Given that we have lost Arshavin and we were a little exposed at full back, we may be looking in those 2 positions in the summer. Vertonghen has been strongly linked, along with an attacking midfielder/winger type – like Junior Hollett. Obviously, every man and his dog has been linked to us, but my feeling is that if we do get Podolski, we will only need a couple more to really challenge next season

We know that we have a great chance of finishing in the top 4 now, and it’s largely in our hands but as the season draws to a close, if you can forgive me, I can’t help to think about the next season. It is a bit early to review the following season, but I was somewhat stirred by an annoyingly dismissive assertion from Henry Winter that we would need, quote, “4 players to make a challenge”. At least two of those players have been unavailable for most, if not, all of this season, in Diaby and Wilshere. I think we can safely say, that the non availability of the full backs at crucial times this season could make up the other 2 players. Having them all available (Full backs + Diaby and Wilshere) at the start and during our 2 mini slumps in early January and then in mid Feb against AC Milan would have made a crucial difference in results, and in perception.

But alas, that wasn’t to be. But ok, is my contention right, that we don’t need 4 players ? Fundamentally, the problem is having solid enough cover. But it’s difficult to see how you can cover, as we have done for most of this season, for 4 absent full backs, and half of the midfield out. Also, the point about Diaby and Wilshere is that they would provide a cutting edge in attack that we possibly missed in certain games this season. I say possibly, because we have seen that the attack has been doing wonderfully well, with RVP banging them in, assists from Theo and contributions from Gervinho and Ox.

Going back to the main point, the problem is that we have had problems with cover. The only way we could possibly legislate for covering for the 4 full backs being out (a freakish event) was by deploying Vermaelen (a versatile player) at left back and then Coquelin (also a versatile player) at right back or even left back (in Fulham game away) followed by Djourou/Koscienly (centre backs) at right back. Once Koscienly/Coquelin and/or Djourou was injured, i.e. we were really depleted we dipped into our reserves and used Yennaris at right back. I think this was in the home game in the FA Cup against Leeds, which I was at. We also used Miquel in this period as well. In the final analysis, with all our full backs out, we were substantially weaker going forward and more vulnerable in defence – particularly when Djourou played at right back.. but.. Coquelin was the big miss in terms of cover. If he wasn’t available, we were almost screwed as he is such a good player, and so versatile, and being available, he enabled us to keep Vermaelen in the middle.

In general, the competition is so fierce from the likes of City and Man U, that every player to me has to be capabale of playing 1st team football. The days of having 11 1st team players with shadow squad players who can “do a job” is surely over in this league. We need 25 top 1st class players that you would comfortably say are capable of appearing in an arsenal XI at any point, against any opposition. But the point learned from the last paragraph about the problems with our missing full backs, is that the 25 players need to be balanced as well, and provide cover in all positions. I think pundits like Henry Winter do us a disservice when saying we need 4 more players. We may just need 2 players who can be deployed in 2 or more positions that will give us better balance.

Do we have those players and will they provide the balance ? Or cover that we are looking for ? Or are there too many weak links. Now, I am the most positive of gunners. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to be negative. Merely objective. The problem with any type of squad assessment is that the opinion expressed will have a high correlation with your outlook on Arsenal, or on life in general. There are some that believe that all our players are crap. Some believe that they are are brilliant. I actually believe we are not far off. I have formed a list that comprises of 24 players – which is Szczesny, Fabianski, Gibbs, Santos, Vermaelen, Koscienly, Mertesacker, Djourou, Jenkinson, Sagna, Song, Coquelin, Arteta, Wilshere, Rosicky, Gervinho, Benayoun, Miyiach, Walcott, RVP, Podolski (subject to arrival), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey and Diaby.

In terms of quality I have no doubt about these players. In terms of providing cover for areas where we could be badly depleted, one has to ask some realistic questions. Playing devils advocate, if all full backs are missing again, we would have Coquelin and Vermaelen as back up. If all 4 centre backs are missing, we would have Song and Miquel – perhaps not ideal. If 4 out of 7 midfielders are missing, we would still be able to deploy 3 top class players – the only issue whether the balance of those midfielders is right. If RVP and Podolski are both injured we maybe could maybe put Walcott up front. I can see one flaw in the argument here about full backs – the squad of players listed is largely the same as the current squad, and we were vulnerable anyway. In which case, it may be the case that we will need an additional utility full back/centre back.

I have omitted some players that I do not think we can put our mortgage on – Squillachi for one. Sorry Sebastian. I have also omitted Park and Chamakh, who I just cannot see as being effective at this level. I may be wrong, and they may prove me wrong – I hope so.

The inclusion of Fabiaski may be contentious and some may disagree. I like the player, but I need to be absolutely sure of his experience and capabilities. To me, he needs more playing time. He had a fantastic game against City last year, where I thought he was world class, shortly before his injury. But atfer that, I have not seen enough of him to be absolutely sure about his inclusion. Obviously, Wenger thinks he is good enough, so of course I will defer to his judgement. Squillachi to me is somebody who has made some costly errors, and I can’t see him in front of Verm/Kos/Mert and Djourou at this stage.

Out of the pool of loanees, reserves and youth players we have a lot of names – Conor Henderson, Bartley, Yennaris, Afobe, Eisfeld. Embecillo, Lansbury, Frimpong, Aneke, Ozyakup, Gnarby, Wellington, Campbell etc.. Some of these names are tremendously exciting. The real question is whether one of these players will break into the squad and be indispensable for next year. I think that 2 or 3 will definitely emerge perhaps the year after, such as Frimpong/Henderson/Campbell/Yennaris/Afobe, with some squad exposure this year, but I do not see them breaking into the list of 25.

Given that we have lost Arshavin and we were a little exposed at full back, we may be looking in those 2 positions in the summer. Vertonghen has been strongly linked, along with an attacking midfielder/winger type – like Junior Hollett. Obviously, every man and his dog has been linked to us, but my feeling is that if we do get Podolski, we will only need a couple more to really challenge next season.