Wenger is trying to resuscitate his squad

Nobody is happy about the past two games. Nobody should be. No amount of context is going to make fans feel better about what they have seen over the past week.

Arsenal are competing in four competitions right now. There is a consensus among all fans and I think that is shared by the club from what we have seen so far that we must compete in all of these competitions as the best way of stopping the trophy drought. Arsenal has previously used the Carling Cup as a competition for the academy and the FA Cup as competition for reserves and those returning from injury. Basically, Arsenal has not taken these competitions all that seriously for a few years. However this season, even though the full first team has not played in the Cups, the selection is clearly different. We have not seen the Academy team on display and there is always a good dose of first team players in the team selection.

Playing four competitions without prioritising any would be a disaster unless you have a good, big, viable squad. If you have the league cup just after Man City, would you play an important player like Nasri who has niggling problems in both? No, you play him against City. I completely understand that. But the fact that Fabregas, another very important player started against Ipswich tells you that for Wenger, the Cups are not a distant second place as they have been when he had a thin capable squad. Now, they are a very close second.

Arshavin is good player that is playing badly right now. There is no reason to believe that he is finished – surely he will get better. Rosicky is good player that is playing averagely right now. I believe what Wenger is doing is desperately trying to resuscitate these players – including Bendtner, Eboué and Denilson because he knows that his first team cannot play all competitions.

I believe Wenger knows his first team now. To his credit, he has put Theo Walcott in front of Arshavin; Nasri in front of Rosicky; Wilshere in front of Denilson and Diaby and RvP infront of Bendtner. Wenger knows his first team. He is under no illusion that some players are not up to scratch but he also knows that he must resuscitate those players by giving them game time because he needs them to compete in four competitions.

Against Leeds, they flopped. He brought in two good first team players (Walcott and Fabregas) and they changed the game in the last 20mins and got a draw. Against Ipswich he decided to start with Walcott and Fabregas in hope of bringing Arshavin and Bendtner to life and giving them the confidence they so desperately need. Wenger learned from the Leeds game and in my view did the right thing by bringing in Fabregas, Wilshere and Walcott. That, in my view, says the manager took the competition seriously.

Put it this way. Chelsea completely pulverised Ipswich so Wenger would have expected that his team would win so one could say that there should have been no need to risk Walcott and Fabregas. But I believe the manager wanted Arshavin and Bendtner to score a couple of goals and do well so they would regain their confidence and that is why he played Cesc, Wilshere and Walcott to ensure that. In my view that was a good call. Nobody could have predicted that Arshavin would be playing like my great grand auntie after saving Arsenal's champions league spot just two years ago. His manager is right to assume that a boost of confidence is just the thing to get him back and he tried to make that happen against Ipswich. It failed and I must admit I was stunned watching the game.

Bendtner on the other hand was the subject of my last article. At his age we should be seeing a lot more. He is come back from injury and needs games. If he is not showing a massive leap forward now then one has to ask the question. Can Bendtner really do it? Is he really good enough for Arsenal?

Eboué is going to be at right back when we play Barcelona in the first leg. I don't know if I will be able to watch. Eboué has always had my support as a squad player because of his flexibility. But we don't need his flexibility in midfield anymore because we now have more options on the flanks in midfield. So that leaves him as the assistant right back. As an assistant right back, he frightens the life out of me. I am usually the last to ask for players to go but I think we need a better back up for Sagna. Right back is one area where good deputies are available. Salgado or Carr should be sitting on the bench at Arsenal.

Denilson, in my view is a good player. I believe if you judge Arshavin, Bendtner, Denilson and Eboué over a long period – when they were playing well and consistently and when they were not doing well, you will find that Denilson's level has been rather more stable and decent over time. Arshavin is clearly a talent that is not worth throwing away. However Bendtner and Eboué don't fare so well looking over time. Denilson is a squad player. As a squad player, I think he is ok.

Anyway, the big question now is, what is Wenger going to do? The fact that we don't have a much better squad is obviously his fault. Let's put that to one side and deal with where we are. He has done right in my view to try to rest Fabregas, Nasri, Song, van Persie and Djourou in the past few games. That is the right thing to do. He did right to put in Walcott, Wilshere and Fabregas to try to ignite Arshavin and Bendtner at Ipswich. But what does he do now that it failed? It did not only fail but the fans were furious and made it known. Does he try again and risk even more damage to the fans and the players if it fails again or does he rely on his thin first team for four competitions?

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