After six consecutive wins, Arsenal exposes weakness to gift Birmingham with a draw and make the title race that much more difficult.

Weaknesses? Almunia (lucky not to have let in 2 goals), Denilson (must as well not have been playing) and of course, Bendtner (how many times did he touch the ball?). This is what every Arsenal fan has been saying – we need a goalkeeper, defensive midfielder and striker because these three just don’t cut it.

Almunia – poor in general, pathetic “save” at the end. I’d rather have Manonne in goal.

Clichy – didn’t see his usual surging runs down the left but defended fair enough.

Campbell – doesn’t have his speed but still a commanding figure.

Song – didn’t do much wrong, still would prefer him in midfield with Verminator back.

Sagna – crosses still useless, maybe Eboue should have played.

Fabregas – think the slight injury got to him, should have come off a little earlier.

Denilson – gave away the ball too much, didn’t win enough tackles. consistently not doing well enough.

Rosicky – no idea why he came off instead of Denilson, great runs and spark.

Walcott – two great instances to show why his pace is a great asset but his finishing isn’t.

Diaby – best player Arsenal had on the pitch today. held the ball when he needed to, passed when he needed to. More and more like Vieira every day.

Bendtner – what’s there to say? Didn’t even attempt that missed header, barely touched the ball and when he did, made nothing out of it. Inconsistency is his middle name, I don’t care if he scored a hat-trick.

Subs:

Arshavin – didn’t look his best, especially missing that goal opportunity

Nasri – pure class, should have come on for Fabregas or Denilson at half time.

And to close: why didn’t we see Eduardo? This would have been perfect! Arsenal is leaving too much of their fate in the hands of Chelsea and Manchester United. As far as I’m concerned, the last three matches have been poor for Arsenal. Time to shape up or get shipped out by Barcelona.

For the first time in the years I’ve been supporting Arsenal, I’m feeling really disappointed in them – more specifically with Arsene Wenger.

There were signs that after 5 years without a trophy this could be it, but in the span of a few games we’ve been knocked out of the FA cup and on a downward spiral in the league that we seem unable to get the hell out of.

No one cares about clawing back from an 11 point deficit to get to top of the table for 4 days because it’s where you end up. Losing twice to Chelsea and twice to Man U is just not acceptable.

I’m sick and tired of repeating Almunia and Bendtner are wastes of space every week. Vermalen was a great buy but the January transfer window was the time to buy and I’m really sick of hearing the same excuses over and over again from Wenger.

In the early years it was no money, but we’ve sold Henry, Pires, Ljungberg, Toure, Vieira, Adebayor and Flamini and have never really replaced any of them. It wasn’t that long ago that players like Pires could score double figures a season but that seems long gone now.

Seriously what’s Wenger’s excuse for not bringing in a new goalkeeper? Arguably since David Seaman every first team ‘keeper has been sub par. And I’m not even asking for a “world class” keeper – at this point a Thomas Sorensen or Brad Friedel or even Joe Hart would be preferable to Almunia.

And up front, let’s please not delude ourselves that Bendtner is worthy of playing in an Arsenal shirt. Robin van Persie gets injured and we pin our striking hopes to win the title on him? Please.

The only thing good about this season is that Gallas and Vermalen have been mostly solid at the back. I don’t know what excuses a midfield with talent like Fabregas, Rosicky, Nasri, Diaby, Walcott, Song, Denilson and Ramsey have. Sagna needs to learn how to cross and our strikers like Arshavin and Eduardo have to just let loose and shoot.

As far as I’m concerned, only a miracle will save our season now and it’s back to the 2010/2011 season hearing the same tune in a different year.

I’m Arsenal till I die – but for once I’d like something to show for it.

First off, I have to say, as an Arsenal fan that hasn’t watched a game in four months, even watching them lose 2-0 on a 13 inch screen with fuzzy players and Portuguese commentary was a joy.

Arsenal came into this game already qualifying for the next round of Champion’s League football, so it was a matter of topping the group table and avoiding harder opposition the next round, or finishing second and meeting the other table-toppers from other groups. I don’t think this affected the team mentality, but it sure did affect the team selection with youngsters like Vela, Ramsey, Djouru and Song.

That said, I love watching young/new team members play. I’d not watched Vela and Ramsey play ever, and not seen Silvestre play in an Arsenal shirt, so I enjoyed the selection, knowing this wasn’t a match we needed to win.

Arsenal played pretty brightly but the one thing they were lacking was the innate understanding of where they would play the ball the way the team did when Henry, Ljungberg, Pires, Cole, Bergkamp and Vieira were on the team. While that’s a comment true of the first team Arsenal, it particularly applied today when many of the squad doesn’t play regularly in competitive football together, and aren’t used to each other’s passes and runs.

The Outstanding

• Vela – good runs, particularly in the first half hour
• Ramsey – no idea why he was taken off, worked hard!
• Djouru – a few really good defensive moves
• Diaby – reminds me of Vieira everytime he’s on the ball. Amazing control.

The Passable

• Silvestre – almost a candidate for the Outstanding category, played well at left-back, but was way off the back four line for the second goal
• Gallas – stable display, but not outstanding
• Almunia – A few good saves, I don’t feel he was at fault for the second goal.

The Sub-Par

• Bendtner – way too quiet for a striker for me
• Eboue – I don’t know if there are still effects from the weekend game, but he wasn’t the right-back of two years ago
• Denilson – many, many mistakes. Gave the ball away too easily and out-muscled. No idea why he was left on and Ramsey taken off
• Song – same as Denilson

Unlike many Arsenal “fans”, I see no reason to call for Wenger to go. It was a match we could’ve afforded to lose, and we need the first team for the Premier League anyway. This match in particular would have had a very different outcome if Sagna and Clichy were playing.

I’m looking forward very much to the return of Eduardo and Rosicky, both of which I find to be excellent players. I also really hope Wenger decides on who he wants his back four to be (for my money that’s Clichy, Gallas, Toure and Sagna) and bring someone in to partner Fabregas with the January transfer window. (That, or at least let someone like Diaby play). Rumours of Xabi Alonso earlier in the season got me excited but that didn’t work out. Doesn’t mean I can’t hope?