When I was a kid in the Seventies I was one of the Sussex Gooners, a sometimes twenty strong group of Arsenal fans from Eastbourne, Hastings and Seaford, who travelled up to London together for all home games and travelled all over the country and points beyond (although, admittedly, when we played West Ham away in 1978 only two of us turned up – that was the game a couple of Dockers ran on to the pitch to try and attack Supermac after he’d scored his second goal to put us two up. Luckily for the diminished and besieged Sussex Gooners but not for the Arsenal, West Ham ended up scraping the draw). The reason I mention this is because, whatever my beef about Cygan, it is my firm belief that the best, the most significant event that has happened in those twenty-seven years was the arrival of Arsene Wenger. To say so before this season, in the middle of the unbeaten run, for example, was to state the obvious. To say so now, in this winter of rumbling discontent, and when for some Gooners the memories of that wonderful run are fading like a dream of paradise and increasingly hard to recall, is to publicly re-affirm my faith in the ability of Arsenal’s greatest contemporary manager (Chapman, I would argue, is the only other possible choice for greatest ever) to turn it around.

The pre-match chat had centred not only around our defensive problems, but also on what has been identified as a lack of desire and heart in the team. In the aftermath of the match, and after Mad Frankie van Persie has once more displayed the emotional control of a two-year-old, the airwaves are full of Gooners expressing both their faith in

Wenger, and their concern. Those madmen calling for Wenger to go cannot, surely, be said to be representative of even a tiny minority of Gooners, most of whom, like me, surely love Wenger in the same profound way Liverpool fans must love Shankly. (Also you do get "ringers" from other clubs pretending to be Arsenal fans. Ed) Yes, unlike Liverpool before Shankly, Arsenal were a great club before Wenger arrived, but he has transformed the club from top to bottom and, just as importantly, he has transformed the way Arsenal are seen by the rest of the football world. Remember the way our football in the past few seasons has been eulogised, often from unexpected quarters, and remember the football itself. All of us knew that the great, unrepeatable unbeaten run would have to come to an end, but the memory of those 49 matches will stay with me forever.

The problems though, are there for all to see. The Munich game was as grim an experience as any in recent memory and it seems to me that Arsene needs to make a decisive intervention. He has appeared frustrated and easily rattled more often this season than I can remember, but this is perhaps understandable. For years Wenger’s genius has been matched only by Ferguson’s brilliance and United’s money. Simply to have competed and, at times, bested United is an imperishable achievement, but now Wenger finds himself, in domestic terms, fighting a war on two fronts. Mourinho’s arrival has changed the playing field. It remains to be seen if Chelsea’s bottle holds. Regardless, Chelsea’s push for the title this season, and United’s resilience, means that any shortcomings in our team are magnified to an even greater extent than they have been before.

The principal difficulty for the team this season has been the prolonged absence of Gilberto Silva. Those who loudly questioned the Brazilian’s quality during the long unbeaten run simply didn’t understand the job he was doing. Now, I fervently hope, everybody understands. It’s my belief that Pat should have played the Gilberto role against Bayern. I also stand by what I said in the previous column; I’d have played the back four that played against Sheffield Utd. Two of them did play; Clichy was probably Arsenal’s best player while Toure had a Lionel, but it was Toure’s fundamental lack of confidence in Cygan and Lehmann, I believe, that was horribly exposed in Munich, not his lack of ability. Lauren had a shocker, as he did against Man Utd. Senderos and Eboue simply could not have played worse if they’d been picked.

I’d like to see the Cole, Senderos, Toure, and Eboue combination given a run. Having said that, Ashley’s situation needs to be resolved now; we need, bluntly, to know if he is going to be an Arsenal player next season or not. For Campbell’s long-term future, if he is to have one at the club in the light of his persistent injury problems, it is necessary to give him sufficient time to fully regain his fitness. The essential thing is to have a patrolling defensive midfield player to play the Silva role in front of this or any other back four. Take your pick from Pat, Flamini, or Cesc.

What disturbs me most just now, is the suggestion that the amount of care, time, and attention devoted to our attacking play far outstrips that spent on the defence. I don’t mean simply the widely held belief that more time is spent on the training pitch developing attacking play than on defensive drills. I may be far, far wide of the mark here, but the choosing of which players will to come to the club seems to be a far more careful and thoughtful business when it comes to attacking players than it does when it comes to defenders.

Whatever the case, the clear danger, illustrated perfectly by the way the team played in Munich, is that if the poor defensive performances continue, the wonderful team spirit Arsene has established at the club will start to crumble. The atmosphere must surely already be fairly ripe in the dressing room (or on the coach), but if the attacking players lose all faith in the defence to protect hard won leads, then the situation will rapidly, and dangerously, deteriorate. Arsene seems to be winning this battle at the moment, but God forbid the long-term consequences if we are two up against Bayern and throw it away because someone drops a ricket.

It is, of course, up to Arsene to sort this, and I believe he will. The last time there was talk of a crisis at Highbury Arsene responded by fashioning a team that went the entire season unbeaten; a team that played football so magnificent that men like Johann Cruyff were sufficiently moved to express praise and Portsmouth fans, Portsmouth fans, clapped us off the pitch. Once again, the players have a responsibility to stand up and fight for the man to whom they owe, in great part, the riches, love, and honour they have received. That means attacking and defending as one, just like we did last season. The signs, for the most part, were positive against Southampton, notwithstanding the defensive chaos and van Persie’s hot headedness.

I suspect that the reason some people may have objected to the Cygan piece was that they believed I was giving succour to the enemy. I’m not sure that’s right, but I’ll lay off having a go at individual players. Given the amount of fun other people are having at our expense just now, it probably doesn’t need me to contribute any further. I will say instead that it is time for the Gooner family to close ranks behind the boss. Victory through harmony indeed.