For years Arsène Wenger has been saying that size does not matter, but it appears that six seasons without a trophy may have changed his mind as he on Wednesday admitted that one of his priorities this summer will be to sign tall players.

Arsenal conceded 43 goals in the Premier League last season, with set pieces a particular weakness, but Wenger now believes he has a solution to his side's defensive problems as he attempts to catch Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City. "We conceded very few goals from open play, most of them were from set pieces in a way you don't want to concede goals," he said.

"It's something that's easy to correct. We need to improve the size of our squad. We need a bigger variety in the height of our players. We need to be more capable of fighting against some characteristics than we have been this season."

Arsenal finished 12 points behind United after an end-of-season collapse that highlighted the psychologicalfrailties that continue to haunt them and while Wenger understands the "disappointed love" of Arsenal fans, he insists the team are only 5% away from becoming winners.

"The criticism has been sharper this year because of the impatience of people," he said. "People are used to us being in the Champions League so we have to give them more, but we're not capable of doing that. People love what we do but they want us to be rewarded so they can be convinced we do things the right way. They want proof that we do things the right way. For our fans the frustration was that we were so close to convincing everybody of how football can be great, but in the end not being able to deliver.

The Frenchman, who has been linked with a move for the Lens defender Raphaël Varane, added: "I would call it disappointed love. It was cruel and sometimes you get excessive responses to that. I share that and understand it. But that doesn't mean we have to change our philosophy or the way the club is run.

"We get it 95% right, but we must gain that 5% because it's so frustrating to flirt with success like we have done. The fans are unhappy that we didn't win the league, but we are close. In 2003 we were also the best away team, but didn't win. We kept going and in 2004 we were very strong."