Vieira seeks the missing ingredient for Arsenal

As Arsenal's players lay slumped in their seats as they returned from Valencia to Luton in the early hours of yesterday morning one truth appeared self-evident. "If you go out of the Champions' League it means you're not good enough to go to the next round," said their captain, Patrick Vieira.

He added: "I thought we played well in virtually every game, especially in the second phase, but we only won one and you need to win more than that."

Yet, while the diagnosis was clear, the cure was less so. Vieira added: "We have to improve. We need something extra, something that will make the difference for us. We don't have that at the moment and we have to work on it and make sure we do."

Thierry Henry blamed poor home form. The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, said that the whole club had to share the responsibility. Luck played a part with Arsenal suffering a cruel run of injuries to defenders but this uncovered weak reserves. Of the back five on Wednesday, only Sol Campbell was good enough and he was not fit. Further forward Wenger seems to have a blind spot over Sylvain Wiltord, who has rarely looked like justifying his record-signing tag.

That said, Wenger's overall record in the transfer market is good and he can be trusted with more funds. The news from the boardroom is that he will get them, though not at the level to which Alex Ferguson has become accustomed.

This is not, insisted Peter Hill-Wood, the chairman, because of complications surrounding the £300m new stadium at Ashburton Grove. "The development of the new ground is proving very much more complicated than we first thought but there is no question of costs rising," he said. "We have agreed a figure with the builders and it cannot go over that.

"A certain amount of money for building the ground comes from club resources in general and we hope to raise the rest from the City. We don't need to sell any players. There is no point having a fine new stadium and no team to go with it.

"Going out hurts us financially because getting through would have been very helpful to our cash flow but what has happened was within our projections. At the start of the season we budgeted for going out of the competition at this stage. Arsène can still buy players in the summer if he wants to. Money has already been put aside."

Hill-Wood estimated the cost of failure to be £10m, though much would depend on whether Arsenal progressed further. Ferguson yesterday professed himself "surprised and disappointed" Arsenal had not joined Manchester United in the last eight, which would be at least half-true.

Ferguson can claim some credit for Arsenal's exit. Rafael Benitez, the Valencia coach, learned much from a stint at The Cliff, where he observed Ferguson and Steve McClaren, his then coach, at work. Their influence was evident at La Mestalla. Valencia receive heavy criticism in Spain, where they are perceived as too direct and one-dimensional but to English eyes this seems harsh. They attack with pace and width. Players such as Pablo Aimar and Vicente are encouraged to run at defenders. The midfield is a balance of graft and craft. The sight of the talented Miguel Angel Angulo in reserve underlines their quality. With Valencia having now accounted for Liverpool and Arsenal, Ferguson will not wish to renew acquaintance with Benitez just yet.

Arsenal, meanwhile, must lift themselves for two difficult matches in three days, against Everton in the Premiership on Sunday and Chelsea in the FA Cup on Tuesday.

"We are disappointed but life goes on," said Henry. "We have to recover. That's what we did when this happened last year."

Passing through the plane, one felt this might be achieved more easily if it had been the players occupying the first-class recliners rather than the directors and their companions. No doubt Valencia's hospitality was demanding, but chasing Aimar for 90 minutes would have been more so. The players were in business class, along with the coaching staff. This may be luxury to most of us, but it could still prompt a stiff back or a cramped muscle for an exhausted athlete of over six foot.