Another day, defensive problems grumble on

There's no doubt what our biggest failing was last season, it was our defence and our ability to leak cheap sloppy goals. Reading Arseblogger this morning, he is concerned that these problems have not been adequately remedied, I am not quite as worried but I do agree that further strengthening is needed. The spot between the sticks is a problem as the boss has clearly lost faith in Almunia, Fabianski is not good enough and that leaves two youngsters, one of whom is a great prospect, but that is not enough for a title challenge. I am not convinced by the move for Schwarzer, he has experience I know, but he does look slow and cumbersome with his aged joints.

I am also not sure why Gallas seems so rated now he has gone, personally I think he has been poor for over a year, never dominant in the air or physically. If Arsene has faith in Koscielny and has paid 10mill for him then he deserves a chance before being written off as too small, after all he an inch taller than Gallas and no one ever went on about his height! If Campbell signs on then we have a reasonable complement of centre backs. For me the balance in our squad in terms of defensive midfielders is not right and has not been for a while. The only midfielders we have who can defend are Song, Diaby, Eastmond and Frimpong; two of these are unproven youngsters. Meanwhile we have a whole host of attacking players in midfield. Personally I would have replaced Denilson with a player who could defend.

This nasty, stupid and vindictive piece of journalism from Leo Spall in the Mail attracted a hell of a lot of criticism and quite rightly so. Pete Gill has completely dismantled it very eloquently at F365. Not only is Spall's useless writing foolish but it is in such appallingly bad taste on this occassion, he really should be ashamed of producing such offensive dross. Eduardo should be remembered with respect. Elsewhere a valid perspective on how the deliberate fouling of certain sides never gets punished ands how this can have a massive impact on games, something I'm never shy to point out. The Online Gooner points out just how stupid the new 'home grown' quotas are, they will not help matters at all. If the FA wanted a better England side then they would do well to create a footballing environment in which the clogging sides would struggle as violence was not rewarded, they seem to avoid this though for some reason.

ps I have now lost count of the number of Barca players that have openly tried to unsettled Cesc by talking of his desire to leave Arsenal in the media, David 'rat goatee and diving master' Villa is the latest in this long line of scum. If Cesc really wanted to leave he would make this known himself and he would hand in a transfer request, he has not, so all these little c*nts should keep their whoring mouths shut, something they find extremely difficult by the sound of things.