In season 2009/10, Emmanuel Adebayor made his dream signing to Manchester City, the club where he could finally find happiness and a long term home, Arsene Wenger made some tactical adjustments to his Arsenal team. His tried and tested 4-4-2 had been cast aside into history and a new fluid 4-3-3 system was in place. Cesc Fabregas was given freedom to attack and create while van Persie was converted to an out and out goalscorer. A position that many people questioned. Arsenal

Good evening to you,

A strange time to be blogging for me but today has been action packed and full of reasons to stop me from talking about the team I love so dearly, as I assume you do also. Unless of course you are a Spud trolling around Arsenal blogs to inject negativity. Anyway as I sit down and look around the news feeds, tweets and so on, I notice that there isn’t actually a great deal to discuss right now.

It is little wonder why the names Eden Hazard and Lukas Podolski have been mentioned as possible transfer targets, probably because there is just nothing to talk about and we all know what that means. The back pages are full with transfer nonsense speculation because when real news is in short supply, newspapers and online articles have to be filled.

I am keeping my distance from anything relating to players coming in or going out for that matter simply because it is the beginning of November and absolutely nothing can be done until January.

The players we have are currently slowly changing the opinion of many including many Arsenal fans Eight wins from our last nine games has helped nudge the view to a different direction to the ‘Arsenal are relegation fodder’ thoughts that were doing the rounds a few weeks back.

One player who has helped do that more than most is captain Robin van Persie. It isn’t only his sublime first touch or awareness on the pitch but mainly his wonderful habit of finding the back of the net. This stat has been doing the rounds lately but Robin van Persie has scored 28 goals in 28 games in the year 2011. He may have made that 29 goals if he elevated his lob a little more on Tuesday evening when coming from the substitutes bench.

In a strange way van Persie’s excellent form has been used as a way to belittle his team mates. The words ‘one man team’ have passed the lips of many as well as the finger tips of journalists when writing about one of their favourite subjects.

Expecting Arsene to replace Robin van Persie with substitute van Persie is ridiculous. You do not have back ups to the best players in the world because they are the best in the world for a reason. Similarly it is very difficult to have a player like Karim Benzema sitting on the bench waiting to get the odd game here and there, especially when you cannot pay that player Manchester City compensation for the privilege of having sore arse syndrome.

Lionel Messi is currently the best player in the world (behind van Persie of course) and he is playing for the best club side at present some may argue ever. But what happens if Messi suffers a broken metatarsal? Which ready made replacement can play the false nine role, dribble past four players and score as many goals as he plays? None. Because you cannot replace the best players at your club because they are the best as I have already stated.

So what is the solution?

For one, the back up players need to regain confidence and remember where the target is. That sentence is more for Chamakh. Our other striker has yet to settle to life as a Premier League footballer. Park’s start to his Arsenal career reminds me of Eduardo. A striker who scores consistently for his country, has looked off the pace but has also demonstrated his quality in front of goal.

While we want the back up strikers to find the target, I think the responsibility has to be shared out far wider than just our back up strikers.

In season 2009/10, Emmanuel Adebayor made his dream move to Manchester City, the club where he could finally find happiness and a long term home *chuckles*

Arsene Wenger made some tactical adjustments to his Arsenal team. His tried and tested 4-4-2 had been cast aside into history and a new fluid 4-3-3 system was in place. Cesc Fabregas was given freedom to attack and create while van Persie was converted to an out and out goalscorer. A position that many people questioned. Arsenal started the season flying out of the trap but van Persie was struggling to find the target. But that was not an issue, far from it.

The likes of Abou Diaby, Cesc Fabregas, Andrey Arshavin and a wide Nicklas Bendtner all contributed to the goalscoring. The load was lifted from van Persie and he had time to adjust to the new role.

RVP has adjusted to his role emphatically but the need for load lifting remains the same. It almost feels as if the team are all purely playing for van Persie almost in a way that George Graham’s team did for Ian Wright all those years ago but that needs to change. We need to spread our goals, which will in turn make us more difficult to stop.

We have had flickers of how the other players can contribute. Aaron Ramsey arriving in the six yard box at White Hart Lane to turn in Alex Song’s left foot cross. Mikel Arteta striding into the Blackburn penalty box to side foot Aaron Ramsey’s cut back and Alex Song shifting his feet and curling into Bolton’s top corner.

Last night I watched the first few minutes of Manchester United in the Champions League. Phil Jones was flicked in on the right from striker Michael Owen who had drifted wide. Jones’ cross was turned in by Valencia inside the six yard box. Three other Manchester United players were also inside the box moving about hoping that the ball would fall to them.

I do not know if it is a tactical ploy or a personality issue but at Arsenal we do not seem to have the same number of bodies looking to sniff out a goal. When we do then we often gain huge rewards as explained above. Gervinho looked like a center forward against Stoke City when he collected Ramsey’s scooped pass on his chest and then instant finish. Walcott has done this for years, popping up in the position he craves and finishing well from either side of the penalty box.

We need to continue to have players rotating into positions in the box, players looking to get on the end of Jenkinson’s crosses. When that happens then the pressure can be lifted from the shoulders of the world class van Persie. Until then the calls of a one man team will continue.