There seems to be a weird phenomenon in football, whereby a foreign player will speak to their native press in far more candid tones than they would to an English reporter. Many French players have spoken to France Football and made stunning revelations, only to return to the UK and claim that they were misquoted by the said journalist. The same thing appears to have happened to Tomas Rosicky in the Czech Republic.

Setanta reports that the Arsenal winger has denied making any comments about Gael Clichy being responsible for the Gunners’ downfall last season. Indeed, it’s fair to say that the left-back was arguably the best player in the team last term, although The S*n had claimed that Rosicky cited the Frenchman’s concession of a late penalty at St Andrews as the beginning of the end for Wenger’s men last season.

“I would never blame individuals for the team not lifting a trophy,” Rosicky said in a statement on the club’s official website. “We are in it together. We win as a team and we lose as a team.

“As individuals, we all make mistakes and the message I was relaying to a Czech newspaper was that we are more experienced now and have learnt from last season.

“We came so close last year to winning something and we will be giving it our all to win a trophy this year.”

Indeed, many have cited Rosicky’s injury as one of the main reasons why Arsenal failed to lift any silverware last season, and it’s hard to make a case for Clichy being culpable. Let’s hope the Gunners all pull together and show some unity this term for the sake of the game.