As someone who has played under both Jose Mourinho And Arsene Wenger, William Gallas is better qualified than both to compare their managerial styles.
The former French international won back-to-back Premier League titles at Stamford Bridge before making the cross-city move to Arsenal in 2006 as part of the deal that took Ashley Cole in the other direction, but failed to win a trophy in his time at the Emirates.
Gallas arrived at Arsenal at the beginning of their barren run in the league, and when speaking to Talksport’s Jim White on Tuesday, the 39-year-old put that down to the fact that Mourinho simply has a better winning mentality.
He explained:
“You get criticism when you don’t win trophies, when you don’t win games, and that is maybe the difference between Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger.
“Mourinho wants to win every game and at the end of the season sometimes he has success but, for Arsene, Arsenal didn’t win from 2004 so everybody starts to criticise him because football has changed.
“Football is about victory, about trophies. Players want to lift trophies. If you don’t lift a trophy in your career, you will feel disappointed at the end of your career.
“I don’t know what Arsenal are going to do but they have to win trophies again.”
Arsenal’s disappointing display in a 3-1 defeat at Chelsea last week effectively ended their title challenge for another year, leading to the dissenting voices to grow that bit louder. Wenger’s contract expires at the end of the season and Gallas concurs with those that feel that it is perhaps time for the manager to walk away at the end of the season:
“Maybe it is time to change something at the end of the season.
“We can’t forget what he did for the club. He did a very, very good job so sometimes you can’t sack the manager like this. You have to respect the manager.
“That is why I said at the end of the season maybe the board has to speak with Arsene and try to find a solution.”
After two consecutive defeats, Arsenal now have just one more game, a tricky tie against in-form Hull City, to prepare for their Champions League last 16 first leg tie against Bayern Munich next week.