Bit disappointing against Sunderland and from what Arsene said, down to not respecting the opposition among other things. Considering that Sunderland are now a pretty decent outfit, that's almost unpardonable. Note to Arsene, how about stop helping Steve Bruce now, he may not need it.

It has been said that we would suffer without Van Persie, but quite frankly with the talent at our disposal I didn't think that would be the case. I forgot one thing. Having changed formation this season, it had taken RvP quite a while to adjust to the new requirements, why should I think that Eduardo would be any different? As it transpired we hardly set the game alight with our movement either, something Arsene also alluded to. There's so many possible reasons why we didn't play well enough to win though. Many of our players were away playing meaningless friendlies or World Cup qualifiers and the injured players returning were not fully match fit. We had different personnel in significant positions who had not had a sufficient run of games there to develop the understanding required with other team members.

All this is true, and we had a pretty decent penalty shout turned down to boot, but for a team with title pretentions, it simply wasn't good enough. We therefore have to hope it was a blip and we'll kick on from here, or admit that we are going to come up short this season. If we do come up short it will be because our attitude isn't right, especially if we turn up thinking we will win at a canter. We have the talent to win, no question.

Thanks to Arseblogger for pointing out that November is only bad if it's the worst results you remember. Funny how something becomes true if it's repeated enough. Even Arsene fell for that one.

Always a good bet for jaw-dropping analysis, Stan Collymore has opined that Arsenal are like the BarCodes under Kev. “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that until Arsene Wenger gets a midfield enforcer like Javier Mascherano, then their unsuccessful quest for silverware will continue.” Such erudite analysis. Bit insulting to Alex Song I can't help but feel, especially after the game he had at the weekend.

Today we hear from another legend who should really keep his comments to himself unless he wants to chip away at his legend status. Kolo has been holding forth on, one assumes, Gallas convincing Le Prof to show him the exit door when all he wanted to do was end his career at Arsenal. Couple of points, you have to play well to keep your place, and who thinks that anyone, let alone a player can convince Arsene to do anything he doesn't want to do. Stay away from Ade, he's a bad influence Kolo. We want to remember you as King Kolo, not a whiner.

On the contract front, we are apparently trying to sort out deals with Rosicky and Gallas according to the mothership and Arsene is confident they can be achieved. Let's hope it's more 'confident' than other times he has been 'confident'. At this stage in the team development we need both. Vela is also in negotiations and according to Arsene is the reason we didn't replace Ade. No pressure then, he just needs to grow another 3 or 4 foot and score a shedload of goals. Bad attitude not required.

So big win with much changed team during the week and frankly any type of win will do next weekend. That's the plan, depends which Arsenal turns up.