Wenger: Finishing in top-four is vital... but I fight every day to win trophies for Arsenal

By Matt Barlow for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:30 EDT, 10 April 2014 | Updated: 17:04 EDT, 11 April 2014

For those in doubt, there was a time when Arsene Wenger had a Plan B. It was last spotted nine years ago in the FA Cup final: Arsenal, without Thierry Henry, defended for their lives and beat  Manchester United on penalties.

‘It was the only way we could win it,’ recalled Wenger, yesterday. ‘At the start, I didn’t set up like that and suddenly they were all over us. I realised that physically we were not able to compete, so I said, ‘‘OK, let’s defend as long as we can’’. We did not deserve to win the final.’

Such dour strategy has been frowned on since that last major trophy in Cardiff, as Arsenal have become synonymous with the flawed beauty of their pure attacking principles.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch Wenger and Rosler ahead of their FA Cup clash

Arsene Wenger insists he has always fought to win trophies with Arsenal

A long, long time ago... Arsenal's last trophy came in the 2005 FA Cup when they ignored style for substance

‘We have always tried to attack because we have a team with that ability,’ said Wenger. ‘What has been strange this season is that for a long time we looked very strong defensively.

‘We had an outstanding defensive record and lost it suddenly. That’s the surprise for me.’  It will forever baffle Wenger that he is criticised for his devotion to entertain, in the same way he is regularly bewildered by a chorus urging him to ‘spend some ****ing money’ and risk the club’s financial stability.

Their 16 consecutive years in the Champions League and shiny new stadium have greater long-term value than, for example, a cup win now and then. But when did logic come into it?

If football were logical, Wenger’s team would not have lost the Carling Cup final to a Birmingham team on their way to relegation in 2011, and the pressure to beat Wigan in  tomorrow’s FA Cup semi-final would be a little less intense.

Slump: Arsenal's defensive resilience from earlier in the season has tailed off towards the end

‘We all play to win something,’ said Wenger. ‘The Champions League was vital for us, with survival at the top the minimum requirement. But do not imagine I sacrifice every day of my life not to win a trophy. Everybody fights for that.’

This campaign has promised so much and yet, since winning their FA Cup quarter-final, Arsenal have gone out of Europe and lost touch in a title race they led for five months.

A top-four place is in  jeopardy and the FA Cup is the only trophy left to win. Wenger has won it four times and admired the competition since the Sixties, even if there were times when he seemed to have other priorities.

High five? Wenger has won the FA Cup four times as Arsenal manager

‘It is a dream open to everyone, and that is the beauty of the FA Cup,’ said the Arsenal boss. ‘Last year, Wigan won it. Sheffield United are in the semi-final. We can talk and talk, but we all know the biggest teams will win the league.

‘If you play basketball or rugby — any other sport — you cannot open the dream. In basketball if you play against a team from division two there is absolutely no chance, unless you give them 30 points. Only our sport can create that excitement because it is uncertain.

‘When I was a kid, the FA Cup was one of the competitions you could watch in black and white on television. I remember exactly the place where I sat at school. We had to pay one franc to watch.

No cigar: Arsenal suffered a surprise defeat to lowly Birmingham in the 2011 League Cup Final

Bogey man: Didier Drogba helped Chelsea defeat Arsenal in the 2009 FA Cup semi-finals

‘What struck me at the time was that the ball was white and the pitch was perfect — I played in a village where the pitch was a disaster. The players had their hair well-combed and the managers were relaxed, and they joked together on the bench.’

Do not expect to see Wenger relaxing and joking on the touchline at Wembley, when this semi-final has come to mean so much to fans desperate to end a  nine-year barren spell — already the longest endured by the club since the Double was won in 1971.

Arsenal are favourites in a field of four, where the only other contenders from the top flight are Hull City, a club with no major honours in 110 years.

Underdogs: Arsenal must overcome last season's winners Wigan to reach another FA Cup final at Wembley

To succeed, however, Wenger must kick the habit of stumbling near silverware.

His team were beaten by the familiar nemesis of Didier Drogba in an FA Cup semi-final in 2009 and by an episode of self-destruction featuring Laurent Koscielny and goalkeeper Wojciech  Szczesny against Birmingham two years later.

Confidence is ever brittle as they have another crack at scaling the same  mental barriers. ‘We have good memories of Wembley as well, and that is what we want to renew,’ said Wenger, reaching back into the last century when the Twin Towers were still standing.