We have a very strong back 5 even before the arrival of Per Mertesacker. Our problem still remains our midfield 3 and attacking 3. They have to cultivate the habit of closing down the opposition when without the ball. Often we see them staring like passengers, which at this stage isn’t good enough. Song should learn how to keep his position, sit and leave the ball players to do their job. Arteta has a

Yeeeeesssss!!! The interlull is almost over. We get our precious players back at London Colney along with the new shining players signed on deadline day.

Against Swansea on Saturday, our season starts afresh. We’ll be seeing a new look Arsenal and I’m very excited. Wenger has got a lot on his plate to get the lads up ready. Our tactics/setup I think must change. If we are going to persist with the high line, the squad as a whole have to learn how to defend religiously.

I watched Barcelona’s first game of the season against Villarreal were they played without a natural Centre Back yet they looked so comfortable defensively. That’s the team I really want us to emulate. They also play with a high line thereby squeezing out the life of their opponents and making them dance to their tune. The likes of Messi, Pedro and Villa turn to their defensive shield closing down the opposition at every opportunity.

We all know Mertesacker lacks pace, so if he is left open at every opportunity then he would be punished and we on other end would be shouting BLUE MURDER!!! Our formation set up has to be defined in details.

We have a very strong back five even before the arrival of Per Mertesacker. Our problem still remains our midfield three and attacking three. They have to cultivate the habit of closing down the opposition when without the ball. Often we see them staring like passengers, which at this stage isn’t good enough. Song should learn how to keep his position, sit and leave the ball players to do their job. Arteta has a track record of being defensively sound so that’s a big plus to our side. Our attacking three also have to pull their weight when defending, it helps build a solid back bone and also gives us the creative edge to open up defences.

Our players come back with much needed confidence. RVP scored 1, 2, 3, 4 goals last Friday against San Marino, Park Chu Young scored a hat trick for South Korea, Gervinho scored 1 and set up two goals for his country while Ramsey who I feel would take over the scoring in midfield from the departed Cesc scored a goal for Wales. That’s a lot of confidence burning inside of our boys coupled with the fact that we have got new faces in the camp.

There is still 1 more round of International fixtures so we shouldn’t cease in our prayers….. All our players must come back in one piece without injuries.

Wilshere has confirmed he would be out for 2-3 months, that’s a huge blow for us. He is only 19 years old, but he has grown in stature making him a key player. He is someone we look up to on the pitch and him being out for weeks isn’t good news. We have got capable replacements in Ramsey, Rosicky, Frimpong and Benayoun.

Wenger can go with a double pivot in certain games with Song and Frimpong sitting and Arteta playing as the attacking midfielder or go with a sitting DM in Song, a roving CM in Arteta and an Attacking MF in Ramsey or Rosicky or Benayoun.

We have got the options to switch tactics in midfield, Wenger will surely come out with the best midfield three.

Definite starters for me from our new faces against Swansea would be Andre Santos, Mikel Arteta and Park Chu Young. Mertesacker I feel would start from the bench which is a good thing. No need rushing him into a premier league game when he hasn’t gotten used to our football.

My preferred line-up against Swansea would be;

Szczesny

Sagna  Koscielny  Vermaelen Santos

Song  Ramsey  Arteta

Walcott  RVP  Park Chu Young

That’s a good enough 11 to get all 3 points against a newly promoted side and put us in the right frame of mind in our coming matches.

The mood in the Arsenal family looks to be positive after our transfer dealings, hopefully results starts coming our way and we wriggle our way out of this precarious position and start climbing the ladder to the summit. That’s were we BELONG!!!!