Wenger’s incompetence jeopardises chances.

The manager’s failure to strengthen the defence before the opening league game of the season piles more pressure on players thrown into the deep end following inevitable clutch of injury victims.

Nicklas Bendtner, Johan Djourou and Aaron Ramsey are all out. Alexandre Song, Denilson, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie are all short on match fitness while Abou Diaby has been declared fit despite playing 0 minutes of pre-season football. Eight players who are less than fully fit and we haven’t even played a competitive fixture.

We also don’t have a first choice goalkeeper and only have two fit central defenders in the first team squad. The fact that Wenger has allowed us to get into this situation as the new season kicks off is ridiculous and makes a mockery of the board’s decision to offer him a new contract. The manager may be able to rescue this season if he is able to sign a goalkeeper and a central defender before the end of the month but we will struggle to make the top four if we play the whole season with the current squad.

Despite all of this we are still very capable of winning at Anfield and hope is what brings excitement to the start of every season. New signings Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny have looked like good additions, with Chamakh the latest addition to a formidable attacking line-up. We are capable of tearing any team to shreds but it is impossible to forget about our defensive weaknesses.

Wenger has made it clear that he is aware of them and the fact that he hasn’t resolved them yet is a sad reflection of how miserly he has become. His commendable economic prudency while we stretched our finances to pay for the Grove has now put the club in a position where we can afford to pay slightly over the odds for a player and yet it appears that we have not signed Schwarzer yet for the sake of £1 million.

 It is infuriating and puts doubts in every gooner’s mind over the suitability of Wenger to lead the club forward.

Still, Samir Nasri has been outstanding in pre-season, we all know what Andrei Arshavin is capable of at Anfield and at least in Thomas Vermaelen we have one man at the club who genuinely can’t stand to concede a single goal.

Another positive is that, despite being buoyed by the arrivals of Roy Hodgson and Joe Cole, Liverpool still lack quality beyond the spine of their team. After picking up an injury in the World Cup Final, Fernando Torres is a doubt, leaving the hapless David N’Gog to lead the line while Glen Johnson will provide the only quality from the flanks.

Possible line-up:

               Almunia

Sagna Koscielny Vermaelen Clichy

                  Diaby

           Nasri Fabregas

Walcott  Chamakh  Arshavin

Photo: Action Images

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