Spending £20M in January Will Not Turn Around Arsenal's Season

More than six weeks before the January transfer window is due to open, Arsenal have been in the papers with their intent for the winter window: A £20 million transfer budget to reinvigorate their ailing season.

John Cross of the Mirror reports that Gunners boss Arsene Wenger will look to splash it on a new central defender after having to field Nacho Monreal as a makeshift centre-back this term, following an injury to Laurent Koscielny and his failure to adequately replace the sale of Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona.

A centre-back is a fair and necessary place to start, but £20 million and one new player is not going to be anywhere near close enough to save 2014-15 for Arsenal, if their intent is anything beyond a top-four finish again.

Defensive Frailties

Per Mertesacker, German World Cup winner and Arsenal first-choice defender, labelled the defensive performance in the weekend defeat to Swansea City as "unacceptable," per the Times, while former Gunners defender Martin Keown identified the lack of protection to the defence as partly to blame, per his BBC Sport column.

Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Both are right: Arsenal leak easily preventable goals far too easily and with an alarming frequency.

Sixth in the table they might be, no great crisis, but they have failed to win almost double the number of league games they've actually won this season and have kept only three clean sheets in 11. A big problem appears to be their inability to recover after conceding the first goal; almost inevitably there is a second goal to follow, as Swansea's quick-fire double blow showed at the weekend.

Shape and Mindset

Arsenal have altered their midfield alignment at times this season, switching from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 to play with one holding midfielder in front of the defence and two pushing on centrally, rather than one playmaker with a double pivot behind.

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This suits them well and gives a better platform for defensive work, but means they cannot play Mesut Ozil as the No. 10, and this can sometimes leave them without a real cutting edge in steady build-up play in the final third.

On the other hand, regardless of Arsenal's midfield lineup, it is all too common to see the central players pushing too far forward and leaving huge gaps behind them, especially Mathieu Flamini. Last year the repetitive problem with Mikel Arteta not reacting quickly enough after turnovers in possession moved the ball quickly behind him; this time a lack of appreciation of space is having an impact for different reasons.

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1-0 up with 15 minutes left, days after losing a three nil lead, Wenger was sure there was only one way to play..... pic.twitter.com/x9UgXfFp0x

— 888sport (@888sport) November 10, 2014"

Defensively, both tactically and mentally, is where Arsenal's obvious problems lie.

They have scored in almost all their league games this season, just one blank from 11, and with Alexis Sanchez in form, Danny Welbeck having settled well and a few midfielders pitching in, they'll be fine in that regard. Although, as the season goes on, the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and so on will certainly have to contribute more than they have done so far.

CL, PL

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What are Arsenal's aims? Is last season's FA Cup win enough to sustain their silverware thirst for another few years? Will a continued presence in the top four satiate the appetite of those who run the club?

Arsene Wenger has already dismissed Arsenal's title chances, in November, saying nobody will catch Chelsea. He's probably right, but he has also assembled this team himself over a long period which, 11 games into a new season, is nowhere near their rivals. Plenty of players have already abandoned the Gunners over the past few years as they feel they won't win titles there.

Meanwhile, the fans look to be in open revolt over the situation—a Mirror poll reveals a huge 74 percent of voters feel Wenger should step down and leave Arsenal.

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Ian Wright: "Bould isn't allowed much say in training. I know he has recommended defenders to Wenger, but they haven't been signed." #AFC

— FootySays (@Footysays) November 10, 2014"

It looks as though, despite their Anderlecht meltdown last week, Arsenal will cruise through the group stage of the Champions League—but there will be few onlookers who back them to get past a group winner such as Real Madrid, PSG or Bayern Munich.

Arsenal don't figure amongst the favourites for the Champions League, not even close. Whilst the likes of Schalke, Barcelona and Roma occupy second place in their respective groups, it might be hard-pushed to find many who even consider them in the top 10 of the eventual 16 qualifiers to the knockout phase.

If that has gone, and the manager has already insisted league glory is beyond them—not to mention the League Cup, knocked out by Southampton—then what is left in 2014-15, just three months into the season?

A fight with (by the looks of things) Southampton, Manchester United and one or two others for a top-four finish?

Not exactly indicative of any kind of progress for Arsenal, given the lack of competition from so-called big clubs this year.

Twenty million pounds and one new defender? A nice way to start the new year, but hardly a one-size-fits-all for Arsenal's long-standing issues.

Follow @karlmatchett