Arsenal: Five situations that are annoying me so far

Arsenal simply weren't at the races on Saturday against Norwich City and were lucky to have only lost by one goal. Arsene Wenger's men were expected to run up a cricket score against the Canaries but the Frenchman ended up leaving Carrow Road with more questions to resolve.

Here are the five situations that I feel need resolving now.

The Gervinho/Walcott situation

I’m putting these two in the same category because at the end of the day, they are the same player. Not great footballing minds, easily pushed off the ball and incredibly frustrating. Too often Gervinho gets the ball and runs straight into the opposing defender. Too often he receives the ball in a good position and dilly dallies his way around the box, refusing to cross with his left foot. And if it isn’t him, it’s Walcott.

Admittedly Walcott can strike a ball, but that is his only true footballing quality. When you compare him to somebody like Oxlade-Chamberlain who is subsequently starting on the bench because of them, it’s hard to believe that people still want Walcott to stay. And don’t even get me started on his contract shenanigans.

People will argue that between them they have scored a relatively large number of goals this season, so maybe they’d be better squad players instead of match starters. If there was an award for world’s most frustrating player, we’d have it in the bag. Twice. If they don’t both gain some consistency, at least one of them needs to go.

The goalkeeping situation

I know he’s not our first choice keeper but Mannone is not good enough. It’s as simple as that. He has talent but in no way should Arsene Wenger even be considering him for the number one choice. Which brings us to our number one. There is no doubt that Szczesny has talent and one day will be a great keeper, but he is incredibly young for a goalkeeper and he needs time as a number two or even out on loan just to get that experience before being Arsenal’s permanent man between the sticks.

When I look at United whose second keeper is Lindegard, Tottenham whose current reserve is Lloris, or even Aston Villa, who have Shay Given on the bench, it becomes clear that we need another solid keeper. When teams like City get three points just because of some Hart brilliance, it is clear that having a good keeper could be the difference this year.

The “Abou Diaby is like a new signing” (and lack there-of) situation

Don’t get me wrong, Diaby is a good player … if he’s fit. And that’s a big if. The naivity of Arsene Wenger to believe that we could rely on a man built out of toothpicks is startling. When I woke up the morning after the transfer deadline day and saw that we hadn’t signed another defensive midfielder I knew it was going to come back to haunt us.

Arteta has done brilliantly filling in as a holding midfielder but I would personally like some more brutish muscle in that position and Arteta as the link player. And having to watch Ramsey now playing in that position because we never signed anybody to pre-empt the inevitable Diaby injury is painful.

The taking off Podolski at 60 minutes situation

From what we’ve seen so far, I personally believe that Podolski is our biggest goal threat. Taking him off midway through the second half is illogical. Podolski is the kind of player that only needs one chance and he is more direct than any of the substitutes that would be likely to replace him. Sure sometimes you need to change things but it seems as if the first player to come off is always the Pod.

The conceding games before we actually start playing situation

So many times we have let one in and then gone on to win convincingly has made me come to expect it. But as what became quite clear from the Norwich game, it may not always be redeemable. Something needs to be done to ensure that our defence is switched on from the first whistle. Pronto.

Calling all Arsenal fans: Do you agree with Josh? Are these the issues you feel Wenger needs to address quick sharp to make you genuine title contenders or do you concede that you are already out of the running and tha a Champions League spot is the goal yet again? Whatever your views, we'd love to hear from you.

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