Cronky

It's a strange feeling, being linked with all these good players but not getting excited.

On the penalty, whatever there is in the letter of the law, I wasn't surprised when it wasn't given. Fraser never had possession of the ball, and wouldn't have got it even if the keeper hadn't clattered him. A lot of decisions are based on convention rather than a literal interpretation of the law, and pens just don't get given in that situation. Rightly or wrongly.

I assume we'd have to also include a clause that would allow them to leave if we were relegated, perhaps with no transfer fee at all demanded. The player would be taking quite a gamble, and we'd need to make it worth their while. There's also the consideration that the owners wouldn't want to go into the Championship with a hugely inflated wage bill that could hold us back from re-building. Throw in the fact that we're likely to need to look abroad (other Premiership teams would dearly love to see us go down), and many recruits would be reluctant to uproot themselves and possibly their families too, on such a bleak prospect. It's a strange and new situation all round.

All of our central defenders are scared of making a mistake, and end up in no-man's land. We've got a group of Steven Taylors.

Having looked at it again, their second goal was not a worldie. The attacker was able to advance all the way to the centre and edge of the penalty area, and set himself perfectly before shooting. Loads of players would have scored from that position. A proper DM - and Hayden is not one - would have kept in a position to block that. And our central defenders lack confidence and don't impose themselves. I used to think, on balance, that the better strategy with our squad was to just get men behind the ball and hope for the best. However, I can see that Howe is at least laying the foundations of a more positive approach, and if we can get some better players in come January, at least they'll be coming in to system that's designed to pick up wins, which we're going to need. In those positions, DM and centre back, we won't need to break the bank to at least make some improvements.

Well, it's good to see us playing with some aggression. We actually look like scoring. The first goal was comical. The second highlighted the need for a proper DM. I used to dread seeing Joelinton on the ball. Now he looks our best hope of creating something.

I'd say 50-50. Dubravka should have claimed it, but having made a movement towards heading the ball, Clark should have followed through and headed it out. Dubs is a good shot-stopper, but a bit hesitant with crosses.

He's a great athlete, and that ability to suddenly change pace and direction often takes him past defenders. That ability is quite separate from the skill of being able to control the pace, direction and timing of a pass to a team-mate. But I think those two abilities get confused when words like 'flair' get used. ASM is very good at one, but not the other. If he was good at both, he wouldn't be playing for us. It's a matter of accepting his strengths and limitations, and at the moment, with the state of the squad, we haven't much choice but to set things up to make the most of him. As others have said, whether that will always be the right call is another question. Incidentally, I thought HBA actually was good at both. The problem was between his ears.

He seemed to be a reluctant signing, and he has the air now of someone wishing he was somewhere else.

We didn't learn anything new about our limitations in midfield, but it was good to see that we at least created some chances. The most positive thing for me was it looks like Dubravka has returned to form. When he's really on his game, he can make a big difference.

He's fine when what he needs to do is obvious. When there's a difficult decision, he seems to freeze and ends up in no man's land.

Yeah?

That's the sort of penalty that gets given these days. Any contact means a pen, even if it's the attacker that initiates it. We've making a few chances, so still some hope.

Gini didn't do that well for us first time round, in a struggling side. Will he do any better in another struggling side?

Great signing, but bigger fish seem to be interested.

It depends on what we offer. He's 31 and one last big pay-day could well attract him.

Yeah, I agree. There were some promising signs yesterday that Howe had got at least some of them playing with more belief and confidence. There's a big task ahead, but he's already had an impact, and it'll really all depend on who we can attract in January. I find some of these arguments about team selection a bit academic, particularly with the defence. There's not a lot to choose between any of our centre backs. Ritchie struggles at full back, but touting Lewis as his replacement feels like short memory syndrome. I'd like to see Murphy play more, but even with him he looks like he's still learning. At goalkeeper, Dubravka looks like he's still recovering his fitness and confidence. And in front of them, a decent DM would make a big difference.

Obviously we deserved to lose. Arsenal simply had better players. For me, there were some signs of hope. We looked better in possession - we tried to pass the ball out from the back on occasion, and there wasn't so much panicky hoofing the ball away the minute we were under the least bit of pressure. We also looked a bit more decisive and relaxed. The mindset looked better. We need a win, and I thought we at least looked capable of winning a game. Given the squad, we're not going to get much before January, but at least the foundations of a better performance were being laid.

Same old strategy, but we do look more relaxed and decisive. I think there's a change to the mindset. Having said that, Arsenal are creating so many chances that we'll be lucky to get away with anything.

I'd give it 7. We're not going to pick up many points before January, other teams above the relegation zone are doing okay, and we're going to have some difficulty recruiting good players in our position. I don't think we'll get any players from the Premiership, because all the other clubs want us to go down. It's a weird situation without any parallel that I can think of - a newly rich club in desperate trouble with only one window to make things happen.

Joao Saldanha (Brazil 1969-70) got there first.

Defending isn't just the responsibility of the defenders. 50% of the midfield's job is to defend, and we haven't got the balance right in that area. We don't have a specialist DM who can correct that imbalance. I see Hayden more as an average box-to-box player who is making the best of the anchor role, and Hendrick doesn't want the responsibility. In fairness to Bruce, he did try to bring in a DM and was blocked. In fairness to myself, I knew at the time that we were then in big trouble and so it has proved. As I said, it's a moot point whether it's best to batten down the hatches or go for it. But the general wisdom in football is that a team that tries to compensate for a weak defence by outscoring the opposition ends up in trouble.

A Brazilian national team manager once said that managing a football team was like being in a bed with a blanket that is too small. If you hitch the blanket up to your shoulders, your feet get cold, and if you cover your feet, your shoulders are exposed. That's the position we're in, and have been in all season. If we pick an attacking line up, the defence gets exposed, if we play defensively, we can't score. To some extent, every team faces some sort of dilemma like that, but in our case it's quite extreme. Until we strengthen the squad, I think our better bet is to play defensively, but there's not a lot in it.

Is it 3-4-3 or 4-4-2

If so, I'm worried. Not much protection for the defence. I'd prefer Schar as DM and a 4-4-2.