Wenger targets fresh blood

Wenger looks on in despair as his team loses

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has vowed to bring new players to Highbury after seeing his side crash to defeat in the FA Cup Final.

The Arsenal boss pointed an accusing finger at his strikers as they failed to convert a host of excellent chances to put the game beyond Liverpool when they were 1-0 up.

"It is difficult to say what we need most but in every area of the team we need somebody," said Wenger.

I have some (players) in mind but I've been keeping it quiet

Arsene Wenger

"Patrick Vieira was great against Liverpool but some others did very well, too, like Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg in the middle of the park where we looked very strong.

"Thierry Henry missed some chances but I cannot say the defeat was his fault. He has had another good season for us.

"Nobody is to blame in my view but of course we are hugely disappointed because we know we are guilty of not scoring the goals our chances warranted and we also gave cheap goals away."

Wenger continued: "I have some (players) in mind but I've been keeping it quiet because we wanted to concentrate on the championship position and the FA Cup final.

"I think that 90 percent of the players here will still be around next season. I don't want to sell anybody."

I won't break our wages policy but I believe we will still get the players we need to make that improvement

Arsene Wenger

He added: "It's down to everybody to improve that little bit that we need and the first thing is to have the intelligence to realise we need to redress a few things we are missing.

"I won't break our wages policy but I believe we will still get the players we need to make that improvement."

The Frenchman also insisted that his team should have been awarded a penalty when Henry's goal-bound shot was handled off the line by Stephane Henchoz.

But Wenger said the team had performed well, despite their inability to make more of their chances.

"It's difficult to blame the team because we played the expected game," he said.

"Credit to Liverpool, they defended very well and they found the resources even though when we were 1-0 up they didn't look to be a threat."

"This is a little bit the image of our season. We always looked like we should win the big games but we can't finish it and we lose concentration.

"We need some players because we've lost two big games now in the last 15 minutes, Valencia and now this one. That is not a coincidence."

Compatriot and midfielder Patrick Vieira echoed his manager's sentiments.

He said: "We didn't keep our concentration. I thought the best team won. That's football, it was a bad day.

"Maybe we were too confident in ourselves because we were winning 1-0 but that's football sometimes.

"We always say we will try our best next season, but it is true."