Can you even begin to understand that substitution? Wenger's done a few strange ones in his time, but that one just about takes the biscuit. What on earth was on his mind. Unless you discover that you've got your tactics totally wrong, then presumably if a left winger gets injured, then you replace him with another in a similar mould. Like for like. To do otherwise is to totally disrupt the pattern of play.

I suppose if you were a goal down with 20 minutes left, then you might be tempted to put Van Persie out wide and put on Vela or Bendtner. If you were desperately holding on to a lead, then maybe bring on Silvestre at the back and push Clichy a bit further forward, but the game had hardly got going. Even undiscovered tribes in Papua New Guinea knew that Wilshere was the obvious choice.

So, why not? Doesn't he think Wilshere is any good? That flies in the face of everything that Wenger has said in the press about him. If I was young Jack this morning I'd be more than a bit confused. If Arsene doesn't think he's up to it, then why put him on the bench? You might as well have Ken Friar sitting there.

Instead, the manager plumped for a part time right back cum midfield player, who to my knowledge has never played out wide on the left in his life. Bear also in mind that Eboue has been out injured for weeks and that was his first game back and also that his temperament is a bit flaky to put it mildly. In the end I felt really sorry for him. To add insult to injury, he's then dragged off with a couple of minutes to go, thus highlighting the fact that he'd lost it. What appalling man-management. I really can't believe Wenger did that.

As a result, for most of the game, we had Denilson wide on the right and Eboue on the other side. Denilson has no pace whatsoever, and poor old Emmanuel just doesn't know what he's meant to be doing. Put it this way, would anyone out there select an Arsenal team with those two providing your width for you? Not in a million years. Was it any wonder that we started hoofing long balls down the middle? What was the alternative? We were very lucky to get away with it.

Coming back to Jack Wilshere, as well as giving an attacking option, he seems to have a great temperament, can tackle like a truck and is perfectly willing to do his fair share of tracking back. So, what's the problem? If you're not going to put him on in a home game against Wigan, for Christ's sake, then when are you?