As one of the most protracted transfer deals, involving an incoming Arsenal player, drew to its close, I could not help but feel the same sense of dejection that I experienced on my way home from Saturday's lacklustre encounter with West Ham.

As insipid as our attacking displays have been of late – Portsmouth, Bolton and West Ham at home spring to mind – our problems go deeper than this. We are in desperate need of a leader on the pitch, an inspirational figure to instill a winning mentality – which player on Saturday really looked as though he believed we would score? We need to establish a core to our side that all champions, and half-decent teams, have, which brings me on to our pursuit of Arshavin.

Talented as he may be, I do not believe that he is what we need at the moment. Given our frailties as a squad I cannot believe our lack of involvement in the transfer window, particularly in comparison with our inferior north-London neighbours, and whilst recent history suggests that such inactivity should not surprise me I thought Wenger would have learnt his lesson. This time last year a collective sigh of disappointment emerged from Gooners because of Diarra leaving our squad at such a crucial period and Wenger’s failure to bring in any new faces. The fragility of our squad and lack of leadership was exposed in one fateful game at St. Andrews and our title ambitions never realistically resurfaced. So when the window reopened and we found ourselves still lacking in depth and leadership I hoped that Wenger would see sense and expand our squad. Apparently, Wenger does not share the same opinions.

I believe Almunia is a decent ‘keeper, I honestly do, but he is not word class and the other ‘top-four’ sides all possess a better man between the sticks. And so to see two keepers of the quality of Shay Given (who we were ‘linked’ with) and Carlo Cudicini go for minimal fees (Given’s was massively inflated by the Man City factor) it was concerning, to say the least, particularly as we have no adequate replacement for Almunia if an injury every occurs. William Gallas chips in with more than his fair share of goals which creates the façade of him being integral to our team but he cannot defend which is a shame as that is his primary role. Toure has been on the decline and we got rid of Senderos just as he began to look as though he had lost his tendency to make mistakes. I believe we needed to obtain a centre-back in the window and our defensive frailties, exposed against Stoke away and Liverpool at home amongst others, may yet cause us more problems in the weeks to come as we enter the latter stages in Europe.

Moreover, our midfield lacks any bite, fight, zeal, or any of the required stipulations of a top quality midfield. Fabregas is a word class player who may, unfortunately, leave in the summer and I will not blame him if he does. If you were as good a player as he is, would you be content playing alongside Ramsey, Denilson or Song? All three of these players show potential that they will come good but they should not be starting week in-week out; instead they should be being introduced every so often as they would have been were Flamini still at the club. The loss of Fabregas to injury was unavoidable but the effect of such an occurrence can be limited. How Wenger can choose two centre-midfielders, the most important position in football, in the shape of Denilson and Song in our quest for the title is astonishing.

Adebayor displayed on Saturday his deterioration from last season, missing two gilt-edged opportunities that I am sure he would have swept home last season. I do, however, think that he offers a lot to the team. Van Persie is showing signs that he is one of the best strikers in the league, and carried us through January, and Vela has shown flashes that he will be of huge importance in the future. Add to the mix the instinctive finishing of Eduardo, when he returns, and I believe we have a strike force that rivals any other in the league, when all parts are fit. Thus I do not blame Wenger for not investing in a striker as, I believe, it is not our biggest need and we would struggle to make a worthwhile acquisition with our budget and the exorbitant sums that strikers are valued at.

As the window opened I hoped that we would invest in the areas that we were so light in, namely midfield. However, Wenger ignored this problem and we go into the business end of the season with no defensive midfielder – present in all championship winning sides. The addition of Arshavin does not concern me in the fact that I doubt his ability, but that he is not what we are in desperate need of. In the short-term he may add the creative spark that we are distinctly lacking but in the long-term, when Fabregas, Rosicky and Walcott are fully fit, I am not sure if he would even be in our team. I may be wrong and I hope that he will be a success at Arsenal, but I fear that even if he has an instant impact, our frailties in defence and central midfield will be our downfall, a problem that Arshavin will be powerless to prevent.

This article was not written to criticise Arshavin, nor as an invective against Wenger, but it does concern me that Le Prof cannot see our flaws, and that is why his transfer policy is so riling. It has been proven that a team cannot win the league anymore, a squad is required. Jose Mourinho’s desire for two players in every position whilst Chelsea manager epitomised this, and particularly with clubs, such as ourselves, vying for silverware on many fronts, the necessity of the squad is all the more pertinent. The absence of a competitive, talented squad at Arsenal is why we will not win the league and, until this problem is addressed, we will remain unsuccessful.