This brings us to his eventual replacement, Mr. Ramsey. When Cesc does leave us, in about 5 years, we’ve got this gem to step up to the plate. No worries

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR VISION ARTICLES ARE SENT IN BY READERS AND ARE NOT WRITTEN BY ARSENAL VISION WRITERS.

This is my rather lengthy analysis of our problem this season….

The truly key area for any great team is the midfield, it should essentially facilitate the defence and the attack. That’s fair enough isn’t it? So how piss-poor was our midfield against ‘Boro?

Don’t get me wrong, I like Diaby, Denilson and Song, but I like them in the middle of the park where they belong. More importantly, I like them in a midfield full of other experienced individuals playing in their correct positions. What we had on Saturday were 3 out of our 4 midfielders not being the finished article and 2 of them played out of position. It’s completely unacceptable isn’t it?

I’m picking on the midfield, because in my opinion it’s where we’re fundamentally screwed…

GK – Almunia is nowhere near the quality of Seaman or crazy Jens, but I think he’s decent enough. He comes up with some great saves, rarely makes an error and his distribution is impressive. Fabianski looks a good prospect also.

DEFENCE – Our fullbacks are world-class. No questions. Our centre back pairing of Gallas and Toure have received a lot of stick recently, but I don’t remember anyone complaining when we were doing amazingly last year (the difference is Flamini, but that’s another story). Yes, they are similar and require a more aerially dominant defender to work off. (Its no secret Gallas and Toure were at their best when paired with Terry and Campbell (legend) respectively.
However, with the recent emergence of Johan (6ft3), I think we’ve got the type of defender that we require. He’s quick, good in the air, and despite his young age seems to have a good read of the game. In addition, Havard Nordtveit (6ft2) seems like the real deal and will no doubt be in the squad next year or the year after.

FORWARDS – I was excited as anyone when David Villa came out and said he wanted to join us this summer, I mean it would’ve been fantastic. I’ll admit I was pissed off when we didn’t get him, even just to keep Cesc happy. However, if you look at things objectively, it would’ve been a waste of £40m…
– Adebayor – yes he’s frustrating, but he’s young, world-class and crucially allows us to have a plan B.
– RVP – provided he can stay clear of injuries is an undoubted match-winner (a la Chelski).
– Eduardo – the true fox in the box (screw you Jeffers) and it’s an utter tragedy what happened at St. Andrews. He is on his way back, and could change our season around himself. Respect.
– Bentdner – Personally I’m not sure if he’ll make it at Arsenal.

In addition to this we have the future promises of Vela and Walcott (who will eventually be a striker). Both undoubtedly have world class potential and they’re in the best place to develop.

This leaves us with the midfield, which as stated earlier, is where we are screwed…

MIDFIELD –
Fabregas – captain, talisman, all round legend. I love him the same way I’ve loved Tony, Paddy, and Thierry. Would walk into any team in the world.

This brings us to his eventual replacement, Mr. Ramsey. When Cesc does leave us, in about 5 years, we’ve got this gem to step up to the plate. No worries.

It’s his partner (or lack of) in the middle of the park which has received all the criticism this year and its easy to see why. We miss the Flamster, we should have extended his contract when we had the chance and we ultimately paid the price. No grudges, he screwed Marseille, and then he screwed us.

Flamini was not a DM, never was, he’s a high energy box to box midfielder with excellent positional sense. i.e. he knew when to protect the back four, and when he did venture forward he made sure as hell he came back to defend.

Therefore we don’t need a DM to replace him, and I can see what Arsene was thinking keeping the faith with Denilson, Song and Diaby. We have 3 central midfielders there each with fantastic potential; give them the chance to prove themselves. They’ve been given that chance I think and I don’t reckon they’ve been that bad. Yes, they all need to improve their positioning and have made mistakes. United coped fine last season without a conventional DM; Carrick, Fletcher and Scholes are all just well drilled central midfielders.

Our problems are the wings. It’s highlighted when you look at what we previously had and what we currently have;

Overmars
Bobby Pires
Beautiful Freddie
Wiltord
and at a push…even Reyes

Now I may be a fool looking back at the wonder years, but why shouldn’t we have kept up the quality of the wings??

And isn’t it blindingly obvious that we don’t have any actual wingers??? Or am I going crazy…

Nasri – great player, but seems to be made of paper. If he stays fit, brilliant, I can see him having the same impact as Pires and recreating the kind of understanding Bobby had with our previous LB. He’s a converted central playmaker, like Rosicky and Pleb, but he can score goals and create them. I’m excited about him.

Rosicky – again, great player, just always crocked. I’ve lived in hope that his injury problems would clear up, but wasn’t he meant to only be out for a few days? That was about 14 months ago. Like it or not, we should not have been relying upon him, if he comes back, great, it adds to our depth, but I don’t think he’s ever going to play 5 games in a row for us. It’s like Spurs relying on Ledley, but worse. Add to that the fact he’s not actually a winger, he’d much rather play in the centre, its obvious he’s constantly thinking “stay on the left, stay on the left”.

Eboue – tries hard for the club and booing him was absurd. A converted right-back and its not his fault one bit if he’s been played out of position the past couple of years. However he hasn’t complained, got on with it and I admire him for it. He shouldn’t be relied upon to play in midfield week in week out, but like the Romford Pele is an incredibly useful squad player. Looks good in a tiger costume too, always handy.

Theo – finally coming of age. Offers us something different, makes us ultra dangerous on the counter, draws the opposition, looks like Lewis Hamilton. Gutted he got injured on England duty, truly gutted. Again though, he’s still developing and shouldn’t be relied upon all season. Not to mention he cuts inside 90% of the time and can’t really cross, but again, he’s just cutting his teeth on the wing before he plays up front, just like the previous number 14.

Vela – can play on the left, like we saw at Osasuna, but despite his potential just isn’t ready yet. Looks like he’s lacking the strength for the Premiership, and I’m sure he’ll play when Arsene thinks he’s ready.

Isn’t it obvious we need a true out and out winger? Someone who can use pace (Freddie) or guile (Bobby) to tear teams apart on the counter? Someone who can be relied upon to play 30+ games per season? Someone who’ll regularly get 15 goals a season from the midfield?

Why didn’t we sign Quaresma in the summer? Or Ribery a couple of years ago? Chelski are buying Diego Capel in January, why aren’t we?

Against ‘Boro we played Denilson on the right and Diaby on the left. Guess what, we couldn’t break them down, we scored from a corner and were predictable. Everything was going through the middle. It’s a complete joke. We might have to play the same team next week, it’s just not good enough. Young Jack shouldn’t be considered yet, Le Boss is never gonna use him.

So I conclude it’s a winger we need in January rather than a central midfielder…and unlike popular opinion, we’re not that screwed at all.