Arsene Wenger maintains there is no reason for Arsenal to be panicked into buying new players - and has told his squad to focus on their own performance rather than worry about who may be joining the club in the summer.
As Arsenal face up to another trophyless campaign - their last being the FA Cup in 2005 - there have been calls for Wenger to invest in some fresh talent to complement the potential of his youngsters or face being left behind.
But the Frenchman said: "If you look at our team on Tuesday night, our oldest player in midfield was 22. They are in the best four in Europe, so why should we panic?"
He added: "I believe we have to take the critics on the chin, but at the end of the day, it is down to how strongly we believe in ourselves and how good I think the team is.
"We live in a world where everyone can have opinions, but it is people in a position of responsibility who make decisions. There is a big difference, because people who make decisions have responsibilities for the longer-term of the club, for the survival of the club and for the financial resources of the club."
Goalkeeper Manuel Almunia accepts that maybe "now is the time" for experience to be added, while Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor feels both the team and himself have "gone backwards" this season.
However, Wenger - boosted by the news England forward Theo Walcott signed a new long-term deal on Friday - remains committed to his own philosophy of developing a side capable of beating the best once again.
"I believe that you have to take a distance with the statements of the players. They are not managers or coaches," Wenger said. "They are responsible for their own performance on the pitch and not for general assessment of the team.
"You go to Chelsea, to Manchester United and you ask them if they feel they need to sign players, you will get everywhere a positive response. Yet if you ask the players in what position, you will never get their position.
"Every player wants to play with big names because it is reassuring."
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Number 22. I didn't see Man Utd, Chelsea or Liverpool finishing the season with an unbeaten run of over 20 games? Arsenal did. Everyone is placing too much emphasis on buying players. These kids are geling together nicely and at this early stage they reach the semi-finals of the F.A Cup. The semi-finals of the Champions league and are fourth in the premiership. So @#$% to all this we need experience! Cesc is still a youngster and he has more experience than some of the old hands in the game. We do need a decent CB, but that serves us right for buying left over @#$% from Chelsea and Man Utd. You all wrote Wenger off in the year he did the double....twice!! You all wrote him off when he won the F.A Cup on numerous occasions. You all wrote him off when he went a whole season unbeaten (which Feguson never has and never will do). Write him off this time at you peril. he'll make you all laugh on the otherside of your faces. Even with injuries which meant we were without 6 or 8 players at times this season, we still finish in the top four. Ask Wigan, Bolton, Man City, West Ham etc etc how @#$% and inexperienced our youngsters are!!!! They still finished above 16 so-called experienced teams. I'd rather play the way we do and grow as a team than buy it like the others. And let's face it, it could be worse, we could all be Spurs fans. Stay tuned.
Arsenal need 2 sell Rosicky, he's spent more time @ Arsenal injured than he has fit, so get rid of him.
Maybe Eduardo or Bendter as well, and they need 2 buy a good CB.
i like this team ARSENAL.. they lose and they win. even m.u still lose 3 games in epl.. but dont forget while m.u got lose they are playing with experience player. and arsenal? they lose 5 game but wit the youngster. i will never complain about my team.. Arsenal is the best.. just be patient.. our time will come NEXT SEASON. r.vp..cesc.. clicy.. arshavin..rosiscky.. and even vela .. all the arsenal team will prove people who always just know to complain are WRONG.. the first two year is about WILL,motivation,experience but the NEXT season and so will be the tropies.. TROPIES.. i just like to look they play.. four year without tropies is not a big deal.. so lets give the manager,player play they role.. gooners for live..
I know we have a very good team Mr Wenger but the problem is how deep is the team, and we need two players one central defender if sanderous is not coming back and a quick and physical midfielder who can shoot from outside the box, in case we play teams like chelsea. they knocked us out in the FA cup cos they were more physical and nearly did the same to bercelona in the Champions league. That is all we need the greatest obstacle we had this season is injury, and this is were the dept of the team comes into play.
Read his lips properly: Wenger is going to buy but he is just NOT going to PANIC or throw his babies that are maturing nicely away with the bath water! He is not going to frighten the entire squad as if a "clear out" is what is required. Proof that he is going to buy? Kronke, Hill-Wood and Gazridis. Those ones don't think they need all the savings they can muster; their creditors have seen great performance on the club's loans over the past 3years. They seriously want to close gap with ManU, Chelsea and Liverpool and are obliged to respond to the greater competition from Aston Villa, ManCity, Everton, Tottenham and West Ham.
Fem Dee
wht the f*ck.....!! arsenal is in last 4 in europe....but i dont think so we fans want 2 be in last 4..we want no.1 in europe by skills ,quality and mental strength and offcourse trophies.....our current squad has quality no question abt it...but for big matches like semis and finals we need players with experience n quality....which arsenal dont have ....if gigs,scholes continue 2 play with MU n getting PFA award...y we need 2 play a match with bull@#$% players ...who r developing ....see if wenger wants arsenal as factory of developing players....then ths team will not win any trophies in upcoming days thts for sure.....see at pires,Henry,Viera these players r still n form....y wenger sold them..thts d question....!!!we need trophies ,trophies ,trophies!!we dont want 2 listen same reason for yrs...we need players with experience...
bye bye wenger you stubborn idiot, your making your once excellent managerial career at arsenal look like a farce
with the new owner forthcoming its not those kinds of things you should be saying, new owner isnt going stand by and watch the club backpeddle.
but hey you did this at monaco and you got the sack and ill bet this will end up the same way
all the talk off no silverware, some clubs never get a sniff of silverware but do there supporters winge?? ARSENAL have very little DEBT compared to MAN U/LIVERPOOL who owe over a BILLION £ between them. Its not our time at the moment the good times will return soon i hope. lets all be patient from an old gooner!!!
Yes we lack a big enough QUALITY squad but is the wenger fault or the fault of the board?
Ok they have said they have a kitty of £xyz to buy players now then what we need to know is has that kitty got to then also pay that players wagers ect?
as 30 odd million may sound big @#$%il you see Man U have bid 63 million for one player)
Some say we need a GK yes we do but a better understudy to Almunia as frankly if it were not for Him at olt trafford we would have been looking at a cricket score!!!
we do need 2 proper Central defenders and an understdy for the left back position
Wake up guys...Im a lifelong Gooner & that will never change but we MUST sign 2 defenders & a Goalkeeper this summer.Im not worried about the midfield because once "Mozart" Rosicky comes back & we get a good pre-season under our belts i think we can match anyone going forward.If we want to win trophies we need to invest defensively otherwise we will be having the same conversations this time next year.C'mon Arsene please dont let us down,buy proven defenders in the 25-30 age bracket.
i think song has developed well in the holding midfielders role ... all we need is a couple of injury free central defenders and maybe cover at right back ... beware of arshavin next season ... about the semis against manchester .... with no disrespect it was just hard luck ... what happened to gibbs can happen to anyone ... what made me happy was that i havent seen an arsenal team push so much to somehow get back in a big game .... if the spirit is maintained and the squad kept together ... i see a trophy or two next season
he's gonna say the same thing at the end of next season.Sir wenger get ur mind right and buy quality players.LOOSER
best manager in d world and best footballing team in d world luck just ran out
thanx Alastair and cliff.Atleast someone out there sees some sense.i have seen clubs with trophies and yet they don't feel them.Inter with all its recent success still envies AC y?Its because of the way they won.Chelsea though has some success in couple of years still believes its not successful.So what is success?Should we define it as winning trophies or how you win them. The way Arsenal is run still puzzles even 'successful Manager like Fergie Like Barca players said to Chelsea,'Football Won'
There is no way i would want wenger sacked he done a really good with what he has got but i want him to see!!! " what all the fans have been saying all season " we need a stonger defence and someone with more guts and steel in the midfield more of the never say die attitude like when we had the Invincibles.
Just because we're not one of the top 3 teams in the world doesn't make us a failure.
Just look at Real Madrid! They have government f*cking backing yet their not as good as us!
We've just been spoiled with recent successes such as a new stadium, The Invincibles and some of the coolest football in the world yet so many of you keep whinging that we're not winning the title.
look at pretty much any other football fan in the world, they would kill for their club to be like Arsenal.
What is it you want? Sack Wenger?...and bring in who? No one can operate on a budget like he can! I find it absolutely outstanding that we got to the last 4 in the F.A Cup and Champs league and secured 4th spot with all our youngsters. Wenger got screwed by Flamini and Hleb last summer yet we are STILL competing!
We will continue to develop, and just remember, we are employing this youth strategy because we are paying off the new stadium and can't afford mega stars. When the debt catches up with Liverpool and Man.U and Abram gets bored, we'll be laughing our heads off.
Be proud of Arsenal...we'll catch the others soon and when we do it will be so, so, so much sweeter because we did it the honorable way.
arsene sort ur head out. we need to buy decent experienced players, stop going on saying you beleive in ur young team, we need silverwear.
Wise words from a wise man, maybe the addition of a cpl of players will help, but when the squad is fit, we are a match for anyone, the main thing is that we can keep the squad together.
Again before i forget,Ade and Alumina made mistakes but should we throw them out for heavens sake.They too have alot of good attributes.Sometimes Arsenal frustrates us but a good Visionary can see where we are headed next year
i think the right thing to do here is not be driven to panic.Lets first assess what we really need and what we do have then look at what we need.This talk about recruiting is not bad but should be managed in a more sober way.Like Wenger says,ask Alumina or Adebayor where we need to recruit and you will be surprised at there answers.
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