Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal will take the Europa League seriously next season, if they fail to land a Champions League spot.
"I take every competition seriously and the only thing I did over the years was to use the League Cup to give chances to young players," said Wenger on Thursday.
"The Europa League, they decided that to give the chance for it to be taken seriously again because most of the big clubs didn't play with strong teams so to make it more attractive we opened the door to quality.
"You still have to go through the qualifiers so that was a good incentive to get the best teams again and to be motivated.
"But if you look at the teams who won it recently it has always been teams who were kicked out of the group stage, but this year it could be Manchester United who started the competition."
See what else he had to say below...
Summary
Wenger on his relationship with Mourinho: “I am open always in life for everything, you know, for peace.”
On players’ mental health: “We help on the mental front players who want help of course. It is different for the players when they do not meet their needs like all of us they are frustrated and they suffer with self esteem in certain situations because the expectation on them is high.”
On where it went wrong this season for Arsenal: “There was a turning point at Everton and Man City where we lost two games on the trot. It took our confidence away from us.”
On Ozil’s post NLD strop: “I am sorry that he kicked the door. I don’t think his frustration was towards the drug test, it was towards the game.
On how he deals with losing: “Very badly but unfortunately in a managers career you have to go through it.”
On Oxlade-Chamberlain: “His performances have been convincing and positive. It looks like he makes a move forward.”
On Manchester United: “They have a massive squad with quality players. We will not speculate on any weakness of United. Whoever they play they will be strong.”
Has your relationship with Mourinho calmed?
“I am open always in life for everything, you know, for peace.”
Do you expect United to play defensively?
“I don’t know. They will certainly try to be defensively solid but they will try to win the game as well.
“They have to win the game to try and be in the top four.”
On Mourinho’s complaints about schedule?
“Normally a hectic schedule is what you want and shows you are in the competitions and overall if you have no big injuries we are all equipped to deal with that. What has changed in the PL is look at the teams who in the positions 10-20, there are still some top players on the bench.”
5th vs 6th - sign of the times?
“It just shows that everybody have moved up and the number of teams who can fight at the top is bigger and the difference between the teams is smaller. As soon as you are not at your best you can drop points.”
On helping players with mental health
“We help on the mental front players who want help of course. It is different for the players when they do not meet their needs like all of us they are frustrated and they suffer with self esteem in certain situations because the expectation on them is high.
“The pressure is very big and it is not easy to deal with that at a very young age. We try to help them yes. Clubs have that network of help available but not all players even if they feel the need they want to be helped by people at the club.
“Sometimes you don’t want to show. It could be interpreted as a weakness within the club so some might want to do that, if they want help, do that outside the club.”
Form against top sides - just six points from games against top seven?
“I felt away from home we failed in big games yes and didn’t take enough points. Difficult to explain because last season it was the reverse.
“There was a turning point at Everton and Man City where we lost two games on the trot. It took our confidence away from us.”
Mental shortcomings or technical?
“It is always difficult to isolate one factor. Defensively away from home we have conceded too many goals.”
How do you deal with losing?
“Very badly but unfortunately in a managers career you have to go through it. This week we have spoken about Aaron Lennon and mental problems but people underestimate the stress. you need to be a bit more balance because in life you have ups and downs. The only difference in our job is the ups are higher and the downs are lower.”
You’re still happy dealing with the aggro?
“Yes because I love the positive side of it. I love to win and to prepare for something big and the hope to do well.”
Would you take Europa League seriously?
“I take every competition seriously and the only thing I did over the years was to use the LC to give chances to young players.
“The Europa League they decided that to give the chance for it to be taken seriously again because most of the big clubs didn’t play with strong teams so to make it more attractive we opened the door to quality.
“You still have to go through the qualifiers so that was a good incentive to get the best teams again and to be motivated. But if you look at the teams who won it recently it has always been teams who were kicked out of the group stage but this year it could be Man United who started the competition.”
On Oxlade-Chamberlain
“His performances have been convincing and positive. It looks like he makes a move forward.
“He has all the qualities to play well there. Hopefully it will give him confidence.”
New deal?
“Personally I think he has to commit his future to the club and I hope he will do so this summer.”
On Ozil's strop
“I am sorry that he kicked the door. I don’t think his frustration was towards the drug test, it was towards the game.
“I didn’t speak to him about it because I only heard about it today.”
His contract?
“No news yet.”
On his future
You said you would announce your future in March or April...
“We are in May, so I was wrong.”
On rivalry with Mourinho
“I do not make of it a managers fight. What I want is that my team turns up and plays with a stronger performance.”
On Man United
“They have a massive squad with quality players.
“We will not speculate on any weakness of United. Whoever they play they will be strong.”
Team news
“Lucas Perez is back in training but I think he will miss the next two days, he got a little problem yesterday.
“We have still Xhaka who is out from the kick he got from the game and Mustafi is back in normal training.”
Wenger on the derby defeat
“Of course we are disappointed by our result and performance.
“We want to bounce back. There is no better way than to have a big game again. Now even winning the games doesn’t guarantee the top four. It is not completely in our hands.”
Zzz...
True to form, Wenger is making us wait. In fairness, considering Arsenal’ recent form, these press conferences are likely to be pretty unappealing for him.
Not long now
Wenger will be out shortly. We’re expecting a fitness update on Shkodran Mustafi, who is out with a thigh injury but could return for Sunday’s game.
Arsenal’s only other injury at present is Santi Cazorla, who has already been ruled out for the season.
Morning...
Arsene Wenger may still be hopeful of a top four finish but Jose Mourinho seems to have given up hope.
He suggested last night he would be focusing his efforts on the Europa League instead.
Mourinho said: “I think it would be a good achievement (to win the Europa League) given our problems and that would allow us to be back to Champions League next season.
“We are going to try, and that’s why the Europa League becomes more important for us now.
“In relation to the Premier League I think it’s too late because in the past month we played nine matches, seven of them in the Premier League.”