m does not seem too high a price to pay for someone who is deemed to have huge potential.

As I mentioned earlier it might create more problems for the Catalans that it solves. For starters, they will have to now start paying for players rather than just whisking them off but also, they are seen to ruling by fear. ‘If you don’t sign professional terms with us, we will sue you for development costs‘ hardly builds an endearing workplace ethic, ruling by fear something that they should be all too unhappily familiar with. Whether that enters the head of a youngster whose cranium has been turned by the sparkling lights of the city or club is another matter.

And we thought this was going to be a quiet international week.

Hasta mañana