I f Arsenal's young players are as intelligent as Arsene Wenger believes, they might have wondered what psychological point their manager was trying to make when he spent the season talking about their lack of fear, their courage and their spirit. They might have questioned his defence of William Gallas following the captain's meltdown at St Andrew's and they might have guessed the truth.

Football is about many things. It is about the beauty and grace that Wenger has brought to his sides over the past ten years, but it is about hardness too. At its most prosaic, it's about not conceding goals just after you score. It is about a team and individuals shedding their callowness and preciousness

Wenger talked so much about the things his side clearly did not possess that it highlighted that Arsenal did not possess them. On Friday at the Arsenal training ground in Hertfordshire, he revealed his thinking on his side's lack of experience which will probably leave them without a trophy this season. "When you go for a youth policy, that is the price you have to pay. We knew that we would have to go into March with a big advantage. Now we have no special pressure and we can turn it round in our favour without any special pressure."

Wenger had hoped that his squad, small in comparison to Chelsea and Manchester United, would hold the lead he had gambled on acquiring in the autumn. At the end of February, they were five points clear. But they conceded a late penalty against Birmingham and spent a week lamenting the gruesome injury to Eduardo.

The next game was against Aston Villa at the Emirates and Arsenal needed an injury-time equaliser. In a week, Arsenal had reduced their five-point lead to just one. It was the first day of March. Wenger didn't have his big advantage. Now people want to ask why. Expectations were so low at the beginning of the season, Wenger understandably wonders why Arsenal are now being criticised for not reaching the highest level. Some are questioning his position. He would never think about walking away, he says. "Why?" Arsenal have improved and they had to. For the past two seasons they have finished fourth, last year they were 21 points behind United, the year before Chelsea were champions, 24 points ahead.

Wenger's football is seductive and in the early-season glory, many were charmed into believing that his side could overcome these statistical roadblocks and win the league. But Wenger hadn't written his side off when others had and now he contemplates how this season will be defined following last Tuesday's defeat or another blow which would end their Premiership aspirations at Old Trafford today.

"I don't know if it would be a good season if it ended now. If it did, we would qualify for the Champions League and that would make 11 or 12 years in the Champions League. Only four clubs in Europe have done that so we have at least a level of consistency to maintain at the top level, despite the fact that we built a stadium, it's not easy, believe me."

It is the stadium Wenger talks about when he talks about his policy of team-building. He insists he has not been scarred by failures in the transfer market like Jose Antonio Reyes and Frannie Jeffers.

"It's not comparable (to Chelsea and United) the money we have spent on players. For example, on Reyes we got the big part back and for Jeffers, we got a little part back. That's not the reason. If we have the money and I am convinced the player's worth it, we will buy."

Wenger will always point out the finances he must compete with, Chelsea with their "financial doping" as he once called it and the wealth of Manchester United. "We fight with Chelsea who invest hundreds of millions and lose a hundred million per year. We make 50 million per year and we still have to beat them and if we don't beat them, it's a disaster. I have to take some perspective. We play against Manchester United. Do you want me to tell you how many players over £30 million are in there? And I still believe that we can beat them."

At the level Arsenal compete, the only justification for building a team around youth is if they confirm that belief and win things as young players. If a manager must wait for them to grasp that elusive quality, maturity, then he would have been better off bringing in mature players in the first place.

Wenger will probably buy in the summer, but for now he cannot afford to cause any more psychological damage to his team so he insists he is committed to his philosophy. "We have gone for that policy and we have to stick with it or we are completely crazy. We are very close to those teams and we have to keep this team together."

When he looks through his side and sees examples of the "lack of maturity," it is not just from his young players. Gallas and Kolo Toure were the central defenders when Arsenal were bullied into throwing away their lead at Stamford Bridge. He acknowledged on Friday that, beyond his belief, refereeing decisions have gone against Arsenal in the past two months, his side have not asserted themselves in the decisive moments of matches.

"I can't deny that. We have to think about that at the end of the season and try to rectify that because we were 1-0 up against Chelsea. A game we had in our hands and we lost against very simple balls. That is what has gone wrong in our games, in the decisive moments in the game, we have shown a lack of maturity. But it's only maturity, it's not quality." But maturity is a quality in football and Wenger may conclude that Arsenal need to acquire it. Wenger talks about his project with this side but it is hard to see how the signing of, say, Fernando Torres would have disrupted that scheme.

Wenger still wants his team to contemplate league success and they will need to win today to have a chance. Arsenal lost 4-0 at Old Trafford in the FA Cup, but it is no surprise to hear Wenger admit that "we didn't go for the FA Cup this year, frankly". They wanted the Champions League. "My expectations were very high and they still are. We have to accept that we did not have a disappointing campaign in the Champions League despite the fact that at the moment we are highly disappointed. But the performances we produced in the two games against Liverpool were not disappointing. If we get taught a football lesson and we go home and say, 'Listen we have miles to go before we reach that level' I say, 'Yes, maybe'. But that's not the impression we have of the two games and that's what makes it even harder for us."

Arsenal's evangelical conviction in the quality of their own football makes it hard for them to absorb lessons when they are beaten by a less aesthetic team like Liverpool. Wenger hesitates when asks what his side could learn from Liverpool before a rare fallback on cliché. "You can always learn."

He has tried to teach his side instead and he believes that maturity will show. In 2003, a far more mature Arsenal side than this one blew a lead and handed the Premiership to Manchester United. A year later, they went unbeaten through a season. Wenger has rebuilt again since then and he has become more animated as a result.

In 2004, Wenger could sit and watch a match without moving from his seat and he once announced before a game against Spurs that he had no need to talk to his team because "I think they know what to do". Now he is being mocked for his prowling and fidgeting on the touchline. "At the moment the team needs support and help. When it is all going well and you score a goal every five minutes, you don't get up but I feel the team needs my complete attention. They need support because they are young players as well."

But Arsenal's youth will soon no longer be an excuse. Today, Arsenal can show if there is one last fight in the team. "People always put you in cages," Wenger says, "but if you look at the quality of our game at Liverpool, why should we go with any complex at Old Trafford?"

His job has been difficult in the past week. His stated belief in this team, his assertion they could win the double of league and Champions League has been dismantled. There is not much more he can say. His team must back Wenger now. "My job is to lift the spirits and focus on Sunday and that's why I say to have a big game on Sunday will help us. We cannot let ourselves down. Winners go for it when others don't go for it anymore."

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