Arsene Wenger Admits Arsenal Squad Needs Additions After Atletico Defeat

Arsene Wenger was distraught after Arsenal were dumped out of the Europa League in the semi-finals by Atletico Madrid on Thursday night. It was the French coach’s final European game as the manager of Arsenal after he announced in April that he will be stepping down from his post after 22-years in charge of the north London club.

Wenger was hoping and had urged his team to give his ‘love story’ with Arsenal a fairytale ending by making it to the final of Europe’s second-tier club competition, but it was not to be. The Gunners went into the game with the scores level at 1-1 after the first leg, but were unable to penetrate their opponents’ defense during the course of the 90 minutes after conceding a goal — that turned out to be the winner during added time in the first-half.

The Frenchman revealed that he is very sad like the rest of the team, but admitted it is difficult to take when knowing that his team could have killed the tie in the first leg when they played almost 80 minutes against 10 men. They had a number of chances but failed to take them, and ended up conceding in the final minutes, which all but ended their chances of making to the summit clash.

“I am like the team – very sad and very disappointed,” Wenger said after Arsenal were dumped out of Europe on Thursday, as quoted by the Guardian. “I am even very frustrated, as well, because when you go out of a competition and you had the performances over the 180 minutes that we had, it is very difficult to take.”

The end of Wenger’s tenure at the club truly signals the end of an era owing to the impact he has had on the club during his 22-year stay. His first decade at the club was filled with success, but the last few years have seen his stock fall among sections of the supporters.

Despite the Frenchman leading the club to three FA Cup titles in the last four years, there have constantly been calls for him to step down. The 2017/18 campaign will certainly go down as the poorest during his reign as they look to finish their lowest — in sixth place, and he is aware that the club need to think hard about the changes they want to make next season.

Wenger also hinted that a potential overhaul of the squad was needed when he said “there are some good ingredients” but called for additions in the summer to start challenging for titles yet again.

“For the club, there is now some time to think about what to do for next season,” the French coach added. “I think there are some good ingredients in our team and they will bounce back. These players have quality and, with the right additions in the summer, the team will compete next year.”

As for the Frenchman’s future plans, he is unsure of what he will do once he manages his final game with Arsenal — an away clash at the John Smith Stadium against Huddersfield Town on May 13. He has previously stated he would like to continue in management, but admitted after the game against Atletico that he will take some time to recover from the manner of his exit.

“I have no plans at the moment. I have to recover first from a huge disappointment. I’m very, very sad to leave the club with that exit. I will take some time to recover from this. The game can be very cruel; sometimes it is very nice. But the suffering is very strong tonight,” Wenger said.