Speaking at Thursday’s annual meeting, Wenger began his address by jokingly comparing the silence in the room to the crowd at the Emirates Stadium against Everton last Saturday, and then bluntly told shareholders that the players’ achievements deserved greater appreciation.
“When you have such a young team, you have to be intelligent,” he said. “Instead of showing resentment, we have to believe in our team. The structure of our team is fantastic, but very young.
“That means that tomorrow will be better than yesterday. But the younger you are, the more you need support. I am personally very proud. At the moment I do not feel that either from the media or our supporters this team gets the support it deserves.
“That is why I think they need a stronger guide than ever and I want to get this team to deliver not next year, but this year.”
Wenger’s comments followed questions from shareholders about the team’s sometimes over-elaborate style, the failure to win a trophy since 2005 and also the transfer policy.
“I feel the club is well managed financially and I am very proud that we live within the resources we create from our own business and we do not need external income, because I feel that is very important for the future of the club,” Wenger said.
Chairman Peter Hill-Wood said that decisions on whether to strengthen the squad would be taken by Wenger and pointed out that the annual wage bill was now in excess of £100 million.
Despite losing Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb during the summer, Wenger believes that he will keep the core of the squad together in the long term. “I’m confident we can keep at least 90 per cent of the players and keep continuity,” he said. “I would like to show you letters of players who’ve left us and how much they would like to come back. We want to win at the end of the season and if we feel that signings are needed in January to accomplish this, we will do so.”
The need to invest may also be tempered by news that Eduardo, the Croatia forward, is due to make an early return to training from his horrific ankle injury.
“Eduardo is three weeks away,” Wenger said. “What I mean by this is joining in with a normal training session. After that he has to come back to match fitness – but he is ahead of where we expected him to be.”
Tomas Rosicky is not likely to return from a hamstring problem until January, although William Gallas and Kolo Toure could be in the squad to face West Ham on Sunday.
Along with Herbert Chapman and Denis Hill-Wood, a bronze bust was unveiled yesterday of Wenger at the club’s Emirates Stadium and his popularity was underlined by the willingness of fans to accept his criticisms. “The atmosphere at the Emirates sometimes needs galvanising,” said a spokesman for the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust. “Sometimes we forget how young our players are, given their quality.”
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