Before we begin: a warning. More than ever, I suggest you take my observations with a shaker of salt. Midway through the first half last night, I realised that my eyes are in worse shape than those of whoever scouted Squillaci. I stand at the back of the North Bank, and when the ball was down at the Clock End the match became a milky blur of barely recognisable players. Arguably no bad thing, given how Arsenal toiled as the game wore on.

At one point, with Di Natale lining up a free kick, the guy to my right passed me his specs. “Try these,” he said, “I can’t face watching.” I put them on and suddenly the names on the shirts popped into pin-sharp clarity. It felt like being given a magical HD eyeball upgrade. Di Natale crashed his swerving shot onto the bar. “Have them back,” I said, “it’s worse in focus.”

What you don’t need 20/20 vision to see is how desperately weak Arsenal’s current squad is. I got back from London at 1.30am to find co-blogger (and current rent-dodging lodger) Dave fannying about with FIFA 12’s excellent new transfer system, trying to stiffen up the Arsenal team. He’d just been rejected by Mikel Arteta. As we looked down the list of players currently on the books at the club, it became impossible to shake the impression that this is, by a distance, the most limited group available to the manager since his arrival in England, in terms of both experience and, sad to say, quality. Today’s Arseblog made much the same point earlier.

Which isn’t meant as a criticism of players like Jenkinson and Frimpong, both of whom have come in and acquitted themselves admirably – or the likes of Miyaichi, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Campbell, who may well be called upon very soon. But the fact remains they’re all young, raw and badly need confident, established pros around them to learn from. Anything less is doing a grave disservice to their undoubted potential. In fact I’ll go further: it’s setting them up to fail.

Or, in other words, spend some fucking money. With the stakes so high, that chant didn’t get a wide airing last night, but speaking to those around me a major show of dissent still feels like it’s in the post. So spend. Really. It’s long past time now. If we had one of those doomsday clocks so beloved of depressed scientists, Gunnersaurus would be nudging the big hand onto midnight.

But here’s the good news. With Eboue leaving, Vela off on loan, and Nasri just waiting for the petrodollars to arrive for his drive to the Northern hinterlands, the situation has become so comically parlous that it’s impossible to envisage anything other than a raft of signings arriving in the remaining fortnight. Because not making significant additions now would be career suicide.As to what kind of quality these phantasmagorical new players might have… well, that’s the worry. And I’m not sure it’s allayed by the suggestion that we’ve just had a loan bid for 30-year old playmaker Lucho Gonzalez rejected. Loan? Seriously? Does that smack of sensible long-term planning in the wake of the departure of our two most creative midfielders?

Back to the game, and I thought Udinese were very neat and tidy, showing plenty of good, quick – dare I still say Arsenalish? – interplay. I particularly liked the way they dinked balls over markers into space for runners. For the most part our defence dealt with the threat efficiently, and the whole team deserves credit for not pushing the panic button once the injuries flared in the second half. Speaking of which, co-blogger Dave’s other prescient observation was that he’d be amazed if Gibbs stayed fit until the end of September. In the end he didn’t even make it into September. And it’s that seeming lack of foresight from the manager, in refusing to acknowledge and plan for an accident so obviously waiting to happen, that has left fans ansty about what business might, or – *shiver* – might not get done before the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the Express links us to Rennes’ 21-year old powerhouse Yann M’Vila. I assume it won’t happen mainly because I badly want it to. The idea of the dynamic M’Vila playing alongside Song, with Wilshere pushed up into the Cesc role, is mouthwatering. Otherwise, there’s little in the way of even semi-convincing sounding targets being talked about. And given that pretty much all our other recent dealings have been extensively trailed in the press, that worries me considerably. Oh, and Chelsea are in for Juan Mata. Brilliant. Of course they are.



Let’s end on a positive note though. 1-0 to the Arsenal will always be a lovely result, however we come by it. And if you’re struggling to keep faith with the manager’s approach to the market, as I am, then look no further than Szczęsny for a reminder of when he gets it absolutely right. The big Pole in goal was superb yesterday. The fans sung lustily for the most part, too. It might well have been a different story had we gone a goal down rather than up so early, but I think the support has come in for some unfair criticism recently. The fans are not the architects of the current malaise, and let it never be forgotten that, one way or another, they’re the ones bankrolling the club in its entirety. Dave and I are both off up to the Liverpool game on Saturday. Until then, chums.

– TDC