Clubs defiant despite results

The Manchester United and Arsenal players were in defiant mood yesterday as they reflected upon stuttering starts to their Champions League campaigns.

The London club, who missed a second-half penalty en route to their goalless draw in Florence, took heart from their performance at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

"Against Fiorentina we showed our motivation and what we are aiming for," said the midfielder Patrick Vieira.

"We have the quality in the team to go far. We are a little bit disappointed because technically and tactically we played good football and I think we dropped two points. We just needed some luck." The Fiorentina coach Giovanni Trapattoni admitted his side were fortunate. "Arsenal deserved to win, but they may pay for that penalty miss later," he said. "That was a big mistake by them and could cost them dearly in the end." The man who opted not to take the penalty, Dennis Bergkamp, has declared himself ready to play at the Dell on Saturday despite his 2,000-mile round trip to Florence. Bergkamp, a notorious non-flyer, will line up against Southampton in the Premiership and said: "I don't see a problem and I'm looking forward to playing.

"It was well worth the journey to play against Fiorentina even though the result was disappointing. I think we've earned a great deal of respect."

The Manchester United striker Teddy Sheringham was unconcerned by his side's drab start to the defence of their Champions League title, against Croatia Zagreb at Old Trafford.

"It's not a disastrous result and it's not the end of the world," he said. "The fans expected us to win and when things don't go according to plan they get frustrated.

"But you have to remember that we are the champions of Europe and people take that into account when they play us because they don't want to be humiliated." Meanwhile, the United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, regarded as Peter Schmeichel's successor at Old Trafford when he signed in the summer, suffered the ignominy of reserve team football last night. The Australian had been relegated to the substitutes' bench in favour of the 36-year-old Dutchman Raimond van der Gouw against Zagreb and was in the second string against Liverpool at Anfield yesterday.

Bosnich faces even greater embarrassment on Saturday, for he may not even make the squad against Wimbledon when Massimo Taibi, United's £4.5 million signing from Venezia, makes his home debut.