What’s the mood among Bolton fans heading to London?

WGO: There has never been a better time to face Arsenal at the Emirates.

AD: Personally, I’m feeling good about our chances but I know a lot of our fans are down about the recent results and team selections.

JB: I wonder which out of form Arsenal striker we’ll let score.

What has Owen Coyle done for the club since his arrival?

LT: To be fair to the bloke, he’s changed the way we play – in many respects for the better. However, sometimes I wish he didn’t use the same tactics against some of the bigger clubs as he does against the smaller clubs – we pay a heavy price for doing so. 5-0 against Man United wouldn’t have happened if Big Sam had been in charge!

MT: Transformed it. The players enjoy playing for him and the fans enjoy watching – two things that we were sadly missing under Megson.

HRG: Praised other managers.

How do you feel about your start to the season so far?

WW: Very disappointed with our last league result but other than that, not far from what I expected.

MT: Not great, but nothing to panic about. It’s been a difficult run of fixtures from which we didn’t expect to get many points, although the defeat at home to Norwich was disappointing as that’s a game where we’d have expected to get three points. The next couple of games are going to be tricky, but after that we’ve got a spell of matches where we should pick up points and start moving up the table.

TD: About the same as you, I’d imagine.

What game-plan can we expect Bolton to adopt?

WW: After the Villa game, Coyle will probably make a couple of changes regarding personnel, but the tactics and formation will more than likely stay the same.

MT: Hopefully we won’t be as open as we were against United, who tore us apart. Defensively, Arsenal look terrible and they generally struggle against ‘Big Kev’ so I can see us trying to get the ball out wide quickly and putting a lot of balls into the box.

TB: We haven’t got the faintest idea. Coyle has stubbornly stuck with 4-4-2 but intriguingly shuffled the formation in the cup.

What weaknesses will Bolton try to exploit?

WW: There seem to be broken-down links throughout the Arsenal team. For me, some of the players do not seem to know their jobs and it’s disrupting the whole ethos of your team, which is very sad to see.

MT: That terrible defence and the general lack of backbone that runs through the entire Arsenal squad.

TB: General Arsenal girlishness – I’d expect a lot of crosses into the box if we can get the ball.

Who do you think holds the key for Bolton?

WGO: If we revert to type, Kevin Davies. If we play 4-5-1, Stuart Holding and Nigel Reo-Coker.

LT: Eagles with his free-kicks and balls into the box, as well as strong defending from Cahill and Wheater!

LiOC: We shouldn’t be playing Knight, so whoever his replacement is.

Who will Bolton be most concerned about?

WGO: Walcott, if we play with Robbo & Petrov down the left-hand side.

WW: Nobody in particular. I think your strengths as a club revolve around teamwork and cohesion and it seems to be completely lost.

RA: Zat Knight.

What have we missed by not signing Gary Cahill?

WGO: Tricky question as he is probably over-rated, however he knows the Premier League and doesn’t need to adapt, unlike Mertesacker.

WW: You should have paid the asking price and now you have missed out as a more in-form, trophy winning team will get him. For me, he’ll go on to be one of the top five defenders in the world at some point in his career.

LiOC: A Champions League place.

To what extent does Arsenal’s recent form give an added sense of optimism?

AD: Arsenal are still the better team, but they’ve shown that they have weaknesses and can be beaten.

WGO: On the one hand, it adds optimism, but on the other hand, we generally help teams out of bad runs.

LiOC: If Blackburn can beat you, anyone can.

How do you expect it to go?

AD: I think it will be a close game with both teams having a lot of chances. I’d say it’ll be a 2-2 draw.

LT: If we play like we did against Villa, I would go for 2-2.

JB: 1-1 or 6-2 to you, depending on the line-ups.

Anything else we should know?

LT: Watch out for Eagles!

WW: We have a couple of new players in N’Gog and Kakuka who have shown a lot of promise, but they haven’t had the stage to show their talents yet – this could be it!

MT: Owen Coyle holds the Premiership record for most consecutive games watched in shorts – 37 games.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed and please feel free to drop a comment below. Arsenal to win a thriller, then.

Follow me on Twitter: @TommyGun_AFC

Contributors – FootyMad Forum: Whatsgoingon (WGO); Leeds Trotter (LT); Wanderin_Why (WW); Aidanbwfc (AD); The Wanderer Forum: Jimbo _bwfc (JB); Hisroyalgingerness (HRG); TangoDancer (TD); TheBish (TB); LiOC (LIOC); Raven (RA); Individual: Thommo (MT)

3-1 was never going to be enough, though – not to satisfy the media or, for that matter, the fans. The truth is that nothing was going to be enough – it was the footballing definition of a no-win situation.

If Arsenal had won 5-0, 6-0 or (heaven forbid) 8-2, we would have “only beaten League 2 Shrewsbury.” As it was, we were told that “Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain [came] to Arsenal’s rescue,” according to the Guardian. A bit of perspective would be nice – he scored in the 58^th minute, not the 88^th minute.

Speaking of which, Arsenal were roundly slaughtered for the attendance of 46,539 – The Sun, in particular, taking great joy in highlighting the “row upon row of empty seats,” with the accompanying photo of a “lone fan” sitting on his own, high in the stands.

Arsenal didn’t sell out, granted. Still, over 46,000 fans to watch a youthful team play a third-round Carling Cup tie with a League Two side on a Tuesday night isn’t bad. To put that in perspective, Manchester City drew a crowd of 25,070 for their Carling Cup match with reigning Champions, Birmingham. Chelsea welcomed 37,652 for their tie – a local derby with Fulham. Manchester City also failed to sell-out their first ever Champions League tie with Napoli last week. You’ll do well to find a mention of any of that in the media, though.

The key for Tuesday night was just to get through it – to win the game, move on and avoid a disaster. Anything less than a victory would have been just that and after half an hour, you could almost hear the critics licking their lips and sharpening their pencils. Thank goodness for Saint Alex, then.

I sense we could see plenty more of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain this season – and Francis Coquelin, too. They looked superb and I’m sure they’re hoping this year’s Carling Cup run is a long one. They’re not the only ones.

So, with Shrewsbury behind us, it’s on to Bolton. Make no mistake about it, we’re still in crisis – a defeat to Bolton and we’ll be in the bottom three at the start of October. Not too long ago, that would have been incomprehensible – today, it’s a very real possibility. On the plus side, a win could very nearly take us in to the heady heights of the top half.

Bolton will fancy their chances against us – they always do. Kevin Davies will be right up for this and Koscielny will have his hands full. Mertesacker will need to play well and Chezzer will need to command his box with greater authority than he did against Blackburn. I think if we’re going to win, we’ll need two, possibly more.

We’ll also need the fans behind us – all 60,000 this time.

Follow me on Twitter: @TommyGun_AFC

As such, the Shrewsbury Town Fanzine, Blue and Amber (@B_and_A_Fanzine), kindly took the time to give us their thoughts on the Carling Cup tie tonight:

What’s the mood among Shrewsbury fans heading to London?

The mood is mixed – excitement and trepidation. We’re excited as this will be a great trip for the Town, to a Premiership club with a big attendancea and one of the best Stadiums in the world - and a chance of an upset. There’s trepidation as we don’t want to get smashed out of sight and it’s a long way to go to see your club lose 6-0 or something. The feeling is mainly excitement, though.

How do you feel about your start to the season so far?

It’s been a great start to the season for Shrewsbury Town with everything you could want: exciting football, two derby wins (Hereford and Vale), an impressive away win at Gillingham and bar a late 91^st minute goal on the first day of the season, we would be top of the league! The style of football has been great to watch.

What game-plan can we expect Shrewsbury to adopt?

It’s hard to tell at this stage as, sadly, both our first choice centerbacks (Sharps and Sherriff) were injured on Saturday (one in the warm up!). Therefore, we might just go for it as, frankly, as our back line will not be the strongest. However, knowing out manager, I expect us to play conservatively and attack on the break.

I will be utterly surprised to see us park the bus, though – we like to play and will give it a go. We have a pacy front six now and will rely on that.

What weaknesses will Shrewsbury try to exploit?

The mental frailty at your club at the moment. Frankly, your players must be better than ours, as a whole – they’re at Arsenal for a reason. However, football is a game played in the head and with the feet. We’re a club and a squad high on confidence and passion, while from watching the recent Arsenal performances on Match of the Day or Sky you look shot to pieces when you concede.

I guess it helps that almost of all your first team seem permanently injured, too – and the fact you might play young ‘uns who might be feeling the pressure more than ever. An early goal for us and it may be much more of a game than anyone thinks it might be at the moment.

Who do we need to look out for?

We have a front three on fire at the moment. First, there is Marvin Morgan, a player signed at the start of the season who’s big, wins his headers and then gets it down and uses his unbelievable skills (for a league two player) to ghost past players with ease before smashing it home (if you want an example look no further than his goal on Saturday vs Port Vale on the BBC highlights).

Second, we have Lionel Ainsworth, a speedy, tricky winger who can dig out a cross from anywhere and has a keen eye for goal. He was described as a “Championship player in the making” by the Swansea Boss after he took them to pieces.

Third, is Nicky Wroe, a calm centre midfielder who can control the tempo of a game, pick a pass and unlock the tightest defence – he’s in the form of his life right now. He gets forward to support the attackers really well, too.

Who will Shrewsbury be most concerned about?

It would be along list, I reckon! Any of the first team players, I guess, if they play. I like the look of Frimpong, as well – I’m sure our CMs would have a hard time playing against him and Ramsey or Wilshere!

Honestly, I bet out lads are not even focussed on any one of your lads as the threat – they’re all going to be good compared to the players we come up against week in week out. Our key will be to focus on our own game and make sure we play our natural game and keep attacking.

To what extent does Arsenal’s recent form give an added sense of optimism?

Massively. Last season Liverpool were in a similar shambles and then lost to Northampton at home when nobody though it could get that bad. It did and it was only then people realised that their manager needed to go. That game was September 22^nd 2010, our game is two days earlier this season – on September 20^th. That shows that the situations are very similar.

From the outside, I can’t see any reason why Wenger should go - he’s totally transformed your club, given you stability in the long term and given you one of the most attractive teams to watch, week in week out. But a win for us and strange things happen – that’s the pressure you’re under this week, just to beat Shrewsbury Town at home.

All of this helps the mental attitude of our players in the build up to this game. Our manger will tell our lads there is no pressure on us and ultimately, all the pressure is on you. That’s how it is. 

What would a positive result do for your team?

Really, not much more than build on the massive amount of confidence they have already and hopefully get us another money spinning tie in the next round. It might also get us some much needed coverage – as one of the “small” clubs, we don’t get much time in the sun (literally and metaphorically). It would be nice to just make the main sports news story on Midlands Today!

How do you think it’ll go?

Despite the positives, I can’t see us winning in 90 mins, but I can see us keeping it tight. The optimist in me goes for 1-1 and who knows what could happen in extra time. The realist in me goes for 3-1 or 2-1 to you. I’m not sure a lumbering 2-1 victory over us actually helps your situation much at the moment, though. I guess your fans are hoping we get blown away.

Anything else we should know about you?

We have sold 5,000+ tickets for this one so expect a vocal army of Salopians to be in attendance. We have previous history of knocking big clubs out of cups (such as Arsenal) and we will be hoping to enjoy the day. And lastly, our fans are some of the nicest in the country, so if any Arsenal fans are in pubs pre match and you see an Blue and Amber shirt, come over and have a chat. Town fans love a bit of banter, especially as we’re actually good at the moment.

Another thing – if we score, do not be shocked to see a Town player doing the “FreshEgoKid” Celebration. One of our players (Morgan) has a clothing line (how Premiership!) and when they score they all do the “hands in the shape of a heart” celebration. It’s great to see a football at our level doing something outside of the game – if your interested his website is www.freshegokid.com.

… Oh and lastly, next season can you loan us all your decent young players?! That would be lovely!

Many thanks to Blue and Amber Fanzine for taking the time to write the above and please feel free to comment below…

Follow me on Twitter: @TommyGun_AFC

Make no mistake about it, this is a full-blown crisis.

I wrote last week of a new dawn, of new beginnings and renewed hope. I’m disappointed to say that I was about as wrong as I could have been – it now transpires that last week was none of the above and I fear it could get a whole lot worse before it gets any better.

There’s little point in dissecting the disastrous, calamitous and spineless display against Blackburn, but here are a couple of highlights I picked up over the weekend:

• Blackburn began the game bottom of the league, with a protest against their manager – they now sit above us
• Blackburn had scored one goal in their first four games – they scored four in one game against us
• We have never had a negative goal-difference in the Premier League – it’s currently -8
• Only Vermaelen was missing from our first choice defensive unit – only Koscielny also played against United
• If Fulham had beaten rather than drawn with Manchester City we would be in the bottom three.
• Only four other teams have ever conceded 14 goals in their first five Premier League games – three were relegated and the other finished 17th

That’s right, I went there – I used the big ‘R-word.’ Is it as impossible as it sounds?

Our league form since the Carling Cup Final reads like this: DDDWDDLWLLDDLLWL. That’s 16 points from 16 games – extrapolated across a full season, 38 points will get you relegated.

We’re not talking about a dip in form, we’re talking about a sustained spell of failure and underperformance. Every team that lines up against us fancies their chances at the moment and who can blame them? I said at half-time that I thought we would need the third goal – we got the third goal and still lost.

Of course, we’re missing two world-class players in Wilshere and Vermaelen, but the fact we’re as reliant on them as we appear to be points to another major failing. They will come back and they will make a difference, but here’s a terrifying thought: What happens if van Persie gets injured? Or Szczesny?

Looking at it objectively, I don’t think we’ll actually get relegated, but thoughts of a top-four finish are fanciful and even a place in the Europa League looks like a long-shot.

I was in the pub yesterday with a fan who said, “to be fair, I think we’ll definitely finish in the top half.” This is what it’s come to – this is where expectations currently lie and for that, the manager has to take responsibility.

When Arsene took total control of the footballing side, he assumed total responsibility for the footballing side – the successes, the failures and almost more importantly, each response to each failure.

We have systematically failed to respond to failure time and time again and it begs the question, how bad does it have to get? How long can Arsene continue to trade on past glory?

I’ve always been one of his biggest fans and I’m going to stop short of saying it’s time for a change, but I’m afraid the goodwill and aura of greatness that was generated by Doubles and Invincibles has been all but eroded by now – you can sense it in the stands, in the forums and blogs, through the media and crucially, you can sense it on the pitch.

It’s Shrewsbury tomorrow and questions abound: Will they fear us? Should they fear us? Would they fear Blackburn? Can we afford to play “the kids?” Aren’t we already?

Make no mistake about it, a point in Dortmund was not a new dawn. This is a full-blown crisis.

Follow me on Twitter: @TommyGun_AFC

The last time I wrote, we had just beaten Udinese away, Nasri was about to have a medical in Manchester, we were gearing up for a potentially tricky trip to Old Trafford and there were seven days remaining in the transfer window.

Have I missed much?

Since then, my sources tell me we successfully mugged £25m from City for a player they could have had for free next season, we were edged out at Old Trafford, we signed 233 international caps – and an Arteta – and thumped Swansea. All in all, not too bad!

In fact, I’d go so far as to say the last few weeks reflected near perfect preparation for our first Champions League tie – as luck would have it, against the Pot Four minnows of… Borussia Dortmund?

Seedings, co-efficients, rankings, whatever you want to call them – they’re an absolute joke. How can Dortmund, runaway winners of the Bundesliga last year (seven points and 25 goals better than second-place Bayer Leverkusen) and previous winners of the Champions League (albeit in 1996-97), be seeded in Pot Four, when Manchester City, third-place in England and less Champions League experience than Everton be seeded in Pot Three?

I mean, if UEFA can do that, FIFA might as well rank England as one of the top four international teams! Oh.

Anyway, despite being on the back-foot from the first minute to the last, I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the battle on Tuesday.

How refreshing to see an Arsenal team fight for each other, dig in, defend well and nearly win ugly.

Too often we’re bastions of the beautiful game – tippy-tappy around the box, trying to create the perfect goal. How many times have you seen us enjoy 98% of the possession, see their keeper play a blinder and then have it all go Almunia at the back?

Not this time.

The defence was regularly scrambled and pushed to the limit, but (aside from an absolute worldly) held uncharacteristically firm. There wasn’t much Chezzer could do about a strike like that, but it was wonderful to have the thought that, “it must have been a strike if even he couldn’t get near it.” It’s been a long time since we had a keeper that inspired such confidence.

In front of him, Koscielny looked more like the player that marshalled Xavi, Messi, Villa and co. than the one that… didn’t marshal Rooney and Young quite so well. Amazing what happens when you buy a quality centre-half to put beside him. Sagna was rock solid again and even Gibbs won some challenges despite being out of position time and time again. Not to mention – and whisper it gently – we didn’t look as vulnerable from set-pieces. Again, amazing what happens when you buy a quality (and giant) centre-half.

Song battled throughout, Yossi never stopped running and our new cult-hero, Frimpong, added the required bite – and energy – late on. Almost just as fabulously enjoyable, was watching a fantastically creative (Spanish) midfielder want to drive us forward, put his foot in and be prepared to shed blood for the cause. We used to have one of those a while back.

Up front, the skipper put in a great shift and took his goal superbly (on his weaker foot) after actually winning the ball back in the first place. Gervinho looked dangerous – if totally unpredictable – throughout. As for Walcott, he ran fast again – mainly down blind alleys. Again. He did play the ball through to Robin that gave us the lead, though. Every cloud and all that.

Across the board, though, they fought, hassled, harried and ultimately won an invaluable point. It’s always disappointing to concede an equaliser in the 89th minute, but let’s be honest, we’d have taken a point at kick-off and frankly, I was hoping for a point in injury time.

Regaining the confidence and the swagger necessary to compete for any – let alone all – of the competitions we’re involved in will take time, but it also will take results and performances. Against Dortmund, as far as I’m concerned, we got both – and we got them in a way that we’ve become unaccustomed to seeing at the Arsenal. Add Vermaelen, Ramsey and Wilshere to the squad that played in Germany and we’re in better shape than many think.

If this is the start of a new dawn, I like it – it looks like a team that wants to play for each other and for us. As a fan, I can’t ask for much more than that*.

*Except a win at Blackburn, I also want a win at Blackburn.

Follow me on Twitter: @TommyGun_AFC

Ten minutes later, Gervinho played Walcott through and credit where credit’s due, he took the goal superbly. As Theo wheeled away, the tie was effectively settled – we’d pulled ourselves back from the brink and put ourselves in the group stage. By such margins are some matches – and legacies – decided.

Noticeably, Theo had a chance from a similar position in the dying moments of the first leg and the keeper produced a worldy to turn it around the far post. This time, he shaped to do the same, but closed his foot at the last moment, sent the keeper the wrong way and swept it in to the near post – not bad for a lad without a football brain. More than that, though, it was another pivotal moment and the perfect advert for his claim to play through the middle. It also conjured memories of another – somewhat more prolific – number 14 from years past. He still has much to learn, but it was great to see.

Also great to see, was a team that actually seemed to want to fight for each other. If it’s true that adversity can bring a team closer together, we should be as tight as they come and at times last night, it felt like that.

Vermaelen was imperious again, Jenkinson, while still learning his trade, seems to have made the step from non-league to Champions League with remarkable ease while our right back performed admirably at left back and even Djourou won some headers. Song, Frimpong, Ramsey and in the second half, Rosicky, dug in when they needed to and in the end, our greater fitness and pace up-front made the difference – Gervinho the most impressive of the three, providing assists for both goals. All of this, at long last, built on the foundation of a world-class keeper.

Of course, it’s not all sunshine and smiles – the way a second-tier Italian team carved us open several times in the first half and our continued dependence on van Persie are still cause for concern (as are the well-documented off-pitch problems), but this team has taken a hammering in recent times, so let’s just enjoy this and leave that for another day – there will be plenty of them.

For now, we can revel in the fact that Arsenal Football Club are at the top table of European football for a 15th successive season – I’d suggest we make the most of it, too – it’s Old Trafford on Sunday…

Follow me on Twitter: TommyGun_AFC

This time, though, it’s different – it’s happening right now, everyone (almost everyone) can see it and it’s unfolding in slow-motion. We’re watching the slowest train-wreck in history. It seems every day, the gloom around the Club deepens a little further.

Today’s installment of this surreal summer is that Arsenal have agreed terms with Manchester City for the sale of Samir Nasri. Reports suggest a fee somewhere around £23m, which is, in theory, great business for a player in the last year of his contract.

That said, it only makes good sense if a. it doesn’t cost us qualification to the Champions League group stage and b. the money gets re-invested in a player of equal or better standard. We’ll know about the first of those by tomorrow night and about the other in eight days – to be frank, I fear the worst on both counts.

To make things worse, it seems Jack has suffered a setback and could be out of action for another two months – the comparisons to Vermaelen’s injury last season are inevitable and on the basis of the season so far, a similar outcome would be disastrous.

As well as the children played on Saturday, the 0-2 home defeat to Liverpool demonstrated the glaring deficiencies in the squad – there’s little more to be said about that, but as a further sickener, our best player on the day was Nasri himself. Honestly, you couldn’t make it up.

So, the team head to Italy to play arguably our biggest game in not-so-recent memory with a squad low on confidence, morale, experience, depth and quality. Di Natale said today, “[Arsenal] have problems in every area. They are playing with doubts spread throughout the side.” The most galling part of that statement is not to much that he said it, but that he’s right.

Still, in the desperate search for some good news, at least van Persie returns from suspension, while Song, Gervinho and Frimpong, all suspended for the trip to Old Trafford, are eligible for European action. Djourou and Rosicky seem to have recovered from their respective hamstring strains and Squillaci did not travel to Italy – encouraging reports suggest he’s not even near Italy.

That’s about the extent of the good news, but you’d still think a club of our stature should have enough to go through. Unfortunately, this year, this week, with this team, I’m not so sure.

Ultimately, perhaps the most telling reflection of the status quo comes from our own Conor Henderson, who tweeted today, “the night is darkest just before the dawn.” It’s not hard to imagine that’s as much a reflection on his own misfortune as it is a comment on where the club as a whole finds itself right now – let’s just hope the darkest night doesn’t come in Udine.

Follow me on Twitter: TommyGun_AFC

Heading in to the Liverpool game, I can’t remember a time when the general mood among Arsenal fans has been as fractious or as mutinous - sniping at players, manager, board and owner alike. Personally, my primary emotion is not so much one of anger, but confusion. Truth be told, I just don’t get it.

How can we sell an international left-back and ”replace” him with an injury-prone kid, for start? One week in and Gibbs is already injured and to compound the madness, it seems we’re sending Traore, our only other left-back, out on loan. What?!

How can we be selling Fabregas and Nasri, our two most creative midfielders, without a replacement for either waiting in the wings? Here we are, it’s mid-August and we’ve known both departures were possible, if not likely, since May. Aguero leaves Atletico and they immediately replace him with Falcao. Sensible. We may well replace one or both by August 31st, but by then we could have one point from nine and be in the Europa League. Where’s the logic there? It makes about as much sense as including Nasri in the squad for tomorrow – what message does that send to the squad?

The questions are endless - how can we be willing to sell Bendtner and keep the appalling Chamakh? How can a team built on the foundation of attacking football have one world-class, but injury-prone, striker? How can we expect Frimpong, a child in a man’s body, to cover for Song during the African Nations? Why are we not in for Mata or Parker? Why have we not strengthened the defence? Are we happy with Fabianski as back-up for Chezzer?

I could go on, but the big question remains - what’s the plan?

In the short-term, the plan might need to be damage limitation. As positive as I try to be, I just can’t see us getting anything other than a thumping from Liverpool.

The image of Downing whipping in crosses to Carroll all day is enough to make the stomach turn, Suarez will pull young Jenkinson all over the place and a likely midfield of Ramsey, Frimpong and Chamberlain just doesn’t stack up against whichever combination of Adam, Maxi, Meireles and Henderson they go for (thank Bergkamp that Gerrard’s injured) .

Liverpool have sold Torres and moved on in a way we can only dream of at the moment. They’ve been decisive, they’ve bought what they need and they look a team on the up. We, are on the other hand, can lay claim to none of the above.

Having said all that, it’s still Arsenal vs. Liverpool and we still have Robin van Persie. Sorry, Captain van Persie, but we may need a miracle. Still, miracles do happen, don’t they, Kenny…?

Follow me on Twitter: TommyGun_AFC

Ultimately, as ever, it’s a question of money. There’s an estimated £25m on the line just for making the group stage, but it’s about more than just that. It’s about being able to lure the best players in the world and being able to keep the best players in the squad.

Simply put, we cannot expect Robin van Persie to be content to play in the Europa League.

So, in that respect, we’re halfway there. Win? Check. Clean-sheet? Check. The problem is that the top-line view only tells a fraction of the story – despite the result, on the evidence of last night, we’re in all kinds of trouble.

On the plus side (and it’s slim pickings), the defence – particularly Chezzer and Kozzer – was superb again. Despite his age, we seem to have the makings of a world-class keeper. A couple of worldies ensured we kept a second consecutive clean-sheet – the highlight being the crucial block when one-one-one with Armero in the first-half, while Kozzer appears to be developing a great understanding with Vermaelen in the middle.

That aside, I’m struggling for positives.

It tells you all you need to know about the strength of the squad that our two substitutions in the second half were to bring on a 19-year old right-back to play his first competitive match outside the third-tier of English football… at left-back, followed by another 19-year old with 45 minutes of first-team football to his name. They’re good prospects, for sure, and would be perfect for our Carling Cup team – but a crucial Champions League qualifier?

The midfield looked devoid of creativity, drive or purpose – Ramsey desperately trying to make things happen, but you can’t make a puppet dance if the strings are broken. Song, to his credit, battled well and was at least visible – more than could be said for Rosicky (how sad to see, firstly, what he’s become and secondly, that we find ourselves depending on him staying fit).

Up-front, Gervinho, far from the worst culprit, seems to have been strongly reprimanded for having the temerity to shoot from outside the box against Cologne – he’s clearly learned his lesson, but at least provided some purpose and direction. Surrounded by better players, I’m convinced he’ll flourish.

Walcott, goal aside, was desperate. He ran fast (occasionally even with the ball), but his delivery has clearly not improved in the slightest, yet all would have been forgiven had he taken that chance in injury time. He didn’t.

As for Chamakh, I really don’t have the words for him – actually, I have a few, but none that wouldn’t require censorship. Suffice to say, the only possible excuse for him staying on the pitch must be that that both Djourou and Gibbs broke again. That we can even contemplate selling Bendtner and sending Vela out on loan, leaving him as the only “natural” alternative to Robin van Persie, would be laughable were it not for the fact that it could actually happen. Heaven help us.

Somewhat surprisingly, the crowd stayed on-side throughout – no doubt largely due to the early goal, but it was good to hear. No booing, no encouragement to spend some money, no complaints about the 6% price-hike and perhaps most surprisingly, no Nasri-bashing. That said, also noticeable, again by virtue of its absence, was any vocal support for Arsene. Still, it appears that despite what the City-bound, despicable two-faced French mercenary tweets next, the respect between the fans and the players/manager remains intact. For now, anyway.

Quite how long that remains the case is anyone’s guess. We will likely head in to the next match of this crucial opening month without Jack, Song, Gervinho, Gibbs, Djourou and maybe Rosicky, not to mention those seemingly on their way out (Bendtner & Almunia) and those already elsewhere (Cesc, Clichy, Eboue, Denilson & Vela).

Staggeringly, the revolving door continues to swing – in one direction – while the clamour for new faces reaches fever-pitch.

With even Champions League qualification still unsure, has there ever been a more decisive two-week period in Arsenal history? Not that I can remember.

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Off the pitch, Fabregas has finally signed for Barcelona, Nasri looks set to follow him out after blasting the fans that once adored him and even Eboue seems to have bantered someone in to taking him to Istanbul.

On the pitch, the season is off to a stuttering start, but there’s little time to dwell as we lurch straight in to the biggest home game since that night in February – how far away the euphoria of that triumph feels.

With Eboue in Turkey, Clichy in Manchester, Djourou third-choice, Jack injured, Theo on the bench, Nasri forgotten, Fabregas departed, Robin suspended and Bendtner watching YouTube clips of himself, just four of the Barca-beaters are likely to start tonight: Chezzer, Kozzer, Song and Arshavin (who came off the bench). That was just six months ago and even Wenger’s suspended following Barca-gate.

Still, we are where we are and we go in to the first-leg of our Champions League Qualifier with a considerable sense of trepidation – a bit like the sense you get when the ball is played over the top and Squillaci drops back – that “it-should-be-ok-but-you-just-can’t-be-sure” type insecurity.

We’ll likely line up with the same team that drew in Newcastle, with Chamakh a not-so-like-for-like replacement for Robin. Either that or he’ll push Gervinho forward and put Walcott and Arshavin wide. Either way, we really should have enough.

Udinese have some good players (di Natale, the top-scorer in Serie A for the past two seasons, for a start), but their season doesn’t start for another few weeks, so they can’t possibly be as sharp as us.

They’re going to be rusty, so they’re likely to start slowly, giving us a chance to assert ourselves – we need to swarm all over them, like the good old days – get the early goal and keep the tempo Arsenal-high. They’re also likely to tire in the last 20 minutes, so when we bring the pace off our bench we’ll have a chance to go for the kill.

Therein lies the key for tonight – we need to win, of course, but if it’s there for the taking, we need to end the tie. A decisive result means we’re guaranteed the income from the Champions League proper, we can invest that money sooner rather than later and gives us another week to attract the sort of players we need to compete at the highest level. There’s also the benefit of being able to spare a few key players the trip to Italy.

More than anything, though, we just need to qualify and we can take a large step towards that end with a good result tonight.

Despite what’s been written, the atmosphere at kick-off will be good – the fans will be behind the players (most of them) and the manager, but there’s an undeniable undercurrent of dissatisfaction, so it won’t take long for the mood to change. We need that fast start – we need to score first.

I sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that, though. In times like these, it’s more important than ever that the fans unite behind the players and that the players who are on the pitch show that they want to play for us.

We’ll be up for it tonight – I just hope they are too.

Follow me on Twitter: TommyGun_AFC