Nothing Won.. Nothing Lost

Arsenal failed to become only the 5th team ever to record a maximum points haul in the qualifying stages of the European Cup last night, after a 0-0 draw with Ajax at Highbury.

Arsenal rested 5 first team players.. With the exception of Lehmann these are the players who were at the heart of the debacle against Bolton on Saturday. So read into 'rested' what you will.. I don't expect all of them to return against Newcastle..

Thankfully Wenger tried a different option at Left Back, with Lauren dropping in and Eboue at Right Back.. I think that is a better solution than Cygan, depending on the form of Sol Campbell he could even play Senderos and Campbell with Toure at Left Back..

Wenger deployed a 4-3-3, which at times was more of a 4-5-1.. We lacked maturity.. It was never going to be a fluent performance but I thought our desire would be enough.. I was wrong.. We were disjointed for most of the game and only in the last 10 mins of the first half we livened the crowd up.. To be fair, the crowd at Highbury is one of the most quiet in the country and so an uninspiring 'dead rubber' of a game, with half a first team was never going to have the atmosphere of a 5-1 home demolition of Deportivo in the Uefa Cup.

Hleb's return was welcome and I hope to see him on the left hand side or in a 3 man central midfield against Newcastle at the weekend.. It is good to see Wenger is looking to play within his means and looking to bring the best out of Fabregas and he is mulling over a 4-3-3.. “Normally we play 4-4-2 but I played more of a 4-3-3. Quincy and Reyes are really two strikers, they are not midfielders and we tried to play high.

“It was a good occasion to try a different system because we wanted to play Alexander Hleb central and see if we could use that system at some stage.”

It was an average display where we won nothing and lost nothing. 0-0.

It would be good to see a 4-3-3:

Lehmann

Eboue Toure Campbell Lauren

Fabregas Giberto Hleb

Ljungberg Van Persie

Henry

I would like to see Hleb more involved and I think he is good enough to play centrally and will help to provide the midfield with more bite, it's just Wenger has a formation, which has worked very well previously and I think it's unlikely he will change it so radically. At least Wenger understands we need more physical power and is attempting to compensate for that..

As for January I hope Wenger opts for an experienced combative midfielder to compliment Cesc and give Gilberto much needed competition.. I hate to say it but someone like Edgar Davids.. A Left Back depending on how Eboue gets on.. As well as Centre Back cover.. The only problem being, Arsene is a man with a plan and he has a lot of faith in these kids and so it is unlikely he will buy a stopgap player..

Wenger is a very calculated man, he will have his targets.. Who are they?.. Time will tell..