I made mistakes as captain, says William Gallas

The France defender was surprisingly handed the skipper's armband ahead of Gilberto Silva at the start of a campaign that began brightly but ended in disappointment.

Gallas contributed to the Gunners' downfall when they travelled to Birmingham as Premier League leaders on 23 February. Eduardo suffered his horrendous leg break as Arsenal surrendered a lead to draw 2-2 after conceding a late penalty.

The 30-year-old reacted by sulking on his own at the other end of the pitch as the kick was taken. Now, Gallas accepts he must change the way he approaches his role as team leader.

He said: "You know I learned a lot, you want to be the best captain, give good advice to your players, but sometimes you can make mistakes as well so I think this season I know what I'm going to do and I know I am ready to change my way to speak to the players."

Arsene Wenger has yet to confirm who will be his skipper this season with Cesc Fabregas also a potential leader but Gallas is confident he can still have a positive effect and win the club a trophy for the first time since 2005 if he gets the nod.

"They [the Arsenal squad] are young," he told Arsenal TV. "They are very shy but it won't be difficult for them to settle in, the squad is fantastic the atmosphere is very good so I think it will be fine for them.

"We have to win something because the trophies are more important at the end of the season. Last season we were near to winning something, I hope this season it will be different. Everybody knows what they have to do, we are ready."

Midfielder Tomas Rosicky agrees with Gallas and feels Arsenal are ready to prove the critics wrong this season, despite influential midfielders Alexandar Hleb, Mathieu Flamini and Gilberto all leaving the club this summer.

He said: "It is something similar to last season, when everybody wrote us off. Now, it will be the same. Some players have left but I trust the coach over this.

"He knows what he is doing. Personally, my ambitions are not smaller and I think this counts for the rest of the team.

"Definitely it was an excellent midfield and it is a pity that we have not remained together as we were attuned on the same tune. On the other hand, if the guys wanted to leave, it is only their decision."

Rosicky has been sidelined since the start of the year due to a knee injury and despite undergoing an operation in May does not expect to play until September at the earliest.

Gallas only returned to training last Monday and is unlikely to feature in tonight's pre-season match with Burgenland in Austria as he tries to regain full fitness following Euro 2008.

He added: "It's [regaining fitness] not easy but what can I say, you do the good job because we want to be fit for all the first games."

William Gallas was talking to Arsenal TV - Sky channel 435 and Virgin channel 542. ATV is showing all pre-season friendlies live, including tonight's game, live coverage from 4.30pm. Visit www.arsenal.com for more details.