It is not fashionable to critique Jack Wilshere, that is saved for his Welsh team mate but Jack Wilshere does not have enough quality in his final ball as yet and it was this reason mainly as to why we were toothless for our first 36 minutes of domination. We had pressed high up the pitch and won the ball back in some great areas, making the Tottenham defence back pedal only for Jack’s pass to be

Good afternoon,

I haven’t written anything since the Tottenham vs Arsenal match preview. A combination of lack of time along with not being in the mood to face the aftermath is to blame. I am sure you understand. It does feel a little like I haven’t got it out of my system though which is strange. While owning a blog can be time consuming it can also be very therapeutic. I’ve missed the boat on any match review but I would like to make a few observations if I may.

Like many, I thought Gary Neville’s analysis of the game was fantastic and insightful, it also highlighted some of what I had seen during the game. Before our defensive meltdown we could and should have carved them lot open time and time again.

It is not fashionable to critique Jack Wilshere, that is saved for his Welsh team mate but Jack Wilshere does not have enough quality in his final ball as yet and it was this reason mainly as to why we were toothless for our first 36 minutes of domination. We had pressed high up the pitch and won the ball back in some great areas, making the Tottenham defence back pedal only for Jack’s pass to be boomed ahead of our runners and either out of play or into the grateful arms of Lloris.

I have been saying this for a while now. Jack is fantastic at getting into that position to provide the final ball but currently it is not at the level of his dribbling technique, I hope he gets there but it made me think, we do not have a player who is a complete natural at producing the final ball the way that Cesc Fabregas and Dennis Bergkamp used to in the past.

Which now I think about it, sounds a little silly. I am talking about two world class players, finding another who has the eye for the defence splitting pass is the hard part but it doesn’t take anything away from my point, which is that in the 4-2-3-1 you need a player or players who can free runners. Walcott and Giroud made many good runs that were not found at White Hart Lane. You don’t score goals without being put into goalscoring positions.

Wilshere and Rosicky are both players who drive the team forward and make others play better but their final balls are often lacking. Cazorla is probably the closest to that but I still do not think that is his natural game, often deciding to check onto another foot or make room for the shot.

Cesc Fabregas’ do not grow on trees but had we had someone of that type playing then we could have been two goals to the good before they even had their first shot on goal. But as I said, not many teams have a player of that caliber.

But this is all part and parcel of player development, and it is how Arsene builds his teams.

The other area of the team that was questioned was our defending. No need to go into what happened on the weekend, it has been covered by everyone and very well by Gary Neville. There have been rumours of Arsene being ready to let go of Thomas Vermaelen and that could quite easily be rubbish but I wouldn’t be totally against that idea.

I love Vermaelen’s commitment and his attitude and I guess another center back change wouldn’t help continuity but Tommy has been making defensive errors for a while now. Even during his goal scoring season he was caught out many times rushing to win the ball high up, missing and then being caught out of position. I would need massive convincing that the Mertesacker/Koscielny partnership wouldn’t be the strongest at the club at present. I wouldn’t be opposed to us trying to sign a leader, a talker an organiser. While we need additional quality in this squad, I really hope we sign strong characters to take this squad forward.

’til next time.