Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was not impressed last week when he read that Gunner legend Thierry Henry said that Arsenal needed to sign four big name players if they hoped to have any chance of winning next season’s Premier League title.
Before we get into what Wenger had to say we think most Arsenal fans may actually agree with Henry so we will post once more the former Arsenal stars comments:
‘Arsenal need to buy four players, they need that spine,’ the Frenchman told Sky Sports.
‘They need a goalkeeper, they still need a centre back, they still need a holding midfielder and, I’m afraid, they need a top, top-quality striker in order to win this league again.’
Wenger thinks Henry only came up with these comments because he is on television saying:
“I think he’s wrong, he’s paid for that. We know all the system now of the modern media, especially on TV. I know how it works. They push you to be controversial because they give you a lot of money.
“I can accept an opinion but the comment on Giroud was a bit more wrong, especially because I heard the same thing being said about Nicolas Anelka, about Thierry Henry himself and about Robin van Persie. And they all became world-class players themselves.”
The French manager does admit however that his team could do with a little tweak, knowing that other top clubs will be adding to their squads.
“That is the unknown quantity,” he said. “How much higher are the other teams going to go? Because you can expect Manchester City to respond. You can expect Manchester United to respond, Liverpool to respond.
“We are not in need of absolute change. We have a strong squad. We have some strong young players behind. We have a very big squad, so we need to lose some players as well. We have Lukas Podolski away, Joel Campbell. Yaya Sanogo will come back.”
Wenger will of course be going to the transfer market this summer, not only to buy, but also to offload players that no longer fit into his plans at the Emirates.
“The frustration is maybe we were a bit in-between and didn’t really go for it. Why? Because the history of the teams. We have been caught on the counter-attacks before and we were conscious of that. We were a bit inhibited, with the handbrake, because it was Chelsea and we didn’t want to lose the game. Then people will say ‘look they get caught again’. I’m sure that played a part in the players’ minds. And the Monaco game [lost 3-1 at home] played in the mind of the players of course.”
Is the difference more mental than technical? “Yes,” said Wenger. “Chelsea is a very strong side, I don’t deny that. What will be interesting is let’s get a new start and see where we stand next year. We feel we have made up some ground. That will be the challenge of next season from the start, let’s show we are there and capable to fight for it.”
