Before the game against Spurs, our esteemed manager is quoted on arsenal.com saying that his current squad is the strongest he has ever assembled.

Sometimes I really do wonder whether anyone at the club ever looks at what the manager says and analyses it. I doubt they do, so let me try.

Firstly, if anyone outside of the manager’s little coterie of yes men, and I include the board in that group, seriously believes the current squad is better than any of the last three squads which won the Premier League then they know precious little about football. The Invincibles, for example, did not lose at home three times before the end of November. Cesc is the only one of the current team who might make the Invincibles’ first team, and maybe a couple of others would have boosted that squad, but no way is this current squad the best.

Secondly, basic mistakes keep costing us points, on an all too regular basis; and this has been the case time and time again for the last few seasons. Whether it is a defender failing to boot the ball into row Z, a midfielder failing to track his man or a goalkeeper failing to catch a simple cross, basic mistakes keep happening. And they will keep happening until the manager addresses a basic truth – this team cannot defend consistently week in, week out, for 90+ minutes. They are, generally, an accident waiting to happen. One week it might be the goalkeeper, another the left back, another the centre back, another the midfield missing a simple tackle – all I expect now is that a basic mistake will happen at some point, at least once or twice a game. And that this will cost us the chance of silverware. I suppose we should be grateful that the manager recognises that the team made basic mistakes this week – the question is what is he going to do about it? Will he go back to basics and get them practising the basics of defending, maybe coached by a defensive specialist? Don’t bet on it.

Thirdly, it is not at all difficult to understand how we lost. Go back two seasons; we are leading Spurs 4-2 as we pass the 90th minute, yet somehow the team manages to concede two goals in injury time. Given that we managed to concede twice in injury time two years ago, why on earth did anyone think we would not concede in the 60 or so minutes after taking a two goal lead – especially with the same left back in the team?

In October 2008, I wrote after that game “If they (the players) were so good (as the manager thinks they are), they would not have conceded any of the three goals they did in the second half.” I added “ Arsene please, please, please: Get in a proper defensive coach.”

Two years and a couple of weeks on, has anything changed? Of course not. Three stupid goals conceded against Spurs in the second half and the need for a defensive coach still glaringly obvious.

The strongest squad ever? Don’t make me laugh! Basic mistakes cost us? ‘Twas ever thus Arsene. You can’t understand how we lost? We lost because this team can’t defend properly.

Rant over: now for a little analysis:

• Since Vermaelen has been injured, we have played 11 games in the Premier League, losing four, three of them at home, two of which have been to promoted teams. The stuff of potential champions? Don’t make me laugh.

• In the four games we have lost, there is one notable common denominator – the centre back partnership of Squillaci and Koscielny.

• It seems clear that this partnership does not work. The only two games we have won with this pairing have been Bolton (when for once the pretty football paid off) and West Ham (whose threat on our goal was generally worse than our attempts at defending).

• By contrast, in the four games we have played with Squillaci and Djourou at the back, we won all four – and managed in two of them, against Wolves and Everton, to hold out against determined defensive onslaughts at times.

• Also, in the four games we lost, Koscielny was either booked (three times) or sent off (once). Indeed in nine Premier League games so far (four of which have been defeats remember), Koscielny has been sent off twice and booked three times. He is a bit of a liability I fear, especially in combination with Squillaci. In fact Koscielny has only been on the winning side three times in the competitions which really matter to the manager (I am ignoring the Carling Cup because we all know Arsene doesn’t really take this seriously – except this season he has been told to by the board because the club needs the revenue!).

It goes without saying but a solid central defensive pairing is essential to winning any competition. Get this right, especially in combination with a decent ‘keeper, and you have a sporting chance; get it wrong and you have no chance. Sure, we may be unlucky to have lost Vermaelen, our best central defender. But look at the evidence: the manager’s latest preferred French pairing doesn’t work. Who knows whether Djourou is the answer, with either Frenchman, or with Vermaelen: but he couldn’t be any worse, could he?

The one good thing to come out of Saturday was Chelsea losing; bizarrely to my mind, we are still only two points off the top; and considering we have lost four times this season, that it is something to cling to. But I wouldn’t cling too tightly, because – to quote one of my favourite songs – “every day it just gets harder to live this dream I’m believing in”. Champions? In my dreams. Sweet dreams Gooners, because you’ll need them this season. In my dream we drew the three home games we lost and we were top of the league. Then I woke up.