This season can, I think, be summarised in three ways:

1) For most of the season, we did consistently better against the middle to lower teams. The manager and team deserve credit, in this regard, for improving on previous recent seasons.

2) For the whole season on the other hand, we have been annihilated by teams at the very top and have made no progress at all in getting closer to them. In this respect our manager should be criticised for making wrong judgements about the quality of our squad and the naive tactics he has deployed in these games.

3) In the last few critical weeks of the season, we have been hit by injuries to not just one or two of our very best players, but to all of them. Unfortunately their replacements (with the exception of Sol) have not proven to be up to the task of finishing the season on a high. In this respect we can entirely empathise with what must be the deep and desperate frustration our dedicated manager will be feeling. The extent of our injuries is indeed unlucky. But on the basis you make your own luck in this life, fair criticism can also be laid at the manager’s door for not having invested enough to build up the squad, or address its weaknesses, both before and during the season when it was obviously needed.

So what to do about next season?

Well, it won’t be any easier. Chelsea and Man U are unlikely to be quite as inconsistent as this year. Man City will be stronger. Liverpool will desperately want to get back into the Champions League. Spurs look to me to have the makings of a stronger squad. Real Madrid will step up too. And… ahh, Barcelona!

While there may be some natural, organic improvement to be had in the current Arsenal squad (by virtue of having put another season’s worth of experience under its belt) it’s not likely, let’s face it, to be enough to make the difference needed to go up the level or two we are short.

Indeed, having been given a number of footballing lessons during the season, and in reality, having struggled to convincingly beat some average teams, my fear is that too many of our current players know deep down they are not really equipped to go much further than they have.

I fear, despite Arsene’s best efforts to talk up the quality and spirit of his players, that our confidence and belief next season will in fact be paper thin.

So where does Arsene go from here?

Virtually all successful teams base their underlying belief and confidence on knowing that when the chips are down, they can handle a fight against the best and can be, if necessary, difficult to play against.

In Bergkamp, Henry, Overmars and Pires we of course had our Ronaldos, Rooneys and Messis; special players who could, on their own, win the game… or so it appeared.

But when Henry once said, “We miss Gilberto”, he, for me, said it all.

Behind the great creative players are the people who create the platform of confidence on which great players can perform.

Arsene, first and foremost needs to create this new platform, one that will make us difficult to play against and one which, in turn, will allow any combination of Arshavin, Fabregas, Van Persie, Walcott (in time), Rosicky etc to launch their attacks from.

The most fundamental change he needs to make, in my view, is to give up on having a playmaking midfielder.

Instead, he should revert to the basis of the success of his past: go to 4-4-2, give Fabregas a purely attacking role further up the pitch, and put into central midfield two ball-winning, combative midfielders who are minded and equipped primarily to protect the defence, close down fast and win the ball. In other words, give Song a like-minded partner (a new Vieira/Petit, Vieira/Gilberto combo).

Yes, in effect, I’d be happy to hear less of Andy Gray marvelling at our possession domination stats but instead praising us for having higher ball-winning percentages.

Then Arsene should recruit “they will not pass” defenders. Of the current crop, only Sol Campbell and Vermaelen show that attitude. Where is the steely-eyed coldness of a Lauren stare or the combative, nasty, edgy agitation of Ashley Cole, or the physical clout of Keown or Adams in our current defence?

And as for between the sticks, is there actually anyone there at all?