Arsene Wenger Must Add Steel to the Arsenal Midfield

First things first, it was an amazing second-half of football, which was overshadows by the moronic antics of one crazy man. I'll get to him later but first let me say a few things on the footballing side of the game.

I must say that I wasn't really shocked that Arsenal lost at Eastlands on Saturday as the warning signs were already there for all to see.

The sirens went off in my head as soon as I saw the starting line-ups for both teams. Manchester City had a nice balanced team with Barry and De Jong anchoring in midfield; and Bellamy playing just off Adebayor. It was clear that Mark Hughes has done his homework.

Almost every Manchester City player was playing in his natural position.

On the other hand, Arsene Wenger has learned nothing from Arsenal's recent matches against the big four and still insists on playing his players out of position.

Cesc Fabregas turned up on the right with Bendtner and Diaby on the left. Can someone please explain to me why the boss keep playing Abou Diaby on the left when everyone can see that his best position is in the centre of midfield?  

He doesn't have the pace or the trickery of a winger and this makes it very easy for the fullback to shut him down. On Saturday, Micah Richards kept showing him the inside and his job was done.

Midfield Destroyer Needed Badly

Mark Hughes understands that grace and elegance alone would not bring a top four finish and as a result he has added the requisite steel needed in defence and midfield (i.e. Gareth Barry, Nigel De Jong, Kolo Toure, and Joleon Lescott).

This is exactly what was missing from Arsenal, especially in midfield.

Denilson, Fabregas, and Diaby are all great going forward, but they will never give you the discipline and physical edge you need to track back and close down opponents.

Song is the best option for the Gunners as a defensive midfielder, but there's not much he can do when he's facing two world-class midfielders in his position in the form of Barry and De Jong.

Having said that, Song's attempt to make a tackle on Richards for the second goal was simply pathetic to say the least. Also, Gael Clichy had an uncharacteristically poor game at left back, but the required cover for his mistakes was non-existent.

As a result, the usually solid pairing of Gallas and Vermaelen suffered from the lack of adequate midfield cover. The running from midfield from the like of Ireland, Wright-Phillips and Bellamy caused all sorts of problems for the back four.

Arsene Wenger must understand that you need some steel to go along with the beautiful football so that the more creative players can freely express themselves on the pitch. He must sign an experienced defensive midfielder in January.

Misfiring Strikers Need To Sharpen Up

Another problem most of you probably noticed is the shortage of goals from our centre forwards. This season Wenger opted to play Robin Van Persie (RVP) at the centre of the three forwards, with Bendtner on the right and Arshavin on the left in a 4-3-3 formation.

This works relatively well when Arshavin is playing as he's versatile and clever enough to know when to take the fullback on the outside, and when to tuck in on the inside. He gives the team some width on the left, and more importantly, gives some support to Gael Clichy in defensive areas.

However, with the silent assassin missing, he gave the job to Abou Diaby and he was absolutely hopeless. This is not his fault at all as he's not a winger by trade.

Bendtner wasn't any better either, and the lack of width in the team's play was there for all to see.

Furthermore, we all know that RVP is not a centre forward, but more a second striker. Most of his good plays on Saturday came from deep positions—his goal was a classic piece of improvisation, in which he nicked the ball from the lunging Lescott and then placed the shot low to the keeper's right.

Clichy and Sagna don't cross the ball often enough because they probably know that RVP will not win the header. He's not physically imposing enough to win headers against the likes of Vidic and Lescott.

Arsenal could've done with someone like Chamakh on Saturday to give them the aerial option in the box, hold the ball up as teammates advance and out-muscle defenders.

Also, Arsenal have had 19 shots on goal, nine on target, had much of the ball and created more goal scoring opportunities than City but still managed to lose the game.

This is because Arsenal strikers, for many years now, do not convert enough of the numerous chances they create. This was also the case in the Man United game the previous Saturday.

Arsenal are in desperate need of a world class striker, who has the necessary pace and power, along with his technical ability, to unlock defences and convert higher percentage of chances into goals.

I'm fairly sure that if Arsenal had one of Rooney, Drogba or Torres; they would've at least drawn the game against City. These strikers don't mess about, they just put the ball in the back of the net. 

The other centre forward options available to Wenger are Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo. I still have serious reservations about them for two different reasons.

Bendtner has a fantastic future, but clearly he's not ready to assume responsibility as the main man in attack. Eduardo, on the other hand, is born for that role as he's the best finisher we have. However, I don't think he's fully recovered psychologically from that horrific injury he suffered last year.

It's very important that Eduardo stays injury free this year so that he slowly gets his confidence back and starts scoring like we know he can.

Final Thought

I think what concerns Arsenal fans and Wenger is the fact that we dominated matches against two top teams but managed to lose both games.

"It's worrying," Wenger said. "The only thing I can say is we played four times, and three times away, and unfortunately we lost these two games and that’s very difficult to take because we have to learn to take the maximum with the performance we produce and we didn’t do that."

However, you have to also say that the boys had little go their way at Eastlands on Saturday. Richards was definitely offside for the first goal, although I think Almunia was a little slow on his feet.

Furthermore, the referee Mark Clattenburg was shocking as he managed to deal with...pretty much nothing. He should've sent off Adebayor twice—first for the stamp on Fabregas's ankle in the first half; and then for the disgraceful stamp on Van Persie.

How the referee missed both incidents i'll never know.

As for Adebayor, I don't think I've ever seen a player conducting a personal vendetta against former team-mates during a game. He was not playing for City...he was playing for team Adebayor.

However, it's crucial that we don't lose sight of the big picture. Arsenal were beaten the Arsenal way: quick, incisive counter-attacks with width; executed by skillful forwards with plenty of pace to burn.

Now it's down to Wenger to address the problems in attack and defence. The players must lick their wounds, regroup and come back stronger.

Its Standard Liege next in the Champions league opener, le'ts hope the team returns to winning ways against the Belgian champions.