Gunner: Trophy drought must end

Szczesny determined to win silverware next season

By Zain Alvi | 31st July 2012

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has asserted that settling for merely Champions League qualification every season is not sufficient and the club’s real ambitions revolve around winning silverware.

The Gunners have gone seven seasons without winning a trophy and frustration reached its peak last season. While they made it all the way to the Champions League final in 2006 and the Carling Cup final last February, they fell well short of such progression in the 2011-12 campaign.

When they were virtually eliminated by AC Milan after the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 action in February and then knocked out of the FA Cup by Sunderland a few days later, the Gunners had no trophies to fight for in the last three months of the season.

Szczesny was in the goal when the Gunners repeatedly conceded costly goals. Even after ultimately securing a respectable third place finish in the league on the final day of the season, it was obvious to him that the club’s supporters have been searching for a higher degree of success.

“This club always has the same aims and that’s winning trophies. We obviously haven’t done it in the last few years and that’s disappointing for the players and the fans but I believe we will be that little bit stronger than we were last year,” Szczesny told Arsenal’s official website.

He added: “We have a couple of quality signings already. And we’re confident we can fight for the trophies more than we did last year.

“I think the players who were lacking experience last year now have that experience. We have a couple of signings, more players who can score goals.”

In his latter statement, Szczesny is referring to the summer arrivals of Lukas Podolski from FC Cologne and Olivier Giroud from Montpellier, who have both strengthened the Gunners’ attack despite uncertainty over the future of want-away skipper Robin van Persie.