Monday April 05 2004
Arsene Wenger insisted there is no danger of Arsenal's season collapsing around them after their FA Cup exit as he warned Chelsea of a resurgence in tomorrow's Champions League quarter-final tie.
Wenger held a meeting with his players following their semi-final defeat by Manchester United, and moved to dispel any last vestiges of gloom surrounding the squad.
Backed by captain Patrick Vieira, he stressed the importance of tomorrow's game as the club attempt to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time.
And he revealed the triple fitness boost which could reinvigorate the side, with Jose Reyes, Fredrik Ljungberg and Ashley Cole all hoping to make surprise returns from injury to face Chelsea.
Wenger declared: ``We have a great love story with the FA Cup, but now we can achieve things that have never been done before.
``It would be stupid to spoil what is in front of us because we are disappointed. These games are much bigger than what happened over the weekend.
“不能因为之前比赛没踢好而影响到之后的比赛。要知道这些比赛比上周末的那场可重要多了！”
``That was [outside the Carling Cup], our first defeat of 2004 and we have to deal with it. I don't feel that we are wobbling, I feel we are still strong.
``At some stage of the season, people will say that [you are on the slide], but we're unbeaten in the past six Champions League and 30 Premiership games.
``We have every reason to believe we are strong because of the history of the team. We have a great self-belief and team spirit, so we will get over that disappointment.
“看看球队的历史战绩，我们有理由相信阿森纳是强队。我们足够自信，球队团结，完全可以从暂时的失望中走出来。”
``At the start of the season, we were supposed to be out of everything so we have nothing to fear as we're already beyond expectations. We can just make it greater than it is now.''
本赛季初，我们并不被看好，现在取得的成绩已经超过预期了，所以我们没有什么好担心害怕的。我们可以发挥得更好。”
While Arsenal have a vital away goal - meaning a goalless draw would take them through - they have undergone two hard tests by Manchester United since the first leg at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have a larger squad and have instead faced Wolves and Tottenham - games which Wenger admitted are the ``kind you can get away with''.
He was, nevertheless, positive about the chances of Ljungberg and Reyes featuring despite a downbeat prognosis on their respective hand and knee injuries after the FA Cup semi-final.
``We will have to see how in the morning how they have respond to any pain from today's training session, but it is encouraging news,'' revealed the Frenchman.
With Cole also hoping to make his comeback, while Thierry Henry did not start Saturday's game, Wenger moved to insist that his side are not feeling the strain of their fixture schedule.
``We have the statistics that show we are still very good physically,'' he said.
``We analyse the physical performances of the players, how much they run or sprint during games. So you know when your players start to dive or go down a little bit - at least in performance!''
With Liverpool and Newcastle to come over Easter, some changes will still be made, with Gilberto Silva pushing for a recall.
However, Vieira stressed at the team meeting that the side should look forward with confidence rather than start wallowing in any doubts after their FA Cup defeat.
``People will one day put you on the top and then put you down again the next day. But our self-belief is still the same,'' said Vieira.
``We know how strong we are as a team, we still have our two biggest targets to aim for.
``This is one of the biggest games I've played since I joined the club. But we don't want to put too much pressure on ourselves.
``We're still first in the Premiership, four points clear and with a game in hand, while we're in the last eight of the Champions League. So far it's good and we know where we want to go from here.
``It's going to be an important week for us and not easy, but we're in a good position. This spell is exciting, not difficult.''
[此贴子已经被作者于2004-4-6 16:17:39编辑过]
