Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has today insisted his side are motivated to go all the way and win the FA Cup this season, and that he is fighting everyday to bring the glory days back to North London.
“Don’t imagine I sacrifice every day of my life not to win a trophy. Everybody fights for that,” Wenger told reporters at Arsenal’s London Colney training base,
“We are back at Wembley and it is great. The FA Cup is an important competition. You know we will not fight for the championship anymore, so it is the only competition. We are motivated to do well in it.”
With their last piece of silverware coming back in 2005, Wenger will be well aware of the fans’ anguish this pasty decade.
Having dropped out of the title race in recent weeks, the Gunners now find themselves in a race with Everton for the last Champions League spot; a race they are arguably losing at present.
Wenger has also revealed that he believes his side did not deserve to win the FA Cup back in 2005, and that the only way to beat Manchester United that day was to defend and hope for the best.
“In 2005, we did not deserve to win the final,” Wenger admitted. “It was the only way we could win it. At the start I didn’t set up like that and suddenly they were all over us and I realised that physically we were not able to compete, so I said, ‘Okay, let’s defend as long as we can.'”
Arsenal have endured some painful matches this season, and have been played off the park on a number of occasions, but when asked whether he has been tempted to go with a more defensive minded setup against some of the bigger teams in the league, Wenger said:
“I was not really [tempted to do that this season],”
“Maybe sometimes we have not had much of a choice but this season we have always tried to attack because we have a team that has that ability.
“What has been strange this season is that for a long time we looked very strong defensively, we had an outstanding defensive record, and we lost it suddenly. That’s the surprise of the season for me.”
What do you think? Agree with Wenger? Let me know in the comments below…
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