Despite achieving twenty points so far, I feel there are some major flaws in the squad that I feel Wenger needs to address ASAP, otherwise I can’t see us winning anything this season, as well as struggling to finish in the top four of the Premiership.

The flaws that I feel Wenger needs to address are as follows:

GOALKEEPER
I am starting to have some doubts over Manuel Almunia. Despite having a very good season last term, I don’t think he has the authority and the dominant presence that Seaman and Lehmann bought to the team. Reina, Van Der Sar, Cech, Friedal, James, even Robert Green have that dominant presence about them. Almunia sadly hasn’t.

Despite Bentley scoring a wonder goal against us in the North London derby, no goalkeeper should get beaten from 40 yards. Although the initial shot for Spurs’ second goal hit Almunia in the face, his reactions to recover and block Bent’s follow up were very, very slow indeed. I’m probably being a bit harsh here, but his recovery should’ve been a lot quicker. Also against Stoke, Almunia was very poor when it came to coming out and dealing with the situations which led to both of Stoke’s goals.

Overall I think Almunia has no confidence in the defence and more importantly, I don’t think the back four have any confidence in him. He has now commited mistakes in two consecutive games. When Lehmann did the same thing last season, he was dropped. Will Wenger do the same to Almunia?

DEFENCE
It is pretty evident to see that the following central defensive partnerships which Wenger has tried this season haven’t come to fruition:

Gallas & Toure
Toure & Silvestre
Gallas & Silvestre (Despite Silvestre being very good in the air, it appears he is more of a recovery defender like Gallas & Toure).

The best defensive partnership this season has been the pairing of Djourou & Gallas. They played together in the Champions League qualifying games against FC Twente and the league game against West Brom. The partnership worked a treat, due to Djourou attacking the first balls (I can’t recall Djourou losing a header in each of these games), which left Gallas to do what he (along with both Toure and Silvestre) does best, picking up the scraps and distributing play from the back. But most importantly, clean sheets were kept in these games with this partnership.

However as soon as Toure returned from injury for the Fulham game, Wenger broke up the partnership and restored Toure back in the team to partner Gallas. The central defensive area has been VERY shaky ever since, despite picking up wins against Everton, Bolton, Blackburn, Newcastle and West Ham in the Premiership.

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD
I think Wenger views Denilson as a defensive midfielder. I remember when we signed him in 2006, Wenger viewed him as the successor to Gilberto. However, after watching him play since then, he hasn’t come across as a destructive player in the role which Gilberto embraced. He’s turned out to be a clone (an excellent alternative) for Cesc Fabregas.

I am a big fan of Denilson. His work rate is very good, he has an excellent passing range and his attacking play is very good, but those three attributes are also shared to an even greater level by his current partner in midfield, Fabregas. Neither is going to offer any protection to the defence, because both of their natural instincts are to go forward. Some of the gaps, which were left between the defence and midfield in the Spurs game were absolutely shocking to see. There was one moment where Modric picked up the ball from the edge of the Spurs box and ran all the way to our box, without a single challenge being attempted on him.

You could perhaps relate this to Fabregas’ poor form for us this season. One of the reasons I feel he hasn’t been more of an attacking influence is due to the fact that he hasn’t had a recognised defensive partner to play alongside him, in order for him to concentrate on his attacking play. Therefore he is using up more energy trying to plug the defensive gaps, as well as attacking.

Flamini, Diarra and Gilberto offered us the defensive facility last season, but neither player was replaced in the summer transfer window. If Wenger was not insistent in selling Diarra in the January transfer window, he would have still been at the club. I personally think the sale of Diarra (despite rumours of him having an attitude problem) was one of the worst mistakes that Wenger has made during his time at the club.

CAPTAINCY
The appointment of William Gallas (despite having an excellent period in the role in the first half of last season) as captain of my beloved Arsenal, clearly hasn’t worked out. The Birmingham game last season saw the true values of William Gallas. When the pressure really got to him, he crumbled, BIG TIME! Since then, I feel the players and the fans have lost total respect for him. Despite offering an attacking threat in the opposing half (he has scored four goals for us this season), he was badly at fault for the goal conceded against Fulham and the second goal for Hull in the Premiership.

His leadership skills at times this season have also left me a bit bewildered. Where were the instructions to the team to keep possession, when we were 4-2 up against Spurs? Where were the battle cries to roll up our sleeves and fight back in games against Hull and Fulham in the Premiership? What happened to the team huddles before and after games (I thought this was a great idea, which bought together team harmony)?

ROTATION
In the modern game, it is virtually impossible for any manager to play the same set of eleven players, week in, week out. This is where rotation comes into play.

Now I am a great of believer of the rotation system, however if a player is to be replaced, it is CRITICAL that the player who comes in, plays in exactly the same position as the player who is being rested. This particular feat wasn’t achieved against Stoke. Wenger chose to rest Nasri and Walcott and replace them with two central midfielders in Denilson and Diaby. Where was the logic in that? Surely playing Ramsey on the right and Vela on the left would’ve been a better option. Both players can play in those positions and both offer natural width and pace. It was a scandalous notion to play two central midfielders on the wing as neither would offer us the necessary requirements to play in those areas – the aforementioned natural width and pace.

ACTIONS

Goalkeeper – Wenger should drop Almunia and give Fabianski a run in the team. Lehmann got dropped for making mistakes in two consecutive games last season, so I am expecting Wenger to do the same here.

Defence – The stats don’t lie. When Wenger has employed the pairing of Djourou and Gallas so far this season, we haven’t conceded a goal. This partnership must be re-installed ASAP.