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The first is to say that I absolutely believe Giroud is good enough to lead our line. Whilst of course a truly elite striker would have been a wonderful addition I am secretly pleased that Giroud is going to get the chance to be the main man for another season (or at least half of one). Whenever I talk up Giroud I always refer to 2 matches from last season. The first was the 0-0 draw at Stoke right at the start of the season. It was his first start in the EPL, away at Stoke of all places, and yet for 90 minutes he out-fought and dominated both of Stoke’s huge, brutish centre backs. The lack of goals for the striker was of course what the media seized upon, but it was actually a hugely impressive debut that more insightful commentators might have written up very differently. The second game is the 3-2 victory over Brighton. He scored 2, and both had the hallmarks of another player all over them – Didier Drogba. Yes I know it was only Brighton, and I’m not actually saying he’ll reach those heights, but it

First a fee was agreed (not a formal bid, a discussion of a fee) by Real Madrid and Arsenal for Di Maria, leaving AFC only to convince the player. This was much earlier than last week as reported. Despite his departure looking likely, the Argentinian continued to stress his desire to stay and do anything on the pitch. This is also the company line being assimilated by Modric, and the rest of the players that understood that Bale’s arrival meant ever shifting formations to find the correct balance. Özil by contrast made it very clear that he had proven his worth and that he wanted to play his position behind the striker as he always had. New manager Ancelotti was none too impressed with this as he saw a need to interchange all the attacking players to different positions.  Di Maria

I often bemoan the brainfarts that individual players tend to suffer. According to Opta, if goals from individual errors were removed from the entire Premier League last season, Arsenal would have been champions. Maybe somebody told the players this on Sunday as what we saw was as disciplined a defensive display as we have for many a year. As discussed, Tottenham had much of the ball but couldn’t penetrate a backline marshalled admirably by the returning Laurent Koscielny. Anything that did sneak through was dealt with by Szczesny, but it wasn't just the defence that deserves praise.

We’ve lost a match winner.  Bale scored 26 goals last season and there were some absolutely some crucial ones, such as his last minute winner at West Ham. We were dubbed as a “one-man” side and now we have word-class strength and depth in the additions which Levy, Baldini and AVB have made to the Spurs ranks since the end of the last campaign. It’s an exciting time to be a Spurs fans, but we cannot sit back on our laurels.  The new arrivals have to ‘gel’ immediately and fill the void which Bale will leave.

You’d have to go back some way to find a domestic match where we played as well as this. The key to the success has to be the way the team was able to demonstrate its overwhelming superiority in midfield. Although, going up against Scott Parker and Steve Sidwell, I expect nothing less. While I’d still very much welcome a designated defensive midfielder, it cannot be denied how well the trio on Saturday worked together as a unit. Santi was at his metronomic best dictating the play and teasing Fulham like some sort of fleet-footed burlesque dancer.  The constant debate over whether he should be in the middle or coming in from wide areas is one I never really understood. When he plays like this, there are very few opposition players who could even get near him. And even if

The instability in front and behind the back four meant it was inevitable they would come a cropper. Not helped by those around him, Laurent Koscielny put in one of his worst performances in Arsenal colours. A true day to forget. When Agbonlahor made his run towards the Arsenal goal, Kos found himself in a state of panic rushing out to make a challenge. What followed was a feeble attempt to win the ball allowing the Villa striker to skip past and win his side a spot kick. It was the kind of ill-thought out decision to step out that Thomas Vermaelen is all too often (rightly) crucified for. The Frenchman's day got worse when he slid in to concede the second penalty. As I said above, I thought it was a 50-50 decision but when you go sliding in like that, at that angle, on somebody with that much more pace than you, you give the referee the opportunity to make that sort of decision. Put your hand on heart and tell me you wouldn't demand a spot kick if a Villa player went in like that on Giroud or Walcott at the other end

You need the financial platform in order to create the sporting success, but you need the sporting success in order to supply the financial platform as well. This year we are beginning to see something we have been planning for some time, which is the escalation in our financial firepower. Our revenues will grow to put us into the top five revenue clubs in the world”, The Champions League qualifier in August won’t affect our plans. It’s never been an issue when we’ve discussed with players before and it doesn’t affect our planning. [With FFP] “football is moving powerfully in our direction

Clichy, and seemed to be getting to grips with the defensive side of the game too. But even if it hadn’t all gone horribly downhill for Santos he still wasn’t good enough to push us on a level, and so after all that expenditure we had to go into the market again, essentially paying twice for the same position. When you add all his fees to the cost of the Monreal deal you see immediately how ‘expensive’ some of these ‘bargains’ end up being. The same could be said with Gervinho. Unsurprisingly there are now calls from the fans to sign just someone, ANYONE, but truthfully I’d prefer giving Gnabry a chance to buying yet another ‘almost’ player for £10 million that we have to replace in 2 seasons time.

I've always been sceptical about Sagna at centre back, but yesterday against Galatasaray, he kind of managed to clear my doubts. He was convincing in ground duels and for one not greatly built for a centre back, he managed to dominate in the air. Another thing I noticed is how he comfortably slotted in as a deputy right back when Jenkinson ventured forward which makes you wonder how a real DM would fit into our side and help plug gaps when Sagna acts as an auxiliary right back from his Centre

I wonder whether that sensation of an ‘anti-Arsenal media’ is less down to Spurs and Man U supporting producers and editors (as the conspiracy theorists always tell us) and more down to the simple fact that the media is full of pundits and journalists who worship at the altar of old-fashioned English footballing values, seemingly oblivious that they are exactly the values that hold us back. Wenger, by bemoaning dangerous, ‘tough’ tackling, by prizing technique over power, by taking an educated, cosmopolitan attitude to football, represents everything that they have been taught to hate, but everything that we need to embrace if we are to win a major tournament