Even allowing for our disinterested attitude against Hull we should still have won having taken the lead. We seriously underestimated how well the Hull team was coached and drilled into exploiting our weaknesses. The problem with our team is known by every supporter of football in the country: we do not like the high ball into the box and we have a serious ill balance in the centre of defence. This is compounded by an ineffective leader on the pitch who happens to be key to our defensive shortcomings.

The problem started for me the night Sol Campbell walked out against West Ham. From that point on we needed a world class replacement centre back, a dominating fulcrum for the defence. Wenger has not faced up to this problem and, like all problems left alone, they do not go away. Instead they fester and start to affect other people/players.

The manifestation of this centre back problem is that our full backs are beginning to avoid making 50-50 tackles for fear of giving away free kicks, and you can hear a collective “Oh sh*t!” when we concede a corner. You can tactically set up a side to win free kicks and corners (Bolton spring to mind) and more so-called lower level teams are exploiting the nervousness we have at all set pieces. Gallas and Toure are individually better players than Song and Djourou but collectively they are more like Bradford & Bingley and need “bailing out” at corners and aerial attacks.

In the box when Hull scored their winner were Adebayor and RVP so if, and it is a big if, Almunia did collect the ball then the quick counter attack (a very important part of our game) is negated. This is because of our failure to solve a long standing defensive problem which I repeat is now affecting all the players in the team. The side that thrashed Sheff Utd had a far better balance and work ethic than Saturday’s version and, although Hull are a much better team, Tuesday’s kids would not have lost to Hull City. As an aside, if Hull’s winning goal had been against Man U with Mr Styles as ref no doubt it would have been disallowed for pushing. We can all win things with the man in the middle on our side.

Wenger’s eccentric refusal to deal with this centre back problem, coupled with his new problem of the lack of a holding player are now affecting our chances of a top four position. Winning the league or the Champions League is a non-starter. There are dozens of managers every Monday morning who stare at their team and know of the many problems they have that can only be solved by good coaching and tactical nous. Money for these managers is not there and the only way they can compete is by sheer hard work, effort and sound coaching. Arsene Wenger, by his brilliant eye for a player, does not have anywhere near the team deficiencies that many of his fellow managers have and yet his failure to solve one two-year-old problem is now corroding the whole team.

What disturbed me most were his remarks about the Hull game. “There were enough ingredients there to make me feel physically sick.” Now that is up there with self harming; why else would you continue to destroy the confidence of two of your best individual players and pair them together when it clearly does not work. Being exposed by a Torres or a Drogba is one thing but when decent journeymen are picking you off something has to be done, and bloody quick.

If you want my opinion, start Song and Djourou as centre backs and move Toure into a defensive midfield role. However, already for this season, like the Carole King song: “Its too late.”