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Wenger: Arsenal don't need Champions League money

Arsene Wenger says Arsenal lack charisma © PA Photos

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Arsene Wenger claims Arsenal can live without the financial windfall guaranteed by an appearance in the Champions League, but he does not want to contemplate failure to secure a top four finish this season.

Wenger admits his side have to beat Aston Villa as they return to Premier League action at Emirates Stadium on Saturday to keep their hopes of a top four finish alive, but he will not contemplate a radical overhaul of his squad despite their woes of the last week.

"Financially we can live with it (not qualifying for Champions League), but on the sporting front, no and the sporting front is the priority," said Wenger, who went on to respond to a question about whether he will consider a change of direction at Arsenal.

"Every incident cannot change completely your mind on people you trust. There is no possibility in any club to change direction every time you lose a football game or you don't go anywhere.

"Football is made of short-term and long-term, but a long-term plan is vital. I know that today in society it is very difficult to push that through, but people who are responsible have to do that.

"I prepared myself for some suffering when we moved to the Emirates, because we knew we were under restricted resources for a while. The main target was to be in the Champions League because we had to pay back our stadium. Did I expect to go out against Blackburn and to lose against Bayern? Honestly, no."

Wenger went on to claim that a lack of charisma among his players and not a lack of quality is the primary reason for Arsenal's failings this season: "I feel that we lack a little bit of belief and confidence and you could see that [against Bayern]. When you look at the numbers we are 12th in the league in the first half and top of the league in the second half.

"That shows we have not a problem of quality, we have a problem of belief and confidence, and that is noticeable especially in the first half. Again, against Bayern Munich, we were 2-0 down and that happened a few times this year.

"After it's difficult but I believe we have the basic quality and we lack a little bit of what you would call the 'charisma' that Bayern had, because they had basically not lost a game the whole season.

"And people forget we played against a team that played in two Champions League finals in the last three years. We didn't play against a poor side and the game was a top-quality game, the intensity of the game was unbelievable."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.