Yes, I now admit we’re overly reliant on Robin Van Persie

FULHAM 2 ARSENAL 1

NO COMPLAINTS here. We got exactly what we deserved and the closest we came to misfortune was the fact that we rode our luck for so long that when it finally went we no longer had time to regroup and try and claw our way back into the game.

As someone who has spent the last few months arguing against the oft trotted out view that we are over reliant on Robin Van Persie, I’d now like to admit that I am wrong. I say am wrong rather than was wrong because if you look at the stats (and frankly I don’t have the time right now to go over them in fine detail), we were scoring a fair few goals from other sources just a few short weeks ago.

But they’ve dried up of late, in no small part because the wingers, who should be chipping in plenty, have been woeful. Gervinho’s decision making has been dreadful. Yes, he should have had a penalty yesterday. But he managed to fall in such a way that you could see why the referee didn’t feel confident giving it. Theo must surely be testing the faith of even the most devout Theoists and I’ve barely mentioned Arshavin’s terribleness of late because it seems to be a point of so little disagreement that it has hardly warranted discussion.

Yes, that last paragraph is harsh. But true I think.

In recent seasons you could look at defeats like this and question the commitment of the players. Thankfully, I don’t think that was the problem yesterday. It was not so much a lack of effort, but a lack of end product.

There was also a significant failure in the second half to stem the tide. It was something we saw against QPR, where we appeared incapable of slowing the game down and keeping possession. We need to learn to do that.

And clearly we need to invest in a couple of positions and get a lot more out of some of our players.

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