I know I am viewing it with my Gooner-tinted spectacles, but why are we 'wasteful' when we miss a hat-full of chances whilst opponents are 'unlucky'? I made the mistake of watching MotD last night and was frankly astounded when very little was said about our play and our opponents were labelled 'Valiant'. Why? Almost anyone you would speak to ahead of the match would have suggested we were going to lose, most Gooners included, so how were Villa the underdogs? The beat us well at home not so long ago let's not forget.

I can only think that it was because so much has been expected of an Arsenal side over the last decade that whenever we get beat or even drop a couple of points, the tiny brains of the pundits only register on the surface and out comes the first thing that occurs to them. Honestly they really are so incredibly dense by and large they make black holes seem tissue-thin in comparison.

I had been approaching yesterdays game with some trepidation. I would certainly have accepted a draw before it began. But there is a strange thing that happens with young players which we have noted before when Henry was still at the club. When a big player is playing, young players tend to try and accommodate that player in the way they play themselves and don't express themselves by playing their own game. You could say that is called teamwork, but it's a tad more than that I think. Bizarrely with Cesc removed from the picture, some players had to play the best they could in the only way they could, and fortunately for us the mix of players created some good football. Credit where it's due, even Eboue had good touches particularly for Diaby's goal. If only we could have consistency then I would agree with Arsene, we do have the quality, at least in the midfield.

What we don't have is a defence. Actually that's not quite true, I think if Djourou and Clichy had been playing/fully fit maybe we wouldn't have been quite so stretched. Moot point really but it does again show how shallow the squad is. Toure huffed and puffed and tried, but may never be the player he was again. Sagna made the most acrobatic goal line clearance I have ever seen and by and Large Smiling Billy had a reasonable game. Let's face it, if anyone had got any kind of touch on Agbonlahor he would have been over, Gallas was just unfortunate it was him. I'm not convinced it was a penalty because Gallas was fouled first, but there you are, it's done now.

But for all that, we could still have won if our perennial issue had been corrected. We don't track back, and more specifically Denilson doesn't track back. I'm certainly not alone among Gooners in noticing this, but two minutes into injury time you should be pretty much up the shirt of any opponent who has the ball inside your own penalty area and we weren't. It wasn't a defeat, but it was only a couple of minutes from a very good victory. Yes we most likely need to splash the cash in a few days time, but if we don't have someone picking up such schoolboy errors it doesn't much matter who we buy, we're still going to concede too many goals.

Next up is Pompey. It's a sad thing but by beating them, we're going to put more pressure on Big Tony's job, but I suppose if he gets sacked maybe we could get him as a defensive co-ordinator. And speaking of transfers, I have heard Edu's name bandied about as being out of favour and maybe open to a move. Would it be so bad to get him back for a few more seasons to provide a little stability now we apparently do buy over thirty year olds? No he's not the answer to all that ails us, but he could be a part of the recipe for the medecine.