ARSENE Wenger came under fire this week for fielding a team full of foreign players against Crystal Palace on Monday.

I am a great believer in encouraging home-grown talent, but it is up to the British players to reach the criteria set by the manager.

Players like Thierry Henry are a joy to watch, but what young British players trying to impress at the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea may forget is that these foreign superstars have had to work hard to get where they are today and that should be a great incentive to emulate them.

It is also easy to forget that it is not easy adapting to the British way of playing football. Our game is based on hard work, which means a lot of running and superb fitness.

I know from personal experience how different it is playing abroad. The weather has a lot to do with how the game is played, particularly in Italy and Spain where the sun shines a lot more and much hotter than it does in this country which encourages the pace of the game to be slower.

Some people believe my move to Juventus was a failure, but as well as scoring 14 goals I believe the experience improved my game considerably.

What I noticed immediately, though, was that the Italian League put more emphasis on individual skill rather than teamwork, while in this country it is just the opposite. In training they spend a lot of time on stretching and ball skills.

This focus on individualism means that players in Italy love to let you know how good they are. That would be frowned on in this country, but over there that is expected of them.

If I had adopted that attitude at Liverpool I would have been taken down a peg or two very quickly. That was another thing I could not get used to while I was at Juventus.

There is no doubt that in this country, both technically and tactically, we are not as bright as most of the top foreign coaches and players.

But we do have big hearts and we are prepared to battle it out to the final whistle and don't know when we are beaten.

It is going to be tough for youngsters at Stamford Bridge and Highbury to impose themselves and to put themselves in the frame, but it is a challenge worth working for.

Despite the presence of such superstars at Chelsea this season, my vote for the player of the year will probably go to John Terry or Frank Lampard who have more than held their own in such illustrious company.