Szczesny - I understand fans' frustration

By Chris Harris

Wojciech Szczesny has apologised for Arsenal's failure to land a trophy this season and admits that the fans are entitled to air their frustrations.

A chorus of boos greeted the half-time and full-time whistles at Emirates Stadium on Sunday as Arsène Wenger's side ended their home campaign with a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.

Many supporters had left before the players embarked on their 'lap of appreciation' for the fans and Szczesny can appreciate why the atmosphere was more hostile than usual at the weekend.

"Of course I understand the fans' frustration because we should be winning trophies," he said.

"This is one of the biggest clubs in the world and we should be winning trophies every year. So I totally understand the frustration of the fans, and we apologise for our lack of trophies this season.

"Personally I am not really happy with our season because we didn’t win anything. Obviously I am happy to be playing for Arsenal and I am trying to do my best, but if we look at this season we never won a trophy, so it is disappointing for me.

"I think we will have much more desire next season as we know how close we were this season to winning the Carling Cup and Premier League. That will give us more motivation and desire to go for it next year and obviously we will have one more year's experience."

The last-gasp Carling Cup Final defeat at Wembley in February has been blamed in many quarters for the downward spiral of Arsenal's once-promising season but Szczesny is not so sure – even though he was involved in the error that handed the trophy to Birmingham.

"If you ask my opinion, I put it behind me straight away and I was focused on all the games coming up, so for me it made no difference," he said.

"Obviously I was disappointed not to win the Carling Cup, but for me it made no difference to what happened after. You have to ask the other players what they thought about it.

“I think when we lost the Carling Cup we still had a very good chance to win three trophies, and we are disappointed that we didn’t."

[Monday, May 16, 2011]

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