following the Fulham farce, all is not ‘happy’ in the world of Arsenal. Especially when the Chavs did yesterday what we couldn’t…

Happy Bank Holiday Monday to you all. But following the Fulham farce, all is not ‘happy’ in the world of Arsenal. Especially when the Chavs did yesterday what we couldn’t: grind out a scrappy 1-0 win away from home with a goal from a set-piece. Take note, Mr. van Persie.

In what is sure to infuriate the majority of Gooners, Le Boss has said that the defeat to Fulham will have no bearing on whether or not he enters the transfer market:

“When you lose a game the solution is not always to buy. Did we play at our best? I say no and so we have to look at why?”

Most Arsenal fans and neutrals would say that in this case, the solution IS to buy. We were overawed in midfield, and whilst Cesc and Diaby are still to come back, can they – particularly the Frenchman – be trusted to stay fit all season?

Coupled with his comments yesterday to the BBC that he is not “close” to signing anyone, many fans of a nervous disposition are probably tearing their hairs out. To them I say: calm down and let nature take its course. There is no point in going loopy yet. The transfer window still has a week to run, and more often than not, the majority of activity takes place in the final stages.

Despite his comments over the last few days, I firmly believe that Monsieur Wenger will bring someone in. He works with the players everyday and can see the flaws in the squad. It is no secret that he is after a central midfielder, so you can be rest assured that he’s doing his level best to get one.

Now onto a rather curious piece by Stan Collymore in which he says that some of our players may harbour ill-feeling towards Ade after his summer shenanigans:

“I just wonder if there’s a little resentment by some of the players towards him after he openly touted his services to Barcelona and Milan in the summer. In a dressing room environment, players don’t like a big-time Charlie – and Adebayor’s rash comments in the summer won’t be forgotten by one or two, I’m sure.”

Hmmm, I’d never really thought of that. Stan might be a nutter but he makes a decent point. Whilst I’m sure Ade’s close mates like Eboue and Kolo have accepted his antics, I wonder if his attempts to secure his financial future sat well with, say, Gael and Cesc? I mention those two specifically because both came out in the summer and immediately quashed any rumours linking them with a move away from L’Arse.

Ade himself has commented that the defeat to Fulham cannot be repeated, especially the manner of the loss:

“Losing is going to be the best warning that we can be given. We can’t think we are untouchable. We saw that as soon as we don’t play together, as soon as we don’t put our spirit together, we can lose.”

Does his comment about the lack of spirit tie in with what Collymore was saying? I’ll let you decide.

A lot of people are in agreement with Ade that the setback against the Cottagers may be a blessing in disguise. Of course, the only way to prove this is to become more resolute at the back, more controlling in midfield, and more clinical up-front.

A long unbeaten streak would do the trick.

When the fixtures were first released, most fans saw 11 winnable games before the visit of Man Utd in early November. Whilst 11 wins would have been difficult to muster as it contained tricky away ties to Blackburn and Bolton either side of a possible Champions League group game (not to mention London derbies against West Ham and Spurs), if we can grab 23 out of the next 27 points before we meet the Mancs then we’ll be back on track.

Thrice in recent memory have we lost so early in the season: away defeats to Chelsea in 2005/06 and Man City in 2006/07; and a home defeat to Leeds in 2001/02. Those seasons had massively different outcomes – let’s hope we can achieve the latter, rather than the former two.

P.S. good luck to Armand Traore against the Mancs tonight. He once took knuckle dusters to the Lane, so the man is already a legend in my eyes.

Thanks for reading folks, enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday and drop your views in the comments section.