Twente a must-win-game - Gallas
by Laurent Picard, 27 August 2008
Arsenal must defeat FC Twente in the Champions League preliminary round in order to bounce back mentally, according to captain William Gallas.
The Gunners disappointed all their followers with a poor performance against Fulham last weekend and the tie with Dutch side Twente will be the chance to redeem themselves.
Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor scored in the first leg, and the centre back understands his team will have to battle hard to beat Steve McClaren’s side.
“It’s an absolutely must-win-game, we have to bounce back to victory before welcoming Newcastle (live on Setanta Sports on Saturday) because our group is getting better and better as soon as we win,” Gallas told his personal website.
“As a consequence we are going to play this game to win, despite the difficulties we faced against this team in the first leg.”
The Frenchman has tried to explain Arsenal’s stunning 1-0 defeat at Fulham, as he added: “It’s been a huge disappointment, accepting this defeat is very difficult. We are competitors, winners, but we didn’t show it at Fulham.
“This defeat is deserved because we failed to create a threat; we conceded a goal from a corner and paid for the mistake.
“I think we weren’t enough into it, maybe we thought playing football was sufficient, but Fulham’s players were ready, that’s as simple as that.”