What a mess.

I considered posting on the transfer window before the Villa game, but I was reluctant to get sucked in to the mindless gossip and unfounded rumours that circulate the internet before the season has even begun. What was obvious, however, was that we were going to spend some of that £70 million that Gazidis had raved about so publicly. Oh.

Having not spent a penny all summer, Wenger knew he would have plenty to answer for if anything went wrong on Saturday. But, in all fairness, I think it is unfair to say that 'something' went wrong on Saturday. No. Everything went wrong on Saturday. Losing the match was one thing, and that was a pretty disastrous way to start a new season. When you add to that four or five fresh injuries, including one potentially very long-term one to the Ox and a sending off to Koscielny meaning he will miss the Fulham game next week and you get one very, very bad day for Arsenal Football Club.

For me the worst bit about it was none of the above things, but the fact that it could so easily have been prevented. The fact that we finished the game with Ramsey at centre back and Podolski at left back is, quite frankly, a disgrace. Our bench yesterday consisted of:

Fabianski
Jenkinson
Frimpong
Gnabry
Cazorla
Podolski
Sanogo

Now let's have a look at Manchester City's bench for tonight's game against Newcastle:

Milner
Nasri
Negredo
Kolarov
Garcia
Rodwell
Pantilimon

Ambitious club? Really? And if you think that City have an unusually strong bench, have a look at Man Utd's v Swansea here.

Here's the thing, and I know that many fellow gooners will disagree with me here: I don't have a problem with our starting XI. Sure, it could do with improving, and given that huge pot of money we supposedly had that seemed very feasible. But with a much more solid defence than in recent years, largely thanks to the Mertesacker-Koscielny partnership that saved us last season, as well as a fit Wilshere and Giroud having had a season in the Premiership under his belt, I do believe we are a strong side. The real problem is that beyond our starting XI, even with everyone fit, we are horribly thin.

Wenger did one thing very well this summer; he got rid of a lot of the deadwood at the club, generating around an extra £10 million in the process. I think we were all very happy to see the back of most of these players, and the club did that very efficiently and well. But why, why, why have a squad clear-out like this and then don't replace any of them? It baffles me, and judging by the reaction of the fans on Saturday it baffles them too.

The AST has called for Wenger's contract talks to be put on hold until we make forward step in the transfer rmarket and consequently better results on the pitch. I wholeheartedly agree with them- that is not to say that Wenger's contract should never be renewed; but the man needs to be shown for once that his job is not invincible. Yes, we don't want to become the club that chops and changes managers like boxer shorts, but there is a difference between doing this and allowing a manager to settle too much. The board must get this crucial difference right.

There have been all sorts of rumours today about which players we may or may not be in for, the main story being our rejected bid for Newcastle midfielder Cabaye, but to be honest I'm not convinced that anything we do now isn't a panic spree. I've tried to make sense of what happen (or didn't happen) this summer and I just can't. Neither do I buy Wenger's comments asking 'who' he should buy; if you look at all of the players that have moved to the top clubs in the Premiership this year most of them would have improved our squad.

I'm bored of this whole situation now, to be honest. As a season ticket holder who pays (or who's Dad pays!) a lot of money for every game I think the way we have all been duped into renewing by Gazidis is criminal. If you aren't going to invest money into the team, why should the fans pay the most expensive season tickets in the Premier League?

As much as Wenger might protest, we are the thoroughly unprepared for the new season, and I do wonder whether our inability to compete in the transfer market yet again will, finally, come back to bite us come the end of the season. Yes, there are two weeks or whatever left of the transfer window, but are we really going to get the top, top, top players that Wenger says we need now? Will they really want to come to us if they are even available?

We go up to Turkey on Wednesday night for a tough (and crucial) qualifier and I struggle to see how we are even going to be able to field a team. But by all means we absolutely must win the tie. Failure to do so could be even more detrimental to us in the transfer market and beyond, so let's hope that what is left of the Arsenal squad pick themselves up and pick up a good result on Wednesday.

Oh how I missed the football season.

A sense of inevitability, but...

Good evening all. As it's been a long while since the last post, there is plenty to talk about from an Arsenal perspective.

So where to start? Well, one obvious place would be how the season went. Now I could ramble on about the fact that we failed to mount any kind of challenge for a trophy...again. But I don't really see the point. For several years now it has been the same story and I find it remarkably uninteresting listening to grumpy fans moaning. No one wants to hear "wenger out- no trophy for 'x' years" time and time again. We get the picture.

No. Where possible I like supporting my team to be a hobby, and as such where possible I feel we should draw more upon the positives. Of which, believe it or not gooners, there are some.

People forget that, after the defeat at White Hart Lane we sat in 5th place, 7 points behind Spurs.  Given this dismal position we found ourselves in with just 10 games to go, I do believe that to get to where we did come the end of the season took quite something. I am also of the firm belief that this squad of players is the weakest we've had in my memory as an Arsenal fan (so 13 years).

How, then, did this squad put on the storming run at the end of the season to pip Tottenham to the Champions League spot much to the despair of this man. I reckon two things were in play here:

1) The Mertesacker-Koscielny partnership:

After Wenger dropped Thomas Vermaelen, amongst others, after the Spurs game in March these two formed a formidable understanding and partnership that we haven't really seen at Arsenal for years. This formed the basis of our solid defensive displays in the superb run. That Vermaelen, the (admittedly off-form) club captain was unable to get back into the team says it all really.

2) Wenger's tactic change
All season prior to the second Bayern game Wenger had been attempting to deploy the same tactic with this team as he has with his others of recent times: how ever many you score, we'll score one more. That tactic was fine when we had goalscorers such as van Persie, Adebayor (yes, he was actually a reasonable footballer at one stage) and Henry. But, and as much as I like Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski; I think they were good additions, so far neither are top goalscorers.

So, Arsene changed things up eventually. The tactic changed to a mentality that existed primarily on the foundations of 'we will not lose'. In doing this, Wenger realised that you do actually get credit for 'not losing' a game, even if you don't win! Amazing!

This change in mentality was evident throughout the team, from front to back everyone was defending. Take the 1-0 scrap down at Loftus Road or, memorably, the 1-0 victory at St James' that secured 4th place for us. Ahead of Tottenham. Again.

So, what now? Well, if this was a post at the beginning of the transfer window, when Gazidis took the bold move to claim we could compete with 'any club in the world' over signings, I would say it's obvious. We go out into the transfer market, make 3 or 4 quality additions to the squad, sell some of the deadwood and we're very well placed to challenge next season. Alas, sadly this hasn't happened, yet.

More to be followed on the transfer window front tomorrow...

Have yourself an enjoyable Wednesday. MH