TODAY’S game at Anfield was painful. We’ve had some disappointing performances this season, but this wasn’t disappointing — it was bloody awful.

I can’t bear to watch it anymore: We dominate games in terms of possession but don’t produce; we’re not clinical enough in the final third.

Unfortunately, that’s the result of missing two world-class strikers, but it’s still unbelievably frustrating. Unless Julio Baptista sorts himself out, I can’t see him playing for us next season. His touch today was abysmal and his shooting was shocking. He is not good enough for Arsenal. Cesc wasn’t at his best and Alex Hleb has seen better days.

But it is patently obvious that it was our defence that let us down. And that’s amazing considering that today was one of the first times we’ve had a fully fit back four (Clichy, Gallas, Toure, Eboue) with everybody playing in their prefered position. Arsene has acknowledged the poor defending, saying this after the game:

“Defensively our performance was horrendous. The difference was Crouch, we just did not handle him at all. He was the big difference. We could not cope with him in the air and his three goals all came from crosses from wide areas.”

We only had 3 shots on target all game, which simply isn’t good enough. Somehow William Gallas scrambled home a goal from a corner after we were 3-0 down, but we never really looked like getting another, and it really is the story of the latter stages of this season: We can’t score goals. And you need to score goals to win, believe it or not.

Credit to Liverpool though, they played pretty well and Peter Crouch did well and scored a hatrick. Having said that, our defence didn’t exactly make it hard for him.

Most definitely one to forget and our next game is an encounter with West Ham next Saturday at Ashburton Grove. A win please.

Hemmy - Shut up. Arsenal win 3-1 this season.

I’M BORED of nothing ‘news’ floating around. The absence of real football has taken its toll and I’ve had enough. Saturday can’t come soon enough.

So instead of comment and more drivel on the boring issues, some YouTube golden moments of this season so far. “Golden moments?!”, I hear you you ask. You’d be surprised. The last month has taken it all out of us, but looking back, we’ve seen some truly brilliant Arsenal moments this season. Enjoy.

Adebayor makes it 1-0 to the Arsenal after some Cescy football at Old Trafford:

The Beast makes it 6 at Anfield. What a night:

Thierry scores after 92 against Man United:

Thierry (and Cesc) score one of the goals of the season at Blackburn:

See, it’s not all bad.

YESTERDAY I asked you whether you think Arsene needs to spend a lot this summer in order for us to genuinely be challenging for the title and other silverware next season. 77% of you said yes.

The question now is: who do we need?

We’ve been linked with loads of players already: Jonathan Woodgate; Javier Saviola; Robinho; the list goes on, but the sources become less and less credible. We’ve already made our first signing in the form of £1 million 16 year-old, Gilles Sunu.

To be honest, I agree with Arsene about not needing any more strikers. We’ve got Henry, van Persie, Adebayor, (Baptista, Aliadiere), Walcott too. We’ve just been unlucky with injuries and suspensions in the recent weeks. With a fully-fit strike force we can compete with any team.

For me, our first-choice midfield would be: Gilberto, Cesc, Rosicky and Hleb. With cover in the form of Diaby, Freddie, Denilson, Flamini, (Song) and Walcott. Regardless of what has been said about Hleb recently, he is an excellent playmaker and in my opinion has just had a bad run of late. He’s still got a lot to offer at Arsenal.

First choice defensive line up: Clichy, Gallas, Toure and Eboue. Four top quality players with the potential to become one of the best defences in the country. Unfortunately I don’t think we’ve seen all four play together this season - again, injuries and suspensions are to blame. We’ve got cover in the form of Senderos, Hoyte and Djourou, but Arsene favoured Gilberto ahead of them on Sunday. East Lower outlined Senderos’ omission against Everton. There’s no doubt that a player like Jonathan Woodgate would further strengthen our back four and add to the competition for places. The question is: is our defensive cover too young and inexperienced? I think that over the past season it’s become evident that it is. And that’s why I think Woodgate would be such a good addition. 

Clearly, a player of Javier Saviola’s calibre would be a positive addition to any squad. The 25 year-old has today been linked with a move to the Premiership. He’s reportedly fallen out with Frank Rijkaard at Barca and wants out. I’m not sure how much truth there is in the story though.

We’ve got a young, talented squad with outstanding potential. On paper, our fully-fit squad looks good. More than big signings, I think what we need is an less injury-ridden 2007/08 season. As I said yesterday, signings would be nice. But don’t be surprised if this summer is a quiet one.

Trust Arsene.