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.