Toothless

Sometimes, I feel quite optimistic about the future of the current side. We’ve certainly got some extremely promising youngsters, some of which are not there yet and some of which are beginning to look world class.

However, we are lacking in quite a few vital areas. The general lack of depth in the squad as a whole is a worry. So is a world class, deadly goal scorer. We still need some decent wingers and some defenders who can head the ball.

But to my mind, there is one thing that Arsenal Football Club need more than anything at the moment and that is some steel in the midfield. We were extremely lucky last season to accidentally discover that Mathieu Flamini was an excellent defensive midfielder but he was never absolutely world class and even he has now left, without a single, solitary player being brought in to win the ball in midfield.

So far this season, we have managed to score 1 goal in 180 minutes of football against a team that narrowly avoided relegation last season and a newly promoted side. Neither of these teams have any world class players – in fact, a lot of their players are new names and faces to me. But the one thing they have got is passion, commitment and strength. Denilson, Fabregas, Eboue, Nasri, Walcott, Rosicky and Ramsey will contribute nothing in this department – the only possibly useful player we have being Diaby who is injured.

Today, a toothless Denilson and Eboue were totally outclassed (and I mean outclassed – there is more to football than just ability on the ball) by Aaron Hughes, Danny Murphy, John Pantsil and Tony Kallio. Not superstars, just decent players who get stuck in.

I appreciate Arsene Wenger’s attitude when it comes to the transfer market – there is no point in us trying to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United when it comes to players like Robinho and Torres – but the type of player we need does not have to be a world beater. He just needs to be able to stand up for himself, win the ball and organise the midfield.

Find someone Arsene – and quickly – or we will struggle to get into the top 4 this season.