Following on from Raffi Varoujian’s article - Saturday was an Arsenal Groundhog Day - I turned up for the first game of the new season full of unbridled optimism, tinged with a hefty dose of realism. I don’t think I’m one of the people that Raffi describes so colourfully (flat cap potty mouth – priceless!) so I can’t help but agree with most of his observations. Three points and a clean sheet from the opening game is a good start but the potential problems were there for all to see.

First the positives:- It is immediately apparent that Samir Nasri is an excellent player. Arsène has stated that Samir is a direct replacement for Alex Hleb and I think that this change in personnel will greatly alter our style of play this year. Hleb was a wonderful player but so much of our over complication came directly from him as he weaved his way up his own arse before losing possession. At his best Alex was brilliant – at anything less than his best the whole team suffered. Samir looks much more direct, almost like Robert Pires and Arsène may have unearthed another gem.

Johan Djourou was very impressive at the heart of the defence, albeit against weaker opposition than many of those to come. Sagna and Clichy once again showed why they are rated as the two best full backs in the league and Manuel Almunia did all that was asked of him, including a couple of sharp saves to preserve the three points.

Sadly that is where the good points end. We can once again see that several of the squad players lack the consistency required in a Top Four team, hence West Brom’s ability to get back into a match that should have been beyond them before half time.

Eboue was up to his usual tricks; embarrassing histrionics any time someone touched him and yet another performance that would see him dropped from Stoke City’s midfield. Why does Arsène persist with him?? Theo was the Theo of 2007 – unable to beat an opponent and no real threat to anyone except himself. Bendtner is clearly a talented lad but he will never be a 20 goal a season striker and Denilson needs Cesc alongside him.

I love Arsène and I love his methods. I despise Chelsea and Man Utd and I despise the way that they spend their way out of trouble.

Our squad may be of similar size to our main rivals (26 players) but the strength in depth isn’t there to compete over a long and arduous winter. Our first team can compete with anybody BUT - given that we have so many injury prone players, I’d like to see Arsène make at least two more quality signings before 31 August, to ensure that the brilliant nucleus of the squad have someone to share the load with when the going gets tough, as it undoubtedly will.