Arsene Wenger knows that ending the wait for a trophy matters after nine-year drought

• Arsenal manager Wenger dislikes the simple nature of his trophy critics, but he too has grown weary of the wait
• Qualifying for the Champions League was more important than FA Cup
• But Wenger understands fans are desperate for silverware

By Matt Barlow for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:36 EDT, 16 May 2014 | Updated: 07:29 EDT, 17 May 2014

It is all about the wait. Not for Hull City with no major prizes to show for 110 years of trying but for Arsenal or, more specifically according to Arsene Wenger, for their supporters.

‘Trophies matter for your fans,’ said Wenger. ‘It is a concrete sign that you win and that’s what we want to do. I love to win. Fans love to win. Your fans will be happy when you win trophies.’

The Arsenal manager gives the impression he has become weary of the wait. He is not impatient, but he finds the simplification tedious and gets annoyed that it can detract from his overall work in modernising a north London institution.

Losing the wait: Wenger is ready to end Arsenal's nine-year trophy drought against Hull on Saturday

Times gone by: Arsenal haven't had this sort of celebration for almost a decade

The last time: Patrick Vieira lifts the FA Cup in 2005, the last trophy the Gunners won

TIME TO STEP UP, MESUT

It also, of course, provides a convenient stick to beat him with; a stick  Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho finds hard to let go.

‘You win the next game or you lose it,’ said Wenger. ‘If you win it, what do you think? You think you dance for one week? You think about preparing well for the next season and to win the first game of next season. That’s what it is to be.

‘I will not be dancing on the beach in Rio, believe me.

‘It is the next game. I want to win the next game. It is an FA Cup final. I want to win the FA Cup final.’

He is tired of questions about the wait. ‘It has become a way to think for everybody,’ said Wenger. ‘If you look at the overall consistency, nobody has finished in the Champions League in England for 18 years. Nobody.

'It is true we are used to winning every year, basically. And, suddenly you don’t win and it becomes a way of thinking.

‘You could go to some other clubs and ask: “Why did you not win the championship for 20 years?” Nobody asks them the question. It’s a non-creative way for everybody to organise press conferences.

Flat track bully? Mesut Ozil needs to show his quality on the big stage for Arsenal fans to end the season happy

A new hope: Aaron Ramsey has been brilliant when fit this season, and can help lead Arsenal to glory

‘Three weeks ago, you asked me: “What would you like? To be in the Champions League or win the FA Cup?” I told you both. We have done the first and now we can do the second one.’

Wenger is still portrayed as a footballing romantic, committed to flair and crusading against the unfairness of ‘financial doping’. He also has a cold economic mind and a strategic definition of success.

If it actually were a straight choice there is no way he, or owner Stan Kroenke for that matter, would trade the £30million annual windfall of the Champions League for the cheap hit of an FA Cup win.

Yet the shiny new trophy which will be awarded to the triumphant captain at Wembley today has come to represent more than another FA Cup win (It would be Arsenal’s 11th and Wenger’s fifth).

It can also end the club’s longest wait for a trophy since the 18-year drought which preceded the 1971 Double. It can offer a tangible sign of progress. It can buy Wenger time, restore support and lift the mood as he signs the new contract.

The contract: a wait within a wait. The manager insists the delay is nothing to do with ending the wait, but still keeps the club waiting.

CUP FINAL NUMBER CRUNCHING

If Hull win the FA Cup on Saturday — the club’s first trophy of note since the Division Three title in 1966 — there is likely to be at best a mixed reaction at the Emirates to the prospect of another two years of Wenger.

Patience is thin. Arsenal have lost a Champions League final, a Carling Cup final in calamitous fashion, and title challenges have flickered with promise and faded during the last nine years.

An image has been formed, often encouraged by Wenger, of an immature team lacking the courage and confidence to convert their talent into something more ‘concrete’.

The Arsenal boss bristles at talk of a mental block; especially on the eve of another showpiece they are expected to win. Wenger’s team have been brutally effective against most mid-and-lower table Premier League teams this season.

The extra quality of Mesut Ozil, the development of Aaron Ramsey and a more solid defence, have certainly taken the team on from last season. They still have to prove they have what it takes to win something.

In the FA Cup semi-final against Wigan Arsenal were eight minutes from another Wembley embarrassment before Per Mertesacker saved the tie, took the game into extra-time and they won on penalties.

‘We were on a low point,’ said Wenger. ‘There was more at stake than just going to the final. We were under threat in the Premier League, as well. To have lost against Wigan would have had consequences on our chances to finish in the top four. It would have created a huge disappointment. But we made it through.

Tough: When Arsenal fell behind to Wigan it looked like their season was falling apart.

Survival: Lukas Fabianski's saves in the FA Cup semi-final were enough to see the Gunners return to Wembley

'We are favourites. Unfortunately that doesn’t guarantee you anything.’

Mertesacker promised Arsenal will not ‘collapse’ and that the team were ready to take this step; to end the wait and release the pressure which has built up over time and go on to greater things.

Wenger’s FA Cup win in 2005 was not easy on the eye. It was win-at-all-costs against a rampant  Manchester United. The same could be said about today’s game. Can he end the wait?