We may have come out of the Xmas period unbeaten but we really should have taken all three points at Villa, despite being battered in the first half. And Sunday’s performance against Pompey took the biscuit.

Yes they Adams had them well-organised but again we should be beating teams like them. You could say that two games in three days was a factor but that’s no excuse and it just summed up our season.

We are so inconsistent, you don’t know which team is going to turn up to a game, the free-flowing, free-scoring Arsenal that we all know and love or the gutless, error-prone Arsenal that we’ve seen recently. In some games, we are just too predictable and if we want to win stuff, that has to change.

It’s obvious that we will really struggle now that Cesc is out long-term and in our last two games there was clearly evidence of that. Especially at Villa and even at home against Pompey, there was nobody capable of finding that killer pass that our strikers thrive on, no leadership or responsibility. If Crouch had taken his early chance that came back off the post it could have been oh so different.

2009 is upon us and I would like Arsenal to start with a clean slate and really try and kick on in Premiership but in order to do that Wenger MUST buy in the transfer window or we can kiss Champions League qualification goodbye... unless we win it. A club of our stature simply cannot afford that both on and off the pitch. And it didn’t help when Wenger said that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we missed out on Europe’s premier competition and used AC Milan as an example. To me that’s all but admitting defeat.

Our new CEO starts work on the 1st Jan and from what I’ve read about him, I think he’s just what this club needs. He has plenty of marketing experience - which can only make the club bigger overseas (though I’m not too sure that Wenger would be too keen about flying over to the USA just for friendlies) and like all newcomers you have to give the man a chance to show what he can do. Above all he knows how to conduct transfer negotiations, he’s a guy who, like Wenger and Dein, will not be held to ransom and his “I don’t care how long you’ve been here, if I think you’re not doing your job right, you’re out” approach is just what the doctor ordered in the boardroom. He will keep everybody on their toes.

2008 as a whole has been a rollercoaster for Gooners, top of the league going into January, sweeping away all before us and being touted as a potentially dominant force only to come up short with injuries, suspensions and lack of form and drop to third. I’m still convinced with a decent ref in both games against the scousers we'd have won the Champions League for sure. Letting the likes of Diarra, Flamini, Gilberto and Hleb go so easily and not replacing them has cost us dearly, you can’t let a boy do a man’s job.

Now let’s go into 2009 united, get behind the team through the good and bad, pray that Wenger buys at least one top quality player in January and that we win a trophy and silence our critics like the Hansens and Jamie Redknapps and most importantly the other three so called "big teams". Lets make the Grove the fortress it should be, make it a place that the opposition fear instead of them raising their game and making life difficult for us.