I have supported Arsenal since 1970 and have seen many good and bad teams come and go during the intervening 40 years. Overall I would have to say that Wenger’s teams have been by far and away the best, and have given me the most pleasure. It is however rather ironic that his teams - especially in the last two or three years - are also the ones that have given me the most frustrations. This I feel is probably a very fair assessment for most Gooners.

Why the frustrations? It is because we all can see that the current team is close to the finished article and it is this that explains the many angry and frustrated submissions to the onlinegooner website, particularly when losing to your biggest rivals as we did on Sunday and back in November to Chelsea.

So what’s wrong? Well it’s been documented so many times in the last few years and to most of us it is so obvious that our frustrations are multiplied because the problems in this team are relatively simple to fix. So why does Wenger not see what we can all clearly see, namely the need for a solid competent goalkeeper who single handedly could instill confidence in the entire backline? The requirement for a better mix of players, in particular physically stronger and preferably taller (and in some cases hungrier - take note Denilson) to compliment the nimbler smaller players like Arshavin and Fabregas.

Many contributors will argue we are light years away, but we are not. Just look at the league table and bear in mind that the two teams above us are currently, by Champions League standards, two of the top three teams in world football today let alone just the Premiership over the last five years. This is not an opinion this is a fact. So the hurdles to overcome are not huge and it would undoubtedly help if our manager could for once look in the mirror and be honest with himself, and in turn us, and accept that the likes of Denilson, Almunia and currently Clichy are not players who are of the standard required if you want to topple the two teams above you. When any team plays one of the so called “big four” you simply cannot have any players in your team that the rest are carrying. So based on Sunday’s performances it was eight against - as it turned out - eleven (who would have thought Nani had it in him?) and that simply is too big a handicap and hence we got what we deserved.

I just wish Wenger could see what we all see and be big enough to for once and act on it. And it would not necessarily have to cost a fortune, thus ensuring his cherished principles about finance are not broken.

The subject of money intrigues me at Arsenal. Why have the most expensive ticket prices in world football today bar none (producing this year circa 30 million pound profit) if there is never any intention of using it to strengthen the squad, for example in the areas already mentioned not just be me, but by most Gooners. If as they claim no dividends are ever paid to shareholders, why produce such profits? Simply reduce the entrance fees as at least then they could end the pretence that we are capable of competing in the transfer market. You simply cannot have it both ways, as the club will soon discover as never ending frustrations turn into non-renewals of season tickets.

I know we do not have a God given right to always win trophies every year, and this would be an unrealistic viewpoint, in addition often the winning of a trophy is all the sweeter if you have endured failures prior to that success (imagine how it would feel if and when we ever win the Champions League). However we all support a big club, not a Spurs or West Ham etc where you will no doubt have long since accepted that you will never ever win the league. For us it is different as we have a history of being at the top. That is why all the money being generated by the new stadium seems pointless unless we use some (not all) of it to give ourselves a better chance of succeeding.

After all we were originally promised that once the new stadium was in place we would be able to compete with the top clubs in the world for any player we wanted. Yet as it has turned out we have competed for practically no one. This is not only not fair on paying supporters who miss the excitement denied them for years now of the signing of a known player but also reneging on a promise made about competing for the best players in return for the high prices asked to watch Arsenal in a new stadium.

In summary Wenger needs to learn to become more ruthless with his squad (would Fergie have put up with Almunia?) and not worry about blocking the path into the first team for any of the youngsters currently on our books. He should start thinking about today and not tomorrow as one contributor correctly pointed out. The Walcotts of this world should learn to sink or swim (Fabregas did when surrounded by the Invincibles) once better players are ahead of them and should view it as an opportunity to strive to be better - or leave if you are not up to playing for a club like Arsenal.

Wenger should vary his tactics from time to time so the opposition don’t always know what to expect as they currently do. He should stop treating the money as if it’s his own and learn to speculate a bit more on some proven players. But most importantly he should learn not to be so stubborn, as he is at risk of damaging his otherwise outstanding achievements at Arsenal with his current blindspots.