Self-justifying claptrap!

And no; I'm not talking about this Blog. Although others may suggest that it sums up my writing...

So who am I talking about in the title? None other than our old friend Jose Mourinho, who has started the phony war nice and early. He just can't help himself, can he, and he cares not even when he gets his facts wrong?

And here's some good news, folks. I've decided that I'm going to be really disciplined this season and post at least once every week. This is therefore the first one of the 2015-16 season, with thoughts on Arsenal's summer/pre-season, our title rivals and what they've been up to, and some fleeting thoughts on Liverpool and Spurs (who are NOT title rivals). And if my pal Mourinho gets a few mentions, I'm sorry; he gets a rise out of me almost every time he opens his smug mouth. As an aside, I imagine he must love this photograph!        

                                  

On to Arsenal's pre-season: 

Off the pitch, the goalkeeping issue appears to have been well and truly addressed. I think we'd all agree that Cech is an upgrade on what we had; even if he is possibly past his best now, I personally will take him over Szczesny and Ospina every time. With the added pleasure of knowing that his move has really annoyed Mourinho.

Ideally, I'd also like to see cover in defensive midfield, and a world-class centre forward. If there are two areas where inconsistency was shown last season - certainly in the first half of it - they were an inability to break up opponents' play that led to goals, and a lack of goals themselves (Sanchez excluded) from our own forward line. 

On the first point, the re-emergence of Coquelin surely occurred merely by dint of good fortune, and I somehow doubt that Arteta will be sufficient cover for him. On the second, there was far too much reliance on Alexis for too long, and apart from not expecting him to repeat that goal tally this season I feel that we probably need 15-20 extra goals this season compared to last. 

It seems that Wenger is going to rely on a fit-again Walcott, plus bigger contributions from midfield, to make that up; unless circumstances in the transfer market free up the mythical world-class centre forward as they did with the arrivals of Ozil and Sanchez. He's not a transfer instigator, is our Arsene, but he does tend to pick up some tasty scraps in the transfer fallout. And to visit an old theme of mine, having addressed his tactical blind spot midway through last season this is perhaps where our esteemed manager lets himself down; leaving us just short in key areas.

Nonetheless, from what we've seen of Arsenal pre-season (for all that's worth) things seem to be gelling together well and the side look readier than they did a year ago. Although the acid test comes on Sunday, of course. The main issue for Wenger seems to be how to shoehorn all that talent into the side, and in the absence of Alexis I suspect Arsenal may line up:

Cech

Monreal - Koscielny - Mertesacker - Bellerin

Coquelin - Cazorla

Ozil

Ox - Giroud - Ramsey

which has Ramsey bunged in on the wing, and no Wilshere or Walcott in the starting eleven. So, with Alexis still to come back, a wealth of talent going forward and a massive personnel dilemma for the manager.

On to our title rivals:

Manchester United are spending vast amounts of money, and several of those buys look rather tasty. Particularly Schweinsteiger (literal translation is 'pig climber'), a player I have admired for many years. But they still have issues in defence, I reckon, for all their clean sheets last season (most of which can surely be attributed to their soon to depart goalkeeper) plus the lack of goals last year means they surely have to buy someone to play up top - for all that Memphis Depay looks something special. They've got just too much ground to make up, I reckon, in the forthcoming season.

Manchester City have made two shrewd buys in Delph and Sterling, but they need cover for Aguero and more importantly look really light in defence. They need more, and if they end the transfer window with the squad they've got they'll surely fall short again.

And so to Chelsea. Aaah, the little horse have hardly spent any money at all so far this summer, have they? And for all the world-class talent of the likes of Hazard and Fabregas, I think/hope that this will prove to be a mistake. I'll put my neck on the block here and now and say that I simply do not understand the signing of Falcao; if last season showed anything, it's that he is not the same player he was before his knee injury. Add that to Costa's continual hamstring issues, that leaves Loic Remy - and I don't think that anybody can imagine any team winning the title with him up top. On top of which, I imagine that we may start to see a gradual decline in the form of their esteemed captain (my favourite player). So again, unless they buy, the cracks may start to show. One can always hope, as there's plenty of ground for the opposition to make up on them.

On Liverpool, all I can say is that the loss of their best player two seasons in a row must surely continue to hurt them. Benteke looks a useful - if overpriced - purchase, and Clyne is clearly a decent player, but they look miles short still.

I'm not sure why I'm bothering discussing Tottenham. Actually, I don't think I'll bother, except to say that 5th must surely be the absolute limit of their ambition/potential this season.

And so we come to the Community Shield:

Last year's ritual slaughter of Manchester City proved to be something of a false dawn, but whilst it's merely a friendly this is different gravy. The opportunity to score some psychological points over Chelsea really must be taken; and bearing in mind that they've hardly been setting the world on fire in pre-season we have some expectation, despite The Dark Lord's hold over Wenger.

And so to the Mind Games. So far, quite pathetic, really. If that's all he's got, then I'm sure we're all delighted. But it's a phony war, and it's Hazard and Fabregas etc. who we really need to worry about. Here's hoping for a decent performance and a positive result, and I'll see you next week.

Post-Chelsea musings - Tales of The Expected

I'll try to take a different angle than everyone else.

No, it wasn't and for the most part they weren't. Boring, that is. It was a match wracked (for the most part) with tension, no little fear, and a villain or five. But that song would have been music to their ears.

As far as Arsenal were concerned, it was disappointing. But we were up against a bloody good side who quite rightly came with the attitude of What We Have, We Hold. Who wouldn't have done that very thing? They all know their roles, they are set up professionally and pragmatically, and they are extremely difficult to play against when in that mode. But I hold out some small hope for them dropping points on Wednesday, as it happens; they'll actually be coming out to play then.

And the problem was that for all the huffing and puffing - and there were moments when they were on the ropes - Arsenal simply didn't create enough chances or do enough to get the better of them. Courtois wasn't given enough to do, John Terry (for all that he is a heinous excuse for a human being) was magnificent, and the referee was lenient in not booking the thug Ivanovic early on and especially in allowing Chelsea to take forever on re-starts. Plus there were times when the Arsenal intensity dropped; we needed to be at them all the time.

I choose to make little comment on the penalties. None were given, and that was that. The handballs would have been harsh - although at the time I screamed for the Cahill one. Ospina made a genuine attempt for the ball, but got there late. Dangerous, yes; reckless, no. And the tackle for which their Number 4 was booked; such is life - he made a meal of it. Probably something he'd been taught in their weekly 'diving training' sessions (Tutor D. Drogba esq.; Star Pupils Oscar and Hazard).

So they did what they had to do, and they're bloody difficult to beat. But what I feel it did expose is where Arsenal still lack sufficient quality. 

• A new goalkeeper is required - somebody better than we already have. 
• The defence was adequate but rarely tested, and continues to worry me - the trademark ball over the top from their Number 4 to Oscar is the sort of thing that shouldn't catch anybody out
• Coquelin did OK but was harried constantly when he had the ball and we can probably do better than him 
• Cazorla was subdued and I feel a bit sorry for him in the role he is being asked to play
• Ditto Ramsey; another square peg in a round hole
• Ozil didn't, frankly, show enough urgency
• Giroud was shown up for what he actually is - not top class. Terry had him in his pocket all afternoon
• Plus a top-class wide player, please; Alexis, for all his attributes, is not that

3-4 new players required to reach their level. Over to you, Arsene, to buy just two and leave us short again, I'd imagine. The problem is that the players we'd like are all at bloody Chelsea!

Two things to add:

1. On their Number 4... Personally, I didn't boo him; I gave him the Silent Treatment. But nor did I applaud him when he was substituted. And frankly I couldn't understand the thousands who did. He's the enemy now, and therefore not worthy of our energy being expended on him. He means nothing to me now, for all that he carried our team for a couple of years. I suspect that there was a lot more to his move to West London than we know, for all the 'buy-back clause' may suggest

2. To the bloke first up on 6-0-6 who called for Wenger's head on the back of this match. Well, I switched over in disgust the moment you started down that road, so I have no idea what Wrighty said to you, but today wasn't the day to start on that one again. There are many reasons why one could say Arsene Must Go, but on the back of a long winning run and a repeat Cup Final to look forward to, plus holding our own against the Champions elect? Bonkers.

Second, and another FA Cup, is Progress. Let's aim for that. And then we'll see. As I said yesterday, Mourinho and Chelsea need to be stopped, blow by blow. And we'll need help from elsewhere to do that. But we must start inflicting a few flesh wounds ourselves along the way.

One Nil to The Arsenal - and Rosenberg

Arsenal fans of a certain vintage will remember our successful sides of the late 1980s and early 1990s. They started off their run with successive Milk (League) Cup appearances in 1987 and 1988, and then followed it up on one of the greatest nights in club history; May 26th 1989 and that famous 2-0 win at Anfield to clinch the League title. Another title, and a bit more sporadic cup success over the next few years - including the Cup double of 1993 and the (totally against the odds) European Cup Winners Cup win over a Parma side bristling with talent in Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen in 1994  - and then it was all over for a few years until Arsene Wenger arrived.

But enough of the history lesson. The point I'm trying to make is that this was a successful side, but not by any stretch of the imagination a loved one. Admired, I'm sure, but that was where it ended. Liverpool were the glamour club of that era; incredibly successful and brimming with class and style. True, there were flair players at the club - the likes of Davis, Merson, Thomas, the much-missed David Rocastle, and towards the end Ian Wright - but this was a side built on a rock-solid defence that along with a somewhat 'destructive' midfield made them extremely difficult to beat when it really mattered. 

And at this juncture I would like to point out some parallels with the current Ch$ls$£ side - but also some major differences:

One the parallel side, there is the 'pragmatic' managerial side of M0#r^nh0 (hereafter referred to as TDL [The Dark Lord]), and the solid defensive foundations. A side capable of moments of great ingenuity and excitement, but one that is very much set up in Safety First mode. Admired, but outside of SW6 not loved at all. Hark back to George Graham's Arsenal sides, and there's your parallel. Single goal victories ground out week after week, capitalising on opponents' mistakes, etc.

And what, Ch$ls$£ fans especially may ask, is wrong with that? TDL has been charged with bringing trophies to the club, and that he is once again doing. That the success of the club is due in massive part to the largesse of its billionaire owner's gift of £1bn+, and its ability to attract some of the world's top players as a result of that, is not in dispute. 

This is where the lines diverge. That Arsenal side was mainly built on a self-sustained core - home grown players and the odd astute purchase. But that's hardly the case with the current Ch$ls$£ side (or to be fair most really successful clubs these days). But the chucking of money at the issue for a sustained period of almost 10 years has now seen the bloated, unpleasant Frankenstein's monster of West London take its full form. A club that can win the FA Youth Cup for 4 successive years, but singularly fails to bring a single one of those players through to the First Team? A damning anomaly, built round a business model perpetuated by the new FFP rules which they are playing so well with the help of TDL's good friend, the Super-Agent Carlos Mendes (how anyone could have extracted £50m from PSG for David Luiz is beyond comprehension).

What is of course galling for Arsenal fans was the timing of Abramovich's arrival on the scene. It happened at virtually the very moment when the decision to build a new stadium meant a tightening of the purse strings in N5 - and at a time when Arsenal and Manchester United were utterly dominant domestically. Invariably, the injection of unprecedented bundles of cash left Arsenal in Ch$ls$£'s wake. It very much upset the Natural Order of things.

But let us not lose sight of the fact that TDL was sacked the first time around for combining his particular style of football with - at a certain point - a distinct lack of success. In the aftermath of a pitiful 1-1 home draw in the Champions League group stages with Norwegian champions Rosenberg. And perhaps there is a glimmer of hope in that?

Some will point to the fact that Ch$ls$£ flew out of the blocks at the beginning of this season, playing some scintillating stuff and carrying all before them. Even leading to the suggestion in some quarters that they might go the entire season unbeaten (don't make me laugh - only Arsenal do that!). So they do have that capability - and with that side and that money behind them they damn well should have! - but at the moment when he could see that his side were running out of a bit of steam Manchester City simultaneously ground to a virtual halt and so the path was clear to him. Revert to type and defend the cushion the early season performances had given him. And again, why wouldn't you? 

So it's up to Ch$ls$£'s rivals to start to deliver the blows that cut them down. Slow the juggernaut, and then stop it. Start beating them, and start denying the owner what he truly craves, a successful side that is Loved, not merely Admired. 

Starting today, perhaps? The title race is essentially over for this season, but hopefully a marker can be laid down for next season and then other sides can pick up the baton also.

To be frank, all I can foresee for this afternoon is a drab, low-scoring match shaped by the tactics of TDL. Matic and Zouma in front of the back 4, looking to stop the fleet-footed Arsenal attackers exposing the lack of pace of the centre-backs. But it's difficult to take the moral high ground on that if one learns the lessons of history. W

hat Arsenal need to do is find a way round it - look to 'knock them off of their f*cking perch', as Fergie once said about that Liverpool side. That needs to start by scoring the first goal this afternoon.

And look, I've written an entire blog post about Ch$ls$£ without mentioning Fabregas... Damn!!! I almost managed it...

Fools' Gold

Some weeks ago, I started writing a post that was going to be entitled 'One Step Forward; Two Steps Back', but I only like to write fresh stuff and frankly it was nothing new, so I aborted it. However, last night brings things right back into focus.

When things go wrong, Arsenal get them wrong in Spades. Last night was a total shambles, and for all Wenger's talk about the team defending 'suicidally' I don't see how he can possibly park all the blame on the players.

You see, it's all very well to play Alexis, Ozil, Cazorla, Welbeck and Giroud when you're up against a side in the lower reaches of the Premier League, but to have the arrogance (and yes, I chose that word deliberately) to set up like that in the Champions League is to my mind unforgivable. Yes, they missed chances to take the lead and Giroud especially missed a couple of virtual sitters and generally had a stinker, but apart from the first 15 minutes or so there was little doubt about who were the better set up and coached, more organised and more hard-working side on the pitch.

In many ways, it's OK to be given a lesson by the Barcelonas and Bayerns of this world, but this was Monaco, and on paper Arsenal have better players than they do. But even a severely-weakened Monaco side were better than Arsenal all over the pitch. Kondogbia (sign him, Arsene!) and Moutinho were outstanding, but team shape, work rate, closing down and tracking back were where Arsenal were truly shown up.

So the initial team selection was wrong - far too attacking - and I don't think we saw anything change tactically until he hooked Giroud - which he absolutely had to - and then took off our only defensive midfielder - an extraordinary move - to bring on The Ox. Either Ozil or Alexis (is he fully fit?) could easily have gone and some sort of shape could have been kept.

It has been clear for a while that there's something missing from the current Wenger regime. For all his qualities, he simply can't cut it any more at the top table. In the Premier League, sheer financial muscle and the qualities of the players Arsenal attract will drag the side into the Top 4 every season, but is that really enough when disappointment is heaped on disappointment year after year in the big matches. Whilst finishing above Sp*rs is all well and good, and indeed expected, that's really not what it's about. We should be leaving them behind in any case. But for the football fan, at any level, it's the hope that kills you.

From the moment I saw last night's team, I feared the worst, and when the early goal didn't come and the shape and tempo of the game changed I felt it coming. Because I have felt the same feeling before. But it's the lack of reaction that hurts me more than anything. No change to the shape, and no adaption to what is in front of them. For that, I have to blame the Manager. As I said up top, it's all very well slaughtering Aston Villa, but if anyone has been 'suicidal' it's M Wenger.

People would say that those in the anti-Wenger camp only rear their heads when something catastrophic like this happens. To be fair, there's really nothing to say when we're putting Premier League also rans to the sword, but it's been clear to me that confidence has been fragile and the side has been fortunate on occasions even in the past few weeks when they have risen to third, but it all gets glossed over... until a night like last night.

Frankly, I would imagine that Sam Allardyce could get Arsenal into the Top 4. The club needs someone to take them further. Arsene Wenger, for all his qualities, is no longer that man and every big match defeat that goes by reinforces that view.

And so on to the next big match. Manchester United away. They've got the Indian Sign over us irrespective of who their Manager is, and how sh*t they may actually be, so I've gone from expectation to hope in one evening. Let's hope they can lift themselves for that one.

The Blame Game

I am just back from the United game, and have had time to collect my thoughts. But is there anything new to say?

From where I was sitting, that's the worst United side in my memory. di Maria, Rooney and de Gea I'd have, but you can stuff the rest of them into a cattle truck. Quite the worst bunch of defenders you could possibly imagine - and Fellaini a one-trick pony. So how did Arsenal contrive to lose against that lot?

Well, if you want to find outlandish and inconceivable ways to concede a goal, I beg you to look no further than United's first. A comedy of errors. And the second the standard 'pushing for an equaliser - breakaway' goal that everyone scores against Arsenal these days. But that's not even half the story.

You'll hear and read about what a wonderful game de Gea had. Well, I'd say that it was practically shot-stopping practice for him. Shot after shot hit straight down the middle of the goal. If Arsenal had gone in 3-0 up at half-time, I don't think that would have been an unfair reflection of their superiority and the number of decent chances they had. And whilst I heard in the wake of the previous two capitulations that it was down to the players, not the manager - that they couldn't organise themselves properly then - and they missed the chances today, I'll say this: 

1. If you want genuine quality, go out and spend proper money on it - Costa, Hazard etc. at Chelsea, Aguero, Silva and Toure at City, Angel di Maria... because if you expect the likes of Welbeck and Giroud, from the second tier of strikers, or world-renowned finishers (?) like Wilshere and Cazorla to do the trick for you you are going to be left sadly behind. I am sick to death of hearing 'I nearly signed Ronaldo/Messi/Drogba/Ibrahimovic/Suarez'. Nearly is what we've had for years now.

2.  If you want proper leaders, go and buy the right characters to do that job; to shout at their team-mates and organise them properly. Where are the Adams, Terry, Kompany etc. characters in the Arsenal squad?

3.  If you cannot recognise shortcomings in a squad when everyone else can, Murphy's Law says that those shortcomings will come back to bite you. Again, no defensive cover and no proper DM - for all that Arteta slaves away with every sinew and is an admirable footballer in every sense.

I'll put the lack of these players down to one common factor - the manager. Blame the players for capitulating, or for not finishing off poor opposition. But who bought them, and who sends them out onto the pitch?

I need add nothing else. Except that should we lose on Wednesday things are going to get very ugly indeed. For all he has done in the past, I'd at least wish to see M Wenger leave with his dignity intact in May.

Talking Heads

As my many thousands of followers (heh) would know, I don't post just for the sake of it; I like to have something different to say every time, and blogging too regularly or on a daily basis doesn't give me that scope. Goodness knows, it's hard enough for the experts. Those who know the track Psycho Killer by Talking Heads will recognise these lyrics: 'When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed. Say something once; why say it again?' And so it is with me - if I have nothing new to add, I just won't write anything.

And that's why, despite the temptation to rattle off something angry after the capitulation at home to Anderlecht on Tuesday evening, I held myself back. I wanted to see the reaction - not in the Media and on Social Media, but from the club; from the manager and from the players. Essentially, to see the team that the managers chose for the next game, and how the players would react - that's the Swansea game that has just finished.

And we saw a little bit more of history repeating itself, did we not? Which is: a turgid first-half performance, then in the second half contriving a way of blowing a lead and throwing away more valuable points. The lack of confidence, proper leadership (on or off the pitch) and collective desire are patently obvious. And like many Arsenal fans, I am sick of going through the same emotions match after match. I can almost log them before the game starts...

1. Hope/anticipation of a more dynamic performance
2. The realisation that it's going to be unlikely
3. Watching forward progress, from players who like to play between the lines, consisting of not playing between the lines but continually passing the ball sideways
4. Boredom and resignation
5. A sudden burst of excitement, almost invariably involving Alexis Sanchez
6. The slow sink back into despair as the inevitable implosion occurs

OK, so there's a little bit of exaggeration here, but what I am sure we can all agree on is that the tactics hardly vary. And if it takes 70 minutes for the manager to make the necessary changes against Burnley that we saw needed taking after 10; if it takes blowing a 3-0 lead due to a lack of leadership and collective will - and nothing changing in the next match; and if it takes finding outrageous and embarrassing ways to blow comfortable-looking leads... If it takes all that, then harsh words need to be spoken in and around the training ground the next time the players meet up.

Because make no mistake, the season is over almost before it has started. We thought that Arsenal might kick on after the FA Cup Final, but the Premier League is already gone, we were never going to win the Champions League, we're even out of the Capital One Cup and all the mistakes made since that lovely sunny day in May are continually coming home to roost. Not having enough defenders. Not signing the big powerful defensive midfielder that even my mother knows Arsenal need (like the one who would have stopped the run for the equaliser). Not playing people in their correct positions. No real Plan B. Or going back further, maybe giving the manager his new contract?...

Don't get me wrong; I love Arsene Wenger for everything he has done for Arsenal Football Club, and I'd love him to stay. If he will change/adapt, that is. But as after all this time there's no way he is going to... well, I'm past the 'Who can possibly replace him?' stage.

Change the shape. Change some personnel. Change the formation. Try SOMETHING different. Acknowledgement now that we're short of defenders and need a DM is far too late, and it's 7 weeks until the next Window opens. By which time who can tell where Arsenal will sit in the Premier League table? Thank goodness that Manchester City are struggling for consistency, that Manchester United have even fewer defenders than we do, and that Liverpool and Spurs are in turmoil. It's the only saving grace for the moment because - as David Byrne of Talking Heads would almost certainly be saying if he were a Gooner - 'We're on the Road to Nowhere.'

Papering Over The Cracks

Yes, I know Arsenal won last night. But whilst the bare facts say one thing, deep down we have to admit that this was another sub-standard performance against a distinctly average side. I know we've got a load of injuries and you can try to excuse this and other recent performances if you want to. But... Arsenal were lacking in confidence, in pace, in drive, in aggression; all round, simply not good enough for a club with the ambitions it has (or rather, its supporters have - quite what the owner is happy to settle for, I'm really not quite sure). And as a result - bear with me please - this is going to be a bit of a rant.

I didn't see much of the Hull game - I was out of the country and couldn't get a feed on my iPad - but by all accounts it was much the same as last night; laboured, if I had to sum it up in one word.

So what's been going wrong at Arsenal Football Club, following the FA Cup win and the feel-good factor in engendered? I'll tackle it on three levels: 1) The Owner, 2) The Manager, 3) What happens on the pitch. 

Let's get straight into it:

1. Stan Kroenke, for all his massive wealth, is precisely the type of owner that supporters cannot abide. Distant (literally!); apparently uninterested in reaching the heights of competition to which a club like Arsenal should aspire; happy to merely see his investment grow and now happy to start taking money out of the club for 'services rendered'. He appears to know very little about 'soccer' itself, and leaves the running of the club to his appointees - all well and good in theory, but due to a vacuum at Board level, there appears to be a lack of drive towards anything apart from maintaining the status quo, and lining Stan's already well-filled pockets. Meaning that far too much power has been devolved to the Manager. Kroenke is known a Silent Stan for a reason; we have never heard what his ambitions for Arsenal Football Club are.

Looking around the higher echelons of the Premier League, who could one cite as a model Owner/Chairman from the fans' point of view? Let's rule out United and Spurs (whose respective regimes are frankly dysfunctional); and Manchester City, who have the sort of money that most people can not even imagine but whom FFP is frankly treating rather inequitably; plus Everton, who due to circumstances don't have the resources to break properly into the Top 4. That leaves Liverpool and (I'll whisper it...) Chelsea. 

Liverpool lost Luis Suarez in the summer, and their owners didn't hold back on spending money in an attempt to replace him. OK, they don't appear to have succeeded, but replacing a world class player never is (unless you have lots of others, and Liverpool aren't Real Madrid). I'd settle for owners who are prepared to give it a go like FSG.

Chelsea have in the past represented everything that made me cringe about modern football. Huge amounts of money to chuck around; a ruthless owner, not the slightest bit averse to changing Managers almost every season; attracting the sort of characters to play for the club that you wouldn't want your daughter anywhere near; a set of arrogant, unpleasant, thuggish fans (present company excepted!); a Manager so full of himself that I want to commit physical violence on him every time I see his smug face on TV or hear his voice on the radio. Yet, yet... Those 10 years of awful excess have moved Chelsea Football Club on from a mid-table club to a world powerhouse, with a fantastic side, a brilliant Manager, and due to astute transfer dealings a base from which they can now remain at the top indefinitely. 

Which Arsenal fan, today, wouldn't want an owner like Roman Abramovich? Kroenke has the money to do something similar - and if he is unwilling it would appear that Usmanov would happily step into that breach - yet Arsenal just chug along, achieving the bare minimum that their resources indicate they should.

Kroenke Out. There; I've said it.

2. People have been saying Wenger Out for years now. The fallow years, as a result of the move from Highbury and the simultaneous rise of first Chelsea, then Manchester City, have as time gone on dragged on a little too long. If Wenger has changed in that period, it has not been with the times; one just has to look at the size, power and pace of teams like Real and Athletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Chelsea and compare them to the current Arsenal squad to see the difference in their make-up. And it is clear, from where I am sitting, who has got it right and who has got it wrong.

Up to the middle of last season, I was a big apologist for Arsene Wenger. No longer. The FA Cup win merely papered over the cracks. It gave the regime the excuse to give him another three-year contract, and him to carry on in his not-so-merry way. Yet again this season the squad is just two or three players short of being really good, and yet again it will fall short. Despite the signing of the excellent Alexis Sanchez, there is plenty missing and if we can all see it, why can he not?

Yes, we again have the ready-made excuse of a long injury list. But that's all it is - an excuse. Even at full-strength, the squad is not quite good (yet again) enough to hit the summit. And lack of money is no longer an excuse. Where's the depth in defence? Where's the big defensive midfield enforcer on whom EVERY other top Manager insists? William Carvalho? - I'd settle for Steven N'Zonzi!

I wish I could understand the man's psyche. It's almost as if he is doing it deliberately; leaving the squad short as a ready-made excuse. Well, people aren't buying it any more.

Don't get me wrong; I love the man for what he helped the club achieve between 1998 and 2005 and will always be in awe of those great sides. But those days are long gone. And the worst thing about it is that when things are going badly on the pitch these days, he does not seem to have the capacity to change things, or to inspire his side to do things differently.

Which brings me on to...

3. When Arsenal (almost inevitably) fall a goal behind, I don't see any change in attitude. Last night - and by all accounts against Hull also - they carried on as before; with the only difference being that their confidence (already not high) dropped, thus making things more difficult. Where's the change of gear, of tactics, of pace? Even Guardiola says that Tiki Taka is dead.

Let's see a change to 4-4-2 - or at least a return to 4-2-3-1 and no more 4-1-4-1. Just... something less predictable. It's almost as if there is no planning; Wenger sees a shiny Ozil or Alexis bauble and feels he had better have it, with no thought as to what to do with it. And what would we do for Cesc Fabregas now! The shining jewel in Chelsea's crown...

This season, unless I am much mistaken, the Manager is not sure of his best side (even if he could put it out). How to accommodate Ozil and Sanchez is a problem he has not solved, and playing your most expensive player out of position simply cannot be the answer. Yes, he was badly out of form before his injury, but what came first; the chicken or the egg?

Make no mistake, Gibbs' sublime volley and a typical Podolski finish got Arsene Wenger out of jail yesterday; but bringing on Campbell, and then Podolski with just 7 minutes remaining, were no more than desperate throws of the dice.

Something has to change. What, or how, I do not know, and it doesn't help that Debuchy, Koscielny, Arteta, Ozil, Giroud and Rosicky are all injured, and Ramsey and Walcott only just coming back; but he is not making the best of what he has. Whilst a fully-fit squad might just about be able to challenge, he is to my mind making the wrong decisions, both before and during matches. 

Plus the Monreal centre-back experiment has to stop now. In the absence of the two Frenchmen, Chambers must play in the middle and Bellerin at right back. Play people in their natural positions, Arsene; not positions in which they are uncomfortable. You got us into this mess by not reinforcing the squad; now think more logically, please.

And as I have mentioned before - how about Jack and Aaron as the back two in a 4-2-3-1 - playing in the old Vieira/Petit manner that if one goes the other sits. At least they have more energy than either Arteta or Flamini, plus it frees up an extra spot further forward.

OK, I've said my piece. I could go on, but if you're still reading then I congratulate you! What is likely to change in the near future I do not know, but it's already abundantly clear that the best finish we can hope for in the Premier League is third, and that's merely because United and Liverpool are currently in such a mess. And third will NOT be an improvement; Arsenal were just 7 points off of the title last season, but I reckon we're going to be looking at more like 20 this season and that, my friends, it totally unacceptable.