The Transfer Window Shuts Firmly On Arsenal's Fingers

There's only one word to describe how the transfer window finished for Arsenal and that word is "shambles". After signing Sead Kolasinsc on a feee transfer early on and breaking the club's transfer record to sign Alexander Lacazette there was some hope that the squad strengthening that was required would actually be addressed. At the same time we were unable to offload the players who were surplus to requirements and those who were nearing the end of their contracts didn't extend or weren't sold.

When Arsene Wenger signed on for another two years at the end of last season he seemed convinced he was still the right man to move the club forward. With the noose of building the Emirates stadium no longer around the club's neck we were told we could compete with the top clubs in the transfer market. Somehow or other though we didn't manage to add another player to Kolasinac and Lacazette despite some frantic efforts just before the window closed.

It's impossible for me to believe we had an actual transfer policy and that we didn't just play it as it went. Kolasinac was a great start and eventually adding Lacazette was another step in the right direction, but the failure to add a top class central midfielder will be the biggest nail in the coffin of Arsenal's season for me. We just don't have the quality that's needed in the centre of our midfield to sustain a title challenge and maybe not even to make our annual goal of a top four finish.

The manager seems to have so much belief in his players and his ability to coach them that he truly believes the squad he has can challenge. He may have tried to sign Thomas Lemar on deadline day, but only because he was willing to cut his losses and let Alexis Sanchez go to Manchester City. The real problems with the team aren't in attack though they're at the other end of the pitch and they just haven't been addressed properly.

The signing of the best left back in the Bundesliga has to be a great addition to our defence even if the manager is unwilling to play him at the moment. The exit of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will at least mean there's more of a chance of Kolasinac playing and Hector Bellerin playing on the right, but our biggest defensive problems are due to attitude and how we play the game. The players need to be coached properly in how to defend as a unit and they need to be given the right tactics to suit each individual game.

From what I can see the manager is so convinced in the ability of his players that he doesn't think he needs to vary our game to suit our opponents. I wish we were that good, but we aren't and we need to put a lot more into our tactics and how we approach every single game. With the right attitude and game approach we can put it up to any team regardless of who they are.

The defeat at Liverpool showed up all the old troubles that the manager thought he had overcome with the strong finish to last season. We were lucky not to lose by more than four goals though and those old troubles have clearly gone nowhere. We played right into Liverpool's hands on the day and the players looked like they had no real interest in playing for the manager or the club. It's something we've seen too often in the past and I would be very surprised if we didn't see it again this season.

The reaction to that defeat was to panic in the closing days of the transfer window and try to add some quality to the squad. We failed miserably to do so, but we did manage to get rid of some of the players who should have left a lot earlier in the summer. The transfer of Chamberlain to Liverpool meant we ended up making a profit from the summer's dealings of somewhere in the region of €30'million.

In a summer where we were told there would be real investment in the team we have managed to not only turn a profit, but I would imagine we cut the wage bill too. That means we left up to €150 million in the bank that could have been invested in players that the squad desperately needs. We could have signed Lemar sooner for that €100 million we are meant to have offered for him and maybe added Virgil van Dijk too even if it didn't address our biggest need.

Besides the flip flopping on Chamberlain we appear to have tried to offload Shkodran Mustafi too, but we held on to him when we couldn't find a replacement. With Lucas Perez going out on loan it isn't a great judgment on last year's dealings to lose Perez and try to offload Mustafi too. If we wanted rid of Mustafi why did we wait so long to try to offload him.

Besides all of the players who did leave we managed to hold on to both Alexis and Mesut Ozil and they are the two best players at the club. The problem is they are both now in the final year of their contracts and we will lose them both for absolutely nothing next summer. There might be a chance of Ozil signing on again, but Alexis will be on his merry way next summer or maybe even in January if City have their way and we decide to cash in whatever value is left in him. They're not the only players nearing the end of their contracts and we seem incapable of doing anything about any of them.

The football starts up again on Saturday when we play at home to Bournemouth and there's going to be huge pressure on the players. We travel to Cologne in midweek in the Europa League and it's a competition we need to take a little more seriously than some might think considering our top four chances this season. After that it's a trip to Chelsea and it's one I'm really not looking forward to considering how easily Liverpool beat us.

It's easy to put all the blame on the manager, but it's impossible to leave the club owner out of it too. When you read the statistics on his other sports franchises in the States it can only strike fear in the heart of an Arsenal fan. The awful performances of each of them points to Arsenal only going in one direction and it's hard to see how we can stop that as long as Stan Kroenke is the majority shareholder. He doesn't exactly have a record of disposing of his assets though and whether we like it or not he seems to be in it for the long haul.

Finally for today I'd love to know what the atmosphere at the club is like right now. With so many players still there who clearly would like to be elsewhere it can't be good and we can only wait to see how those players perform. I hope they will be professional enough to give their all for the cause, but nothing is sure the way things are at the moment.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.