After an excellent collective display during the side’s 2-1 FA Cup Final victory over Chelsea in the final fixture of this past season, Arsène Wenger has stressed the importance of his side using their performance as a template for future success.
The season was another frustrating one for Wenger and his players, where they underperformed after Christmas. Inconsistent results saw their Premier League title challenge quickly disintegrate.
Lack of consistency is a common problem for Arsenal in recent seasons. The team have a tendency to struggle midway through the campaign due to various factors, including injuries and pressure to perform.
When questioned Wenger said, “Yes of course, I see that [performance] as a platform to become better.
“When you finish on a high, you want to start on a high again. If you look at the recent seasons, maybe that’s where we can improve, to start strong from the first game onwards. We have to make absolutely sure that we start in a strong way next season.”
Wenger’s comments are true as Arsenal have only recorded one victory in the opening round of Premier League fixtures since the 2009/10 campaign, a 2-1 away win over Crystal Palace to start 2014/15 with three points.
Three draws and three losses suggests that Arsenal’s transfer business is not done quickly enough to prepare for their opposition in August.
When questioned about the team’s season overall, Wenger unsurprisingly revealed his disappointment.
“We made 75 points and we were one point behind qualifying in the Champions League, but I believe we want to win the Premier League and therefore we have to win 26 or 27 games.
“Overall, I think we lost too many games because when you win 23 games, normally it’s a decent total, even if it’s not enough. We want to win three or four more games and of course we want to lose less as well. But I believe the quality is there.”
Wenger’s faith in his side, especially when compared to the quality of our title rivals, is sometimes surprising. However he warned that his side have “matured” and learned a lot from a topsy-turvy campaign, so will be better for it next term.
“The team has learned a lot, going together through difficult moments and bouncing back. This team will have matured and I believe that you will see that in the next season.”
A tactical change to 3-4-2-1 helped the Gunners win nine of their last ten fixtures and despite the pressure being off, it was a welcome end to another disappointing campaign.
On whether he will plan for next season with the current formation in mind, Wenger said:
“Certainly, I will have the continuity in the system at the start and adapt as well, because the system has to be the system that reflects the best qualities of the individual players and is efficient as a whole.
“Looking at the moment where I installed the system and the results, you would say yes it has a positive impact, basically because it gave us more defensive stability without diminishing us too much offensively. As well, maybe because every player was in a position where he could express his strengths. That has had, of course, a positive impact on the results.”
Provided the club can wrap up their acquisitions early one can only hope that this summer is an encouraging one as Arsenal plan to learn from their mistakes this term and use them as motivation to surprise their critics next season.