I went back to August 2013 to have a look at what I wrote after that 3-1 opening day defeat to Aston Villa. Not all of it is relevant, of course, some of the names have changed and certainly things were a bit different then.

We had yet to spend big on any player, Mesut Ozil’s arrival wouldn’t come until the very end of that particular transfer window. However, injury worries (not as serious this time, more on that anon), and a general sense that Arsenal hadn’t done what they should have done during the summer created an atmosphere of frustration, tension and anger.

It’s not dissimilar from what happened on Sunday, and while I’ll stand to be corrected on this, my feeling is that the reaction to the Villa defeat that year was far more intense and far more vociferous than to the Liverpool game on Sunday. I don’t know if there’s more understanding, or simply a weary resignation due to the crushing inevitability of it all.

If I had to guess it would be that when you do step back and look at this squad, it’s a much better one than the 2013 model. We have Ozil, we have Alexis, we’ve bought Granit Xhaka, there’s midfield depth and quality, and although we know we’re weak in a couple of key positions the solution to that is not some great mystery that’s hard to work out.

What it does highlight though is that our planning and preparation for each season has left something to be desired. Three points on the opening day are worth just as much as three points in the run-in, yet our attitude seems to suggest that we view them as expendable, or less important, in some way. In 2013 we had countless players talking about how we needed to make transfers, and defeat then was put down to lack of activity in the transfer market. It sounds very familiar this week, right?

It’s something we discussed in some depth on yesterday’s Arsecast Extra, and for a manager who was preaching momentum and talking about a 10 game unbeaten run in the league stretching back into last season, it makes our decision making even more difficult to understand.

Without wishing to sound like a broken record, if you identify key positions that are weak and need reinforcement, you can’t sit on your hands and expect people to understand when those areas of weakness end up costing you points. I also wonder how it makes the players feel because they’ll know as well as anyone that the squad needs to boosted to reach its potential. If we drive ourselves mad because know we’re just a couple of players away from a team that can compete, how must it feel to play every game knowing exactly the same thing?

What we do in the transfer market between now and August 31st won’t get us the three points lost against Liverpool back. We have difficult away games at Leicester and Watford over the next couple of weeks – and with a squad not stretched to its limit, but undoubtedly brittle in places, we’re going to have to dig deep to get results.

That said, I hope there is further similarity between now and 2013. After the Villa game we won 10 in a row in all competitions, and brought in a world class talent for a club record transfer fee. It’s clear we need more than one player, but a response from these players on the pitch, and the manager finally making his mind up about how to spend the money would go a long way to settling everybody’s nerves.

In terms of potential arrivals, it was revealed last night that no fee had been agreed between Arsenal and Valencia for Shkodran Mustafi – with a couple of other central defensive names thrown into the mix. Apparently we’re looking at Simon Kjaer and a Turkish international called Omer Toprak. I’m very dubious, to be honest, it sounds like we’re getting it out there that we have alternatives to Mustafi so we won’t be held over a barrel by Valencia.

It’s a bit late for that. There are as yet undiscovered tribes deep in the Amazon rain forest who know that Arsenal need a centre-half. Trying to play hard-ball via the media is nonsense at this point. If it’s going to be more expensive than you’d like, perhaps think about changing your policy so you’re not going into negotiations with such a weak hand.

The suggestion that the price is an issue because we’re keeping money aside for the signing of a striker doesn’t make much sense to me either. Even if we’re going for a striker who would cost us a fortune – and that’s pretty much any forward with two legs and a half-decent goalscoring record in this current market – it’s not as if we have to pay for it all in one go. Payments are staggered, we earn a lot every year from television, commercial deals, gate receipts etc, so it’s not as if we have to empty Stan Kroenke’s precious cash reserves to make it happen.

In short, there are simply no excuses for Arsenal not to bring in what’s needed. This insistence of playing poor relation is quite frustrating indeed, because that does not tally with the reality of our financial situation. Nobody’s saying plunge ourselves into Leeds style debt, just use what we have and use it well.

Meanwhile, it looks like Aaron Ramsey will be out of action until after the international break with the hamstring injury he suffered. I’m not having that this was a consequence of bringing him back too soon after the Euros, his last game in the tournament was 6 weeks ago (July 1st), so it’s not as if he’s being run into the ground. We await news of Alex Iwobi’s thigh injury.

Finally, if you haven’t had a chance to listen to yesterday’s podcast, check it out below. We rake over the coals of Liverpool and everything else, so get your ears around that at some point today.

Download – iTunes – Acast – RSS

Site Update

I think we’ve had some good news regarding our server for the arses/live blog etc. Fingers crossed we can restore everything back to the way it was, but it might take a couple of days yet. Thanks for your patience, and apologies again for the inconvenience.

More from me tomorrow.