Arsene Wenger maintains it would be a "cheap excuse" to lay blame for Arsenal's failure to win the Premier League on captain William Gallas, but refused to confirm just who would lead the team next season.
The 30-year-old former Chelsea defender was something of a surprise choice to replace Thierry Henry as the Gunners' permanent skipper.
However, it had looked to be a sound judgment by the Arsenal manager, as Gallas took his team to the top of the table and towards the knockout stages of the Champions League.
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However, Gallas came in for criticism when he broke down in the centre-circle following the last-gasp draw at Birmingham on an afternoon where Arsenal lost striker Eduardo to an horrific broken leg and also saw two points slip away in the closing moments - not to mention a controversial magazine article commenting on Theo Walcott's development.
Gallas, who arrived from Chelsea as part of the deal which took Ashley Cole to Stamford Bridge in August 2006, briefly touched on the subject in what could be his final programme notes ahead of the Everton game. He observed: "This was my first season as captain and I can tell you that I have certainly learnt a lot in the job.
"As for my thoughts on my captaincy so far, I want to keep that to myself. The season is not yet over so we cannot reflect on the season yet, we can do that at the end."
While Wenger did not single out his captain for any blame, seeing Arsenal's failure to last the course as a collective weakness, the Gunners boss did not go so far as to hand Gallas a ringing endorsement of his leadership role.
"I don't share the view that Gallas is a bad captain. He is a captain who is very committed and tries to work hard for the team," said Wenger, speaking at this week's forum for Arsenal shareholders.
"He had an outburst at Birmingham, but I still believe today that, even if that was a mistake, that was not why we did not win the championship.
"That would be too easy as an excuse because there are other incidents. That would be a cheap excuse.
"At the time [of the Birmingham game] we were five points in front and everybody had been praising his captaincy.
"I believe we all make mistakes and we had to come back as a unit and try to win the championship."
However, Wenger would not commit on just who would wear the armband come August.
"It [the captaincy issue] has been raised by a lot of newspapers, but I must say I have not looked at the situation yet," he said.
"My priority is to keep this team together and then we will see where we go for next season."
Arsenal head to Sunderland on Sunday for their final game of what has been a rollercoaster campaign, and which could well end with fewer league defeats than champions-elect Manchester United.
Wenger is set to have some rebuilding work to do over the summer, with out-of-contract midfielder Mathieu Flamini having signed up for AC Milan as speculation continues over the future of Inter Milan target Alexander Hleb.
"I will try to buy, maybe in the defensive area and one on the creative side of the game as well because we had some players, important players, who were out this year," said the Arsenal manager, who has been linked with a £12million move for Portsmouth's Croatian winger Niko Kranjcar.
"When there is a problem in England, people say 'you have to buy' - but you have to consider as well the development of your players internally.
"It isn't just down to money because we have bought players for nothing and they became world stars.
"It is as well down to the quality of the scouting, the quality of the work in training and the quality of the development in the players.
"I believe much more in that, working in an intelligent way to make a player improve.
"If we lose, people leave the game and say 'Wenger you must buy a centre forward' if we haven't scored, or they want a central defender if someone has made a mistake. But you have to accept that the team can be developed.
"This team made 68 points last year and this year 83. That is 15 points difference and in between we lost Thierry Henry and we lost many, many important players during the season. So you cannot say the team has not developed. Now the target for next season must be to make 90 or 92 points."
A GUARANTEED PROFIT OF AT LEAST £38.97 ON BRISTOL CITY v CRYSTAL PALACE
Did you know that it is possible to win money on Tuesday evening's Championship play-off clash between Bristol City and Crystal Palace, whatever the result?
The game kicks off at 7.45pm and we can guarantee you a profit of at least £38.97, whatever the result of the match. All you have to do is follow the simple instructions below and then sit back and enjoy the game. At full-time, you will be at least £38.97 better off, whatever the result of the match.
We must point out that if you want to take this bet, you should do it now because if the odds change, then the figures here will be invalidated. If they have changed, let us know and we will rework the bet for you.
You can still do this if you have a Betfair account but your overall profit will be reduced by £25.00 as you won't receive the £25.00 cashback as an existing account holder.
If you are unsure about this bet, you are most welcome to call us on 01642 223229 and we will help you as much as we can.
We're going to lay out a total of £83.00 on the Bristol City v Crystal Palace match and we will collect £124.75 if Crystal Palace win, £125.00 if Bristol City win and £121.97 if it's a draw. That's a minimum profit of 46%, a much higher interest rate than you will get in any high street bank.
Here's how it's done. Just follow these simple instructions.
1. Open an account with Coral. It is really important that you enter the bonus code of CORALTD when prompted. This is to ensure that you receive your bonus.
Open an account with Betfair. It is really important that you enter the promotional code of BFB425 when prompted. This is to ensure that you receive your bonus.
Place £28.00 on Crystal Palace at 2.625 (13/8) with Coral.
Coral will now add a £10.00 bonus to your account. Place this on Crystal Palace as well. You will now have £28.00 riding on Crystal Palace.
Back the draw with £30.00 at 3.35 (12/5) (or higher if available) with Betfair.
Place £25.00 on Bristol City at 2.51 (6/4) with Extrabet.
Extrabet match your first bet up to £25 so you will now have £50.00 riding on Bristol City.
The £25.00 matched bet will not show in your account but you can read all about how it works on the Extrabet site. It's the purple box that says '£25 FREE BET FOR NEW CUSTOMERS' on the top right hand side. Click here to visit the Extrabet site.
If you are unsure about placing these bets, please feel free to mail us or call us on 01642 223229 and we will talk you through it, no problem at all. There is no such thing as a stupid question.
You have temporarily laid out a total of £83.00 on the Bristol City v Crystal Palace match. I stress, temporarily... Now sit back, crack a beer open and enjoy the match.
4. Here's what happens at the end of the game.
If Crystal Palace win, you collect £124.75. That's £99.75 from Coral plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
If it's a draw, you collect £121.97. That's £96.97 from Betfair plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
If Bristol City win you collect £125.00. That's £100.00 from Extrabet plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
5. This means that the worst case scenario on the Bristol City v Crystal Palace match is a draw and you make £38.97 profit. However, if Crystal Palace win you make £41.75 and if Bristol City win you make £42.00. That's a minimum profit of 46%, a much better rate of interest that you would get at any high street bank or building society.
6. It is absolutely vital that you click on the links on this page to open the accounts with the two bookies and enter the correct bonus codes or you may not qualify for the bonuses.
Also, before you place your bets, you should check that the odds haven't changed. If they have, let us know by mail or phone us on 01642 223229 and we will rework the bet for you.
Please feel free to contact us or phone us on 01642 223229 if you have any questions at all about this bet and we will help you as much as we can.
Please note that the bonuses are valid for new customers only so if you already have an account with one or more of the bookies we are using, you won't be able to do this. If that is the case, mail us or phone us on 01642 223229 and we'll create an alternative bet for you using different bookies.
This method of betting was used very successfully during the 2006 World Cup and you can read all about how it was done right here.
We guarantee this bet
It's understandable that some people will not believe that it is possible to do this. "What's the catch?" I hear you asking. My answer to that question is that we have been publishing arbitrage bets for four seasons now and literally hundreds of people have profited from following the advice on these pages.
Only twice has our refund guarantee been triggered and that was when we did all the figures wrong and sent refunds out to those who had followed our advice and made a small loss.
Our refund guarantee works like this. If this bet doesn't work like we say it will and you end up out of pocket, we will refund your losses. Simple as that.
That means that you simply cannot lose on this, whatever happens and even if we messed up the numbers.
The only stipulation here is that you must click on the links on this page to be eligible for the refund guarantee, not that you'll be needing to claim anyway. Just enjoy the profit and stay posted for many more of these throughout the season.
