The footballing world has made its pronouncement. Arsenal cannot
win the title this season. No Henry, no Ljungberg, no chance they
argue.
However the view from the inside looking out is very different.
And, on the eve of the new Barclays Premier League season, Arsène
Wenger made an impassioned defence of his young sides chances
during the coming campaign.
If you come within our squad, you will see that there is a big
contrast between how we see our situation and how our environment
sees our situation, he said.
We know we have quality, we know we have a style of play, we know
we have a hunger and we know how we have prepared. We have created
a strong belief, we have a great solidarity in the squad and we
know thats what matters now. That is why we are so keen to show
it.
No-one involved in football, from kitman to chairman, can expect to
go through their career without criticism. Wenger stated he thrives
on proving the sceptics wrong and is fully aware there will be some
told-you-so attitudes on show next May if this youthful Arsenal
side achieve less this season than last.
It is the pride of the champions to come and show how good you
are, he said. And I believe this team wants to show that.
You win when you are good enough. We have very young players but
we have a lot of experience already. Fabregas has played over 100
games in the Premiership and some players dont have that at
25.
It depends how much experience you have and how much you want to
win. This team has got into the Final of the Champions League
without losing one game in the whole season and maybe we learned
our trade a little bit last year. That's why I feel we are ready to
blossom."
