Arsene knows all right. He knows that his team:
won’t win the league this year
doesn’t know how to defend
doesn’t have a fit striker who he believes in
hasn’t got a full back who knows how to prevent a winger crossing the ball
hasn’t got a proper goalkeeper
is mentally weak
is too small
lacks winners
will not win at Chelsea next Sunday
and will struggle to do better than draw with Liverpool the following week.

He knows a lot more besides. He knows that he has missed the chance to strengthen his squad because he is too stubborn. Moreover, he is so stubborn in his refusal to address the fundamental weaknesses in the squad (the physical size of its key players, its overall numbers and basic organisation) that he risks destroying all the good things that he has worked for in the last five years.

Wenger is obsessed with tomorrow, so much so that he fails to deal with the problems staring him in the face today. In the last few months, young player after young player has been rewarded with a new, long and doubtless expensive contract. But they don’t play! Why? Are they not good enough? Perhaps they need to complete their football education by going out on loan? Like Jack Wilshere? His education now means sitting on the bench at Anfield watching Bolton lose.

If these young players, Wilshere, Mannone, Watt, Emmanuel-Thomas, Eastmond and all the others who have been awarded new contracts are worthy of these contracts, why are they not playing? Because they are not good enough! But don’t worry, they will be good enough in the future. The future, Arsene, never comes. It is always today.

So, the key question now, today, is this: can Arsene keep this team sufficiently on track and together to hold third place this season? If he can, the question becomes, will he spend enough, in the right areas, to build a proper squad for next season? Because if he can’t do the first and won’t do the second, Cesc will go to Barcelona, Arshavin will go to Spain or Italy for a big pay day and the self-sustaining model, which requires a full stadium and Club Level renewals to be maintained, will look like a very dodgy dossier indeed.