Apologies to all for not having penned some thoughts earlier, but life has been busy between fatherhood here in Montréal and a couple of big conferences in New York. Also, I have decided to drop my sobriquet of Felix from the Bailey, in case you were wondering. So, what to make of Arsenal's fortunes so far this season?

Having tipped a friend before the season's start that Chelsea would not retain the Premiership crown this season, I had hoped that the Arsenal would be nearer to the mark than they are. The first three matches were bizarre but, in not winning them, it seemed that Arsenal would start to overcompensate and the Manchester Utd victory seemed a good indicator of this. By the way, not having made any mention of Chelsea, their manager, their ground, owner or any of their players by name in my writing last season, I have decided to be less churlish as I would like to wish Petr Cech a full recovery. The irony is that Cudicini or Hilario could become available at the end of this season.

Sure, we had our share of bad luck, particularly the referee's decision in the Manchester City victory when awarding a free kick for a foul on Fabregas was warranted, making the City penalty appeal a non-event. Losing to West Ham was one of those things and Bolton today revealed exactly where our problems lie.

While some of our play is over-elaborate, our passing and movement does not work so well when Fabregas is playing too deep or is being marked. This is reminiscent of the hub and spoke principle that Bobby Robson as England manager employed around his namesake, Bryan. Unless Eboué and Hleb are enjoying an understanding, and that is less promising than during many moments of last season, we have little other movement. Occasionally Rosicky creates something but, outside of injury, he has not, yet, quite found his game for us.

Now without Pires and Bergkamp, both of whose cross-field passes took everyone's breath away, we are playing a style of football that takes us back to the 1999-2001 period. It is toothless.

One of the biggest problems is that we no longer possess a natural goalscorer and, in addition, are unable to create enough movement from elsewhere for other people to score. Henry is more of a glorious playmaker and he always has been. Now he seems less willing to run at a defence and the absence of another natural scorer is telling. Van Persie is not that person. Walcott is currently deemed immature enough to take that role, using his pace instead for occasional wing-play. Adebayor is not the genuine article.

The solution would be to use Aliadière playing up front with Henry. If not, then thinking hard about the future of people such as Bendtner, Lupoli or Stokes on loan at Falkirk would be useful. Otherwise, using the Beast alongside Henry would be a great solution.

Not only this, we are conceding irritating goals early on and end up chasing the game. We used to be the counter-attack specialists and this has changed. Too much possession is wasted by running the ball from deep and missing the early pass and movement that unsettles the opposition.

Frankly, I think Wenger is becoming frustrated and he needs to chill out and transcend his current level of thought. That means losing some of his 4-5-1 and 4-4-2 obsession. A three-man defence of Gallas, Touré and Eboué should suffice, as would any permutation of Gallas, Senderos, Touré, Eboué and Lauren as Clichy should be used as a wing-back rather than left-back - which would suit Gallas' style of play. Otherwise, while Gallas is best as a defender at centre-back, his forward play is impressive advancing up on the inside left.

Our ideal midfield should then comprise of Rosicky or Clichy, Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb and Walcott or Van Persie on the right with Henry and Aliadière or the Beast upfront. So, if you have been wondering what my view from afar may have been seeing; at last, here it is.