Winning mentality and new signings can launch new era

Now the long wait for a trophy is over, Arsenal can finally focus on the future with enthusiasm — on completing, for instance, Arsene Wenger’s new contract, on painting an outline of the 2014 FA Cup on the perimeter hoarding at the Emirates (the section that until now has looked so conspicuously blank) and on building a team capable of fighting for the title next season.

The first two of those tasks will be actioned quickly — Wenger’s deal is already there to be signed and the FA Cup logo will be in place within a fortnight, officially unveiled at the Emirates Cup in August; but the third is a more complicated affair, leaving Arsenal fans excited but nevertheless anxious about the summer transfer market.

Once the celebrations have died down and Wenger’s crumpled shirt, covered in champagne by Lukas Podolski, has arrived back from the dry cleaners, the raw assessment of Arsenal’s season, and not just the happy ending in the sunshine at Wembley on Saturday, will need to be assessed with brutal objectivity.

On the positive side they were top of the table for a large portion of the season, finished only seven points behind winners Manchester City, gave Bayern Munich a run for their money in the Champions League, saw record signing Mesut Ozil begin to find his feet in English football and, significantly, shook off a nine-year trophy drought which had strangled their creativity and damaged the team’s mentality.

On the minus side, however, Arsenal’s challenge was ended by a string of miserable defeats against title rivals and the strength of their squad left in serious doubt as they failed to deal with injuries to key players such as Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey; in fact even in the Cup final their fragile confidence, brittle concentration and lack of finishing power threatened to ruin the day before a pulsating comeback finally heralded what fans hope will be a new era of success.

“It was an important day forArsenal because to wait nine years is a long time, the pressure in the newspapers was crazy; and now it’s done,” said Podolski.

“We have the cup and we can move on. We know we still have to improve. When you finish fourth in the league it’s not easy because we lost against the teams at the top in games that mattered — against City, against Chelsea, against Liverpool. These are the matches we must focus on next season because 79 points is not too bad — but if you lose the big matches you cannot fight for the title.”

Podolski’s assessment is that Arsenal do ‘not need a lot’ to take the next step; but, as Highbury legend Lee Dixon pointed out after Saturday’s final, they certainly need a striker, a powerful and influential holding midfielder and a right-back to replace the outgoing Bacary Sagna, who left the press mixed zone at Wembley in tears following his final appearance for the club; so three out of 11 is not insignificant.

But as Arsenal fans poured out of Wembley and onto the streets of north London for a trophy celebration 24 hours later, this was not a time for negative reflection — far more a time a time to consider ‘reasons to be cheerful’ and to think about the positive impact that victory could have on seasons to come.

Midfielder Jack Wilshere reflected: “It’s my first feeling of winning something and it’s a good one. We’ve got a taste of it now and we want more. We’ve worked so hard as a group and we’ll be wanting to win more next season.

“I’m so happy for the manager too because he took a lot of stick; it was all wrong what they said about him. But he’s worked hard and fair play to him — we all respect him so much.”

It will be interesting now to see if Wenger is able to use the moment to take Arsenal to the next level; because it would be a huge disappointment if having thrown off his suit to join the celebrations at Wembley he quickly reverted to the comfort of a more formal approach, the kind that has frustrated supporters during all those trophyless years — and which was characterised by a cautious approach in the transfer market.

Record signing Ozil, who broke that mould when he arrived from Real Madrid, has, according to Wenger, the potential to be crowned Footballer of the Year in 2015 as he continues his development in English football; but similar investment is needed to bring in a top quality striker to help Giroud, together with reinforcements in midfield and defence.

If those signings are made and join a team boasting a new-found resilience — and a newly-developed winning mentality, then there is no reason why Wenger’s side cannot be serious contenders next season.

Glancing up at that logo of the FA Cup on the Emirates perimeter hoarding is, you suspect, going to provide inspiration for many months to come.