With only one wholly irrelevant game to play, all the lessons from this season can be learned from the Chelsea match, which epitomised the problems we have. Enjoyable though it was to see Chelsea succumb at Ashburton Grove, all our failings were on display and emphasised by the way in which Chelsea were allowed to dominate most of the second half of the game.

What is so disappointing, and what gives real concern for the future, is that the failings are so obvious, yet nothing seems to be being done to address them. Many people, myself among them, thought when TH14 was appointed captain that the Wenger/Henry combination would not win trophies. Despite the false dawn of last season’s Champions League campaign, I still have the uncomfortable feeling that this will be true… at least until our main failings are resolved.

Failing No.1 We do not play with sufficient tempo to discomfort the opposition and create space for our attacking players. Time and again this season we have started the match in a languid fashion, or dropped our level within minutes of the start of the game, allowing the opposition to feel their way into a match, gain confidence and then score. Since we manifestly can play a high tempo game, and generally do when chasing the game in the second half, this failing can only be put down to a lack of direction or motivation, or both. Why don’t the players go out fired up to take the game by the scruff of the neck? Do we have a game plan, or do we just go out to pass the ball?

Failing No.2 We all love the passing game, but passing has to be purposeful, not passing for the sake of it. Pass to create space, pass to eliminate a marker, pass to advance play, but don’t just pass for passing’s sake. Linked to failing no.1, the passing has to be crisper and quicker. Chelsea’s first half performance showed exactly how. It’s how we used to play. Why do we not do so now? Are we trying to copy Barcelona?

Failing No.3 We do not use the full width of the pitch, or anything like it. For the most part of the majority of games this season, we have played much too narrowly. Some of our best moments of the season have come from wing play, but in some matches (e.g. Chelsea) we don’t seem to do it at all. We used to do this, but now we don’t. All players drift infield at least 10 yards. For how to do it, see the way Man Ure have played this season, and note how effective width is to create space for the more central players. Why is Eboue so reluctant to use the great ability he has to overlap, beat the defender and cross the ball? Surely he is not in the team for his very limited defensive ability?

Failing No.4 We have to have a strong leader in midfield, but we have been playing without one all season. Fabregas is a wonderful player, but he will never be – and should not be made to be – a workhorse and hard tackler, nor should he be responsible for organising and motivating the team. He is a creative player and should be left free to create. Gilberto has worked wonderfully hard this season, but he does not have a motivational or leadership presence on the pitch, and on numerous occasions this season his lack of pace has been shown up. The only player in the squad with the potential to undertake the Vieira role is Diaby, but how is playing him out of position as outside left going to help him to develop this potential? If we are not going to develop him, we need to buy an Essien, fast.

Failing No.5 It probably deserves to be failing no.1, and in George Graham’s day it would have been. Our defence this season has been woeful. What started so brightly, with the arrival of Gallas to help build on the good defensive performances in the Champions League last year, has dimmed beyond recognition. There has been no effective defensive unit to speak of and we have conceded a series of laughable goals. Rumour has it that Martin Keown, who worked as defensive coach last season, did not do so this season. If true, I for one would like to know why, and why Tony Adams is (effectively) defensive coach at Portsmouth and not at Arsenal. Gallas and Toure have never formed an effective partnership this season, and Swiss Tony seems to have gone backwards compared with last season. The one bright spot has been the improvement in all aspects of his play of Clichy, who is well on the way to eclipsing the ability of a previous but unmentionable left back. Eboue will never be a top class defender and in my view does not have the temperament for the job either, but as a member of a proper unit of four he has proved that he can perform well enough. Please, please, Arsene, can we have some attention paid to coaching the defence? It is not a sin to practice defending.

For all his brilliance and talismanic stature, Henry is far too moody and mercurial to be an effective captain of the team on the pitch. I shall remember all of his wonderful goals over the years with delight, but equally I shall never forget his 75 minutes of sulking at the Stade de France, standing on the half way line while every other member of the team ran his heart out for the cause. Had he not been feeling that the whole world was against him, he would surely have scored the good chance after 70 minutes that would have given us the European Cup. Taking away the captaincy will be a difficult one to manage, but sorry Arsene, that is why you are paid millions of pounds a year. Start taking some difficult decisions. And some easy ones: send Baptista back whence he came, flog Reyes back to Seville, and bank whatever we can get for Aliadiere.