Wednesday June 01 2011

Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal's philosophy needs only minor tweaking for them to challenge for the Barclays Premier League title.

The Gunners finished 12 points behind champions Manchester United following an end-of-season collapse that highlighted the psychological frailties that continue to haunt them. Wenger understands the "disappointed love" of Arsenal fans, some of whom have turned on the Frenchman, but insists the team is only five per cent away from becoming winners.

"It's something that's easy to correct," Wenger told Arsenal TV Online. "We need to improve the size of our squad. We need a bigger variety in the height of our players."

He added:"The criticism has been sharper this year because of the impatience of people. People are used to us being in the Champions League so we have to give them more, but we're not capable of doing that.

"People love what we do but they want us to be rewarded so that they can be convinced we do things the right way. They want proof that we do things the right way.

"For our fans the frustration was that we were so close to convincing everybody of how football can be great, but in the end not being able to deliver.

"I would call it disappointed love. It was cruel and sometimes you get excessive responses to that. I share that and understand it.

"But that doesn't mean we have to change our philosophy or the way the club is run.

"We get it 95 per cent right, but we must gain that five per cent because it's so frustrating to flirt with success like we have done.

"The fans are unhappy that we didn't win the Premier League, but we are close."

Press Association

Arsène Wenger admits 'half the Arsenal dressing room wanted to leave'• 'Players go to Manchester City because they pay much better'
• Wenger believes Arsenal can still finish in the top four

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reddit this Dominic Fifield guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 October 2011 00.31 BST Article history
Arsène Wenger believes Arsenal can finish in the top four despite an 'extremely difficult' start to the season. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images
Arsène Wenger believes Arsenal are steadily recovering their poise after a desperate summer, which saw "half the dressing room wanting to leave". Despite a traumatic start to the campaign the Arsenal manager remains confident his team have the time and ability to reclaim a place in the Premier League's top four.

The 2-1 victory over Sunderland on Sunday restored Arsenal to the top half of the table, only six points off fourth-placed Newcastle, with a Champions League group game at Marseille to come on Wednesday. Wenger conceded the top two, Manchester City and Manchester United, are too far away to catch and suggested players have joined the current league leaders less for the chance to win trophies but rather more for the salaries City are prepared to offer.

Wenger, who lost Gaël Clichy and Samir Nasri to the Etihad Stadium this summer, was asked to reflect on comments made by his former midfielder Emmanuel Petit last week in which he suggested sales were "killing" the club.

"No, it's not that [players have to leave to win titles]," said Wenger on the French radio station RTL. "The problem isn't that. Frankly, if you compare what Manchester City have won in the past and what Arsenal have won, then you don't go to Manchester City to win titles. Players go to Manchester City because they pay much better than Arsenal.

"They are a force clearly, because they have exceptional financial clout, so it's not surprising what they've done. Look at Paris Saint-Germain. They have more money than anyone else in France and they're top of the league. There's always a financial logic behind who ends up being successful in any league. If Barcelona or Real Madrid paid three times less than Malaga, players would go to Malaga. That's always the case. It's as simple as that. So when a player has the choice between two clubs who have the same ambitions, if he can earn three times as much at one club, he'll go there. That's logical."

That last response was given in direct relation to a question posed on Nasri's defection, with the France international having joined Cesc Fábregas in leaving the Emirates over the close season. "It was a very difficult summer because half the dressing room wanted to leave," said Wenger. "You're preparing for a season where you don't know who's going to come in, the players who are staying are asking themselves what's going on at the club, you've got a pre-season tour of Asia. It was extraordinarily difficult. What saved us is that we're a club that are extremely solid and united. Other clubs would surely have gone to pieces in those circumstances.

"What people forget is that we lost three key players because we've also lost [Jack] Wilshere. Three who were important in our midfield. Nasri, Fábregas and Wilshere have all been lost and they were the basis of our midfield last season. We've had to reconstruct our midfield entirely because Wilshere won't be back until January. Still, we've disappointed this season so far, given what's expected of us, but I think we're on the up again. The problem is you can only climb the table slowly. We're not too far away in terms of points from fourth place. We're too far away [12 and 10 points] from the top two."

Arsenal are yet to secure Robin van Persie on new terms at the Emirates. The current captain is into the final two years of his current deal, prompting fears of a repeat of the Nasri scenario.

"For me being professional means that right up until the last day you are at a club you give 100% to that club," added Wenger. "Today, two days before we play at Marseille, I'm not asking myself whether Van Persie is going to extend his contract in 18 months' time. For me what is important is that he plays well for us on Wednesday. After that the next match. That's how I think. He's scored 28 goals in 34games, so they're exceptional statistics. He's got a contract for another 18 months and he's a man who is attached to our club. I'm not especially thinking about losing him."



you just keep on developing players for us to buy arsene.

it's worth pointing out that if you look at what we've won in the past then fuck me arsene, we only have to go back to may of this year.

when did you last win something, you cheese eating surrender monkey?

i think you'd have to be a special kind of moron to take less money and less chance of winning medals tbh.