According to Le Prof the whole thing went pear-shaped at Old Tractors. Maybe his math isn't up to it, but I reckon that would still put us behind the chavs, though in front of the mancs. But it does go to show how close this season was to glory in marked contrast to last year. So yes, it's seriously disappointing that we haven't won anything, but two wins is all it would have taken to see us top right now. So if we had won against the mancs home and away like we did last season and not lost to Birmingham with a dodgy penalty.... so many ifs. Truth is we were too naive when it counted, we had too few players with the experience to dig for victory when we needed to.

Will this be corrected next year? That's really the question now. Cesc and Ade are talking a good season already and it's good to get players saying they realised they came up short but will do better next. Let's be clear on this, if we improve points-wise by the same margin next season as we did this, we will walk it. And whilst I don't subscribe to the attack is always the best form of defence school, if we had been more clinical we wouldn't have had to worry so much about a very un-Arsenal like defensive record. Yes we scored a shed load this season, but think about pretty much any game and the gilt-edged chances that were missed. How many could we have scored?

As I work myself up into a frenzy thinking about how we could have blown pretty much everyone away, a cold shower of reality brings me back down to earth. Our defence is suspect and on the evidence of this season it isn't just a matter of who we have getting better. Sure we probably have the best two wing backs in the Prem, no problem there until one gets crocked, but the centre-back situation is distinctly worrisome. Smiling Billy has looked like he is trying to do it all himself at times and has been caught out of position way too many times. At least that's all I can think has been happening because he is supposed to be a world-class centreback but has seriously not shown it. In the modern game the centreback partnership is crucial to a good defence. Clearly we do not have any such thing. And now Kolo has been talking about wanting the captaincy, I'm not sure that would exactly endear him to Gallas. Besides, since the ACN Kolo has been a shadow of his former self, maybe the injury he sustained hasn't healed properly yet, but playing right back certainly hasn't helped cement any relationship with Gallas. Senderos I feel has probably had his chance now. I don't think he has the right personality to learn his trade in such a pressured environment, maybe he can still be a great centreback, but only if he learns more slowly where mistakes aren't going to be so enormously costly for his team.

So we need a commanding centre back regardless of anything else, someone with good positional sense and a reasonable height. Is Song that man? I couldn't say, but he's still learning so whomever he plays with will have to play better than Gallas or Kolo have done or we will need to score a warehouse full of goals next season. Same for Djourou as well.

Midfield we'll have to wait and see if the Flamster gets the move of his dreams and Mr Whippy gets the Cornetto of his. Losing one might be considered unfortunate, losing both, well that would be a bit of a bummer. Whether we have to replace either of them, we need some natural width as well, not converted wide players who'd much rather play inside and tend to drift that way as a result. We should really stop playing Theo wide now. He is beginning to look lethal as his confidence and physique build up.

So with a thirty goal attacker do we need to augment the attack. If we had Eduardo fit from the start I'd say no. But we don't, so I'm concerned that we may end up relying on Ade too much again. Theo is the wild card in this, if he hits the ground running (damn fast in his case) and gets into the goals early on then we could get away with it assuming Eduardo gets back to full health and fitness by Christmas and depending on whether the midfield gets in on the act. I'm still not convinced with Bentdner. He needs someone to teach him how to play better, particularly in terms of his runs and positional sense. If there is someone doing it already then they're either not very good or he's not listening.

So there we have it. Actually two wins would still get us the Prem this year, unfortunately the two teams above us would have to lose both their remaining games. Football is a funny old game, but that would border on the hysterical.