It is an old football adage that a great team is built around a great spine. With that in mind, Arsene Wenger is in big trouble.

In two home games against their two main rivals, Arsenal have been totally overrun, registering comprehensive defeats to Chelsea (0-3) and Manchester United (1-3). In both games, the Gunners have been outmuscled and outthought in every department.

It is worth breaking this down into each individual third of the pitch:

Central defence – the best defensive pairings have at least one commanding, non-nonsense defender in the mould of Terry or Vidic. A classier, quicker partner compliments this well.

Neither Gallas nor Vermealen quite cut the figure of a commanding leader of a centre back. This results in a perceived weakness & disorganisation which spreads throughout the whole team. Didier Drogba has taken great joy in tormenting Arsenal for the last four years and the superlative Wayne Rooney was equally devastating on Sunday.

Central midfield – Cesc Fabregas must be one of the finest talents in Europe. Unfortunately his impact is being blunted in the big games by central midfield partners lacking in presence and influence. Let’s face it – Denilson is never going to be the next Keane or Vieira. Chelsea and Man Utd both possess phenomenal strength and quality in midfield, and Wenger’s team have lost those vital midfield battles spectacularly.

Up front – Arsenal miss Robin van Persie massively, as Wenger’s other strike options are lightweight, aside from Bendtner, who does not seem to be good enough at this level. With the likes of Rooney, Drogba & Anelka, the top two have a decisive edge to their play, particularly on the counter attack, where as Arsenal find themselves too reliant on executing a wonder-pass. It has been noticeable, too, to observe how ineffective Arsenal are from wide positions. With no striking presence, they score few goals from wide in open play or set pieces.

If Arsenal’s outfield issues were not enough, the position of goalkeeper must be questioned. If you were to put the 20 first-choice keepers in order, would Manuel Almunia make your Top 10? Nani has rightly been praised for creating United’s first goal. However, his fantastic skill has diverted attention from the absolute horlicks that Almunia made of the cross. Goalkeeping errors undermine all the outfield efforts, and affect the team’s overall confidence.

Although he might not admit it, Wenger must be aware of these issues. However no signings of note have arrived at the Emirates in the January transfer window. You must fear for their season with tricky games against Chelsea and Liverpool on the horizon.

Arsene Wenger is clearly an intelligent man and brilliant manager. However, in the light of his team’s 3-0 home humbling to Chelsea, he runs the risk of damaging his considerable credibility. Read on to find out why…

In the build-up to this vital match, Wenger issued a call to arms for his players – they can no longer be considered a young team; now is the time to deliver against the league leaders. 90 minutes later, and Arsenal’s fragility had been cruelly exposed by a bullying, clinical Chelsea. Having set the scene in advance, Wenger would surely have to concede – his team fell badly short in both final thirds. A lack of incision in attack; a lack of organisation in defence.

But rather than admitting any shortfall in his own team, Wenger chose to blame the officials. He reasoned that Arsenal dominated the game and Chelsea scored with their first shot.

A dose of reality is required. Chelsea had 5 shots on target to Arsenal’s 3. Possession ended up only 51-49 in Arsenal’s favour. If Arshavin’s goal was disallowed harshly, what of Sagna dragging down Anelka in the box and Vermeulen’s rugby tackle of Terry, both offences committed in the area?

With the news of Robin van Persie’s extended absence still raw, and in the immediate aftermath of an embarrassing home defeat, maybe you can excuse Wenger’s reaction. But in the cold light of day, he must surely recognise that Arsenal lack leadership and power across the field. The Invincibles team was built around exactly that.

Their frailties will rarely be exposed against the majority of teams in the Premier League and Champions League. But against the top teams in Europe, the Gunners’ soft centre will be there for all to see. Until Wenger addresses this and performs a major overhaul, Arsenal fans will have a long wait for their next major trophy.

Arsene Wenger has refused to rule out a move to Real Madrid, and has called the possible presidency of Florentine Perez ‘Interesting’. After the severe grilling he apparently received last Thursday from the Arsenal shareholders, who could blame him? Yes, they have gone four seasons without a trophy, but he has transformed the club, made them solvent, and, despite his recent barren spell, successful.

If the gratitude he receives is, in his own words, ‘being made to feel like I’ve killed someone’, it’s unsurprising that other options look ‘interesting’.

However, for someone who prides themselves on solid foundations and a view to the long term, Real, with their penchant for sacking managers willy-nilly, seems an odd choice. They would certainly not tolerate four seasons without silverware, however nice the football they played. Wenger would certainly need assurances before making any sort of move.

The title says it all, really. Arsenal do not have a ‘go to’ man, someone who can grab a game by the scruff of its neck, someone who can win it for his team. Fantasy Football actually brought this home to me – you want a points scoring Liverpool player, you pick Gerrard. You want a Chelsea points scorer, you pick Lampard. You want a Man Utd points scorer, you pick Ronaldo. Who from Arsenal?

It would have been – was, last season- Fabregas, but he has been a shadow of his former self this year. I have never seen him misplace as many passes as he did against Villa. I don’t think its any coincidence that his upturn in form came with the regular appearence of Mathieu Flamini, and his form has tailed off since the Frenchman’s departure.

Cesc is still a great player, but no longer seems to have that midas touch – perhaps, now he is surrounded by Nasri, Walcott and Denilson, he feels responsibility as a senior player, no longer has the freedom he did alongside Hleb, Rosicky – and Flamini.

You can no longer rely on Fabregas for goals or match turning contributions.

Adebayor? Van Persie? Both are too inconsistent, and too reliant on chances creted by others. They are strikers, finishers – top class players, but ones who feed too much off the rest of the side to be considered talismans.

So who… Gallas? His captaincy widely thought to be a mistake by Wenger? Toure? Out of form, often out of the side. Clichy or Sagna? Full backs cannot be talismanic.

Arsenal lack a leader, lack someone who can seize hold of a game, turn it around, control it – they lack a Gerrard, a Lampard, a Ronaldo – and until they get a similarly dominant figure, they will not push those three teams that do.

And they won’t have a shoe-in for Fantasy Football.

I said I was excited to see Carlos Vela – and he didn’t disappoint, scoring a superb goal, Arsenal’s third, as their youth team played Wigan off the park. Jay Simpson, Millwall’s player of the year last season, was also excellent, netting the other two. Another highlight from the game was Lukas Fabianski’s brilliant double save, the second, from Amr Zaki, truly breathtaking.

The average age of the Arsenal team was just 18.7, and we will be seeing a lot more of a lot of them. Wenger has moulded another great side – it just happens to also be their youth side.

A few posts below I laud Arsene Wenger as a visionary and a dreamer, a footballing romantic, and that was evidenced again here. It appears Arsenal have one fluid, attractive, gifted, beautiful footballing side capable of finishing in the top 4 – and a whole other one capable of beating decent Premiership sides such as Wigan.

But what is the use of a reserve side who are that good if your first team are losing to Hull, Stoke and Fulham? Does Wenger care? Brilliant to watch, undoubtedly a fantastic footballing achievement, but further evidence of his flawed genius.

Elsewhere, Stoke’s second string avoided a potential banana skin against Rotherham, and Man Utd’s reserves snuck past QPR thanks to a late Tevez penalty. He was desperate to take it, and it will have done wonders for his confidence.

Derby beat Leeds 2-1 at home, and Watford avenged the weekend defeat against Swansea, winning 2-1 away from home.

All the goals from all the game are, as always, available at http://101greatgoals.com

Arsene Wenger

A lot has been written about Arsene Wenger recently; much of which will now die down after the ‘plucky underdogs’ beat Man Utd.

But one swallow doesn’t make a summer. If there was a problem, it was there before the game, and it is there now. I for one don’t think there is.

Wenger has done an outstanding, nay incredible job at Arsenal. They were in 11th place when he took over, and he’s delivered not only success – three Premierships and five runners up spots, four FA cups and one runners up spot, and runners up once each in the Champions League, UEFA Cup, and League Cup – but has completely revitalised the club’s status, popularity, stadium – but most staggeringly playing style. He has taken ‘boring boring Arsenal’ (do people actually remember how dull they were?) and made them into arguably the most attractive and aesthetically pleasing side in the world.

Yes, he is a flawed genius – too loyal to his football purism, too focussed on beautiful football, too loyal to his band of superbly talented youngsters. Too unwilling to spend the money his success has put into the Arsenal coffers.

But he is a visionary, he’s a dreamer, a romantic who wants to win things his way, the Wenger way, the Arsenal way, the beautiful way. He is a football inventor and innovator, poet, creationist; a superbly talented, frustratingly brilliant, king amongst managers. I hope he stays forever.

Arsenal’s, obviously.

They beat Sheffield Utd 6-0 at Highbury last night, with Carlos Vela netting a hat trick, Nicolas Bendtner two, and Jack Wilshire finishing the rout. The Telegraph’s take on the youthfullness:

If Arsenal’s players had worn white nappies and carried red dummies, few would have been surprised. Their combined age was just 209 – 90 years fewer than United.

The average age of Wenger’s youngsters was 19, with four players – Vela, Wilshere, a mere 16 years and 267 days, Gavin Hoyte and Fran Merida – starting a competitive game for the first time.

And if this is the future of Arsenal, traditionalists should be satisfied; the starting XI included four Englishman and a Welshman, the first time in more than five years that five Brits have worn Arsenal’s colours from the start.

Arsenal really are a shining example to the rest of the Premiership. They are a well run, financially secure, un-indebted (except to Arsene Wenger) well supported club, who invest in youth and look to the future.

They scour the world for the best young talent to bring on and develop in the Arsenal (Arsene) mould… that talent is simply not English (or is too expensive, minus the odd exception like Aaron Ramsey) hance the foreign bent – but as above, even this may be changing.

Its all very well for Utd and Chelsea to mortgage themselves up to the eyeballs and buy success – but in my mind Arsenal’s is the greater achievement.

If the credit crunch does take its toll on football, and the huge debts becomes unserviceable, Arsenal’s young starlets will be the ones laughing.