Nothing has changed since prior to the start of the season and this piece does nothing other than endorse that view. We've scored 13 league goals and conceded 8 in just four games. It indicates a great attack and a weak defence that lacks cover, which we all knew about anyway.

The squad is still short in depth when it comes to tall quality ball winning defenders and aggressive defensive-minded midfield players. This was the consensus of Arsenal fans prior to the start of the season and nothing has changed other than the impressive Belgium TV repair man joining us.

Song is having a fine season and it was no coincidence that when he went off against Citeh we looked more vulnerable because he wasn't there to cover the rest of them bombing forward. Granted it was probably a gamble Wenger had to take but no one took over Song's role and so it was far easier for Citeh to counter attack in his absence. Likewise Denilson is having a solid season and his workrate was also missed when he was replaced by Rosicky at Eastlands. Swings and roundabouts of course because Rosicky had a massive impact for someone who has been out for so long but Denilson was missed as a covering player.

We could and should have won at Citeh as we could and should have won at Old Trollop. On both occasions we were the better team playing the better football on the ball. Unfortunately if there are 22 players on a pitch, which there usually are, then on average each player only gets to spend 4.5% of his playing time on the ball. So the way I see it it's rather obviously the 95.5% off the ball that we're not getting right. In the first couple of games we pressed like mad and out worked the opposition. With Song and Denilson playing we look reasonably solid, without one or the other we don't appear to have the players capable of doing the same unsung, unappreciated dirty work. The sort of stuff that Flamini, Gilberto, Parlour and their likes have done for years without being appreciated, and at the same time getting slagged off by fans for being useless individuals not worthy of a place in the team compared to their superior ball-playing team mates. This is not new - I can recall David Price, way back when, getting similar treatment - and none of these players are seemingly appreciated until they're no longer with us. We still require balance to our wonderful attack minded play and it is still sadly lacking.

The only other potential candidates in our squad I currently see for the holding role are Nasri or Djourou, neither of whom are available. Eboue has the physical qualities but doesn't have the brains, Diaby just isn't that sort of player and is far too languid. Gibbs will be able to do it one day but isn't physically strong enough yet and won't be for another two or three more years.

So the only alternative is what we did at the start of the season which was to collectively close and press for the full 90 minutes. Trouble is it only takes one player to be out of position or be having a poor game for the plan to fall down. Individual errors will always lose a game. I'm quite sure that the current Wenger plan is for Arsenal to be doing a Barca where the whole team plays total football while working their rocks off for the cause. And this ploy might even have paid off it wasn't for the disruption and effects of international football in what to date has been a quite ridiculous stop-start opening to the league season. Because it takes a lot of hard work to learn how to defend, especially away from home and especially in testing matches against top sides.

Plan B would be to keep the ball for the full 90 minutes but not even Wenger's teams can do that. So we just need to keep on collectively working much harder on the nitty-gritty nasty boring stuff. In which case I'm all for Wenger walking away from the training pitches and handing over to someone like Bouldie or Keown for a month or so.