Arsene Wenger will spend his summer scouring the world for defenders who can transform his Arsenal team from nearly men into winners.
The Arsenal manager yesterday admitted that his side's failings in recent weeks, as they have disintegrated in the Barclays Premier League and been knocked out of the Champions League, have been at the back.
The man most at risk appears to be wayward skipper William Gallas after Wenger refused to endorse the Frenchman's captaincy of the club beyond the end of this season, beginning with today's visit of relegation-threatened Reading.
Wenger said: "I don't know how many more players we need for next season but it's not a question of numbers. It's a question of one or two real quality players.
"We were leading at Chelsea, we were leading at Liverpool, we were leading at Manchester United, we were leading at home against Liverpool. So we can score goals.
"And up front I feel I need to give time to Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott because they have made big improvements.
"What we could not stop was conceding goals in big games. Nine times out of 10, the team who win the big games is the team who score first. But we lost all these games after being in front every time, so we suffered more as a team defensively than offensively.
"I cannot answer the question of whether Gallas will be captain next season at the moment. I want to analyse the season after it finishes.
"He will be my captain until the end of the season. I will say that he has learned a lot about captaincy this year and that his commitment and his desire to do well was exceptional.
"For the rest, I wouldn't like to go into any individual assessment at the moment because I made that decision to have him as captain and I have to stand up for it."
Wenger will also be playing hardball with Mathieu Flamini, who is stalling over the signing of a new contract at the Emirates.
If the 24-year-old France midfielder does not commit to the deal being offered by the club in the next fortnight, he will be allowed to leave for free when his contract expires in the summer.
Flamini's status as one of Arsenal's most improved players this season will not allow him to hold the north London club to ransom when it comes to negotiating new terms.
Wenger added: "My first target is to keep the team together, but that's a situation that I do not control completely.
"We want to continue to respect our wage structure because I feel that is very important for the rest of the team.
"Contract-wise, we are getting close on 'yes or no' with Flamini. We have set ourselves a target of the end of April to finalise the situation one way or another.
"That is an absolute deadline because after that we have to make decisions. If we have to move out into the market, we don't have much time left.
"I don't think he has had his head turned. He says he wants to stay and I believe him, but I am also realistic. You have to sign your contract. As long as the contract is not signed, for me he is free to sign where he wants."
Just three points above the relegation places with four to play, Reading's players could be forgiven for having more than a bad case of butterflies before their lunchtime kick-off.
"Every day, you put pressure on players to a certain extent to produce," said manager Steve Coppell.
"Sometimes it's just verbal pressure, but you can't really reproduce the atmosphere of a dressing room an hour before the kick-off and how people respond to those nerves.
"Some players thrive on that atmosphere, others shrink into a shell. In years gone by, I think certain players would be physically sick. This is when you need players to perform under that intense pressure."
Last weekend's lacklustre show against fellow relegation candidates Fulham has heaped the pressure back on Reading's shoulders.
Admitting that some of his players had perhaps started thinking about the safety which three points against Fulham would bring before actually securing them, Coppell is hopeful that their rank outsider status against Arsenal will mean his squad are fully focused on the 90 minutes.
"Devious plan," quipped Coppell, almost imitating Blackadder's long-suffering side-kick Baldrick, before becoming deadly serious once more.
"By way of solitary explanation for our poor performance on Saturday, I would say it may well have been a residual fact that everyone was telling me 'Oh, you win this one, you'll be all right'.
"And I'm sure they were saying that to the players. It was almost as if the consequence of the win was more important than the performance so, in the end, we didn't perform.
"All I can ask of the players is that they look after themselves, they prepare. I would expect some people to really excel in this period."
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Wenger threatens to take captaincy off Gallas
Wenger threatens to take captaincy off Gallas -
04-19-2008, 10:18 AM
04-19-2008, 12:32 PM
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