Unreplaced invincibles lie at the heart of Arsenal's malaise.

It looks like we might be in for a long season. A lot of us may have thought that last season was a 'transition year' but its shaping up to being the beginning of a more prolonged period of change and, hopefully, progress. And at the moment its hard to know whether our league form has now, unquestionably, hit the bottom of the trough, or whether the nadir of our current woes still lies in the future.

The heart of the problem is, actually, rather straightforward: we've lost a great team and haven't yet created a new one. The greater difficulty is knowing whether we're on the right track to a brighter future; whether the players we have at the moment really have the potential to win trophies and become a new golden generation, or if they're, actually, a rather mediocre lot.

Arsene has got lost a lot of top players in the last two years. Vieira, Edu, Pires, Campbell, Bergkamp, Cole and Reyes have all left, while Freddie is so far gone that its no longer worth considering him as a player who can really contribute to the team.

Arsene can't really be blamed for letting these players go. Bobby, Sol, Dennis and even Vieira were either over the hill or not cutting it anymore; Jose, Edu and Cashley had to be let go. Yet who has replaced them? That is the crux of our current problems. Quality has left and its not clear whether it's been replaced.

We now have a midfield without any physicality. Hleb, Rosicky, Fab and Gilbs do make tackles and win the ball, but they're artistic players at heart. They don't have the rugged power of a Vieira, or even the less refined, but necessary bite of a Grimandi or Parlour. And, crucially, none of these artistic players are great goalscorers. A fundamental problem we have at present is that we do not have goalscoring midfielders: we need a new Bobby or Marcy Overmars, and I don't think Hleb or Rosicky will get the goals we need; which is not to say they are not fantastic players. We've effectively lost players who contributed 20-30 goals a year, and they haven't been replaced.

We now have players such as Flamini and Song genuinely competing for places in midfield, and that's unacceptable. Neither have the passing or tackling ability to warrant a place. Diaby can't get back soon enough - because he offers genuine hope - but what are we to make of Baptisa - A 'beast' who has been consistently muscled off the ball in the games he's played thusfar? We've been so accustomed to mediocrity that Gilberto has established himself as a senior player and an automatic starter, instead of someone who should be fighting for his place.

Clichy may get better but he's not as good as Cole, and, take a deep breath, we miss a player of Cashley's quality on the left. I detest Cashley's antics and what he did to our club, but we're crying out for a decent left-back. Both Che£sea and ManU have two. Traore, to me, has looked far more impressive in his few outings, but he's painfully young. A purchase needs to be made.

Moreover, Baptista - who plays where? - 'replaced' Reyes, depriving of us of more options on the left. We have no left wing at the moment, and its hurting us. I'm sure that part of the reason we're playing 4-5-1, and forcing RvP to play out of position is because of this deficiency.

And on to Dennis. Dennis is, more than anyone, a genuinely one-off talent - but we need a player to link attack and defence in that style, because Henry's suffering from having to drop back and get balls that would have been played through to him in the past. He's also suffering, from the lack of a left-wing. He's the best player I've seen at our club, but if he's not contributing, he's not contributing, and we need more options up-front. Moreover, I firmly believe that Jens should be made captain in order to keep Thierry, and the rest of the team on its toes.

We weren't out muscled by Fulham yesterday; we were outplayed. There's a difference. To complain of offside decisions when we already two goals down is almost facetious, and even Arsene must know that we're simply not good enough at the moment. Our problems start at the back and our defence needs tightening up. To concede first in so many games is unacceptable. We look shaky almost every time an attack come at us, even with Gallas, one of the few players who've replaced an invincible such as Campbell in terms of class and ability.

But what to do? People are screaming out for us to buy, but with Diaby and Lauren coming back, and hopefully Baptista finally coming in to form, I'm not expecting Arsene to buy in January. The calls for him to go are ludicrous because I think he's genuinely being let down by players. Last night he fielded a poor team, but the three huge games coming up were clearly weighing on his mind. If we have another poor season, I think only then will the chequebook genuinely come out, but not before. I have the feeling we may have to endure another hard season, in order that Arsene can finally start to separate the wheat from the chaff, and continue his re-building process.

My one piece of advice to Arsene: buy a thug. Buy a new Grimandi. Buy someone to protect your artists, to give our team some respect among our opponents. After all, all artists need their patrons, as it were.

Dig in - this season may not be pleasant. A third place finish will be an achievement , but one, due to the general mediocrity of teams aside from ManU and Che£sea, which is probably achievable. A win against the Spuds would be a good, and almost mandatory, start.