Hand off Henry, Wenger warns Barcelona
(Xinhua/Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-23 09:41

A largely reserve team needed a penalty shoot-out to get past third division Doncaster Rovers in the League Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday and if they are progress any further in the Champions League they will have to beat Real Madrid.

"This is a little bit of a transition period because it's a team that has been changed," Wenger told a news conference on Thursday.

"Dennis Bergkamp plays less, Robert Pires plays less and these players have made our team for years.

"It is a bad set of results we have had recently, I don't deny that, but we need to roll our sleeves up and turn it around and not make too much of a fuss about it.

"If you are in a great period we would have won the last two games against Newcastle and Chelsea but instead things went against us. But our spirit has been good and you have to keep that spirit and show that kind of resilience. A big club is made up of these kind of qualities when things don't go well and I think our squad has those qualities."

After last week's 2-0 home defeat by Chelsea Wenger admitted his side were out of the title race but says second place is very much in their sights. They trail Manchester United by 11 points but have a game in hand.

INTERESTING SIGNS

"I think the team is showing interesting signs. First of all we are improving from game to game, secondly the hunger is back in the squad and the desire is there," he said.

"Our fighting spirit is strong again and it's down to us to deal with the negative comments we get and transform them into positive comments by the end of May - and I feel we have the potential to do it."