There's no simple solution to this crisis...

Last updated : 29 August 2011 By Chris Parry

As I write this the transfer window is still open, but there won't be any inspiring signings - trust me on that.

The bottom line is that we simply don't have sufficient quality to compete anymore. We sell our best players and fail to replace them. The end result is a team of sub-par players who have no leadership, either from the management or on the pitch. I genuinely think that the players themselves have lost hope, and when that happens you're dead in the water.

I'll bet that the only players that still have faith in Wenger are those that are happy to sit and collect their paychecks every week because they know they're being paid over the odds and don't deserve it. We'll never be able to offload them as other clubs won't pay their wages, but ironically it's our wage structure that's killing us.

Oh how I'd have loved the club to have signed the superb Wesley Schneider from Inter and send a message to our competitors that we mean business, but of course that was never going to happen.

Maybe this is is simply a stream of consciousness from someone who's still shellshocked after yesterday's catastrophe - who knows - but it makes me sad to say that if Wenger were to walk away tomorrow I'd actually look forward with optimism.