The transfer window slammed shut at 6pm today and I, like many Arsenal fans I imagine, were hoping for a miracle – hoping that Arsene Wenger could pull off a transfer deadline day deal which would improve our squad.

Unfortunately that never happened.

Arsene have stuttered badly this season, picking up 7 points from their opening 4 games. Manchester City are on fire, taking 12 points from 12 which leaves us 5 points off the pace already. Chelsea are doing even worse at present, which doesn’t lessen the poor start we’ve managed to make.

The areas we need to improve are relatively obvious. I say relatively because the vast majority of Arsenal supporters think that to be genuine title contenders, we needed to add a top goalkeeper, top central defender, top defensive midfielder and top centre forward.

For me though, all we needed to add to be real Premier League challengers (from the squad of last season) was to add a top goalkeeper and a top striker. We signed Petr Cech so to miss out on a real finisher is really frustrating.

Honestly, that’s all I think we need to be real contenders. Because hand on heart, Olivier Giroud is never going to be the man to fire us to the title – you can quote me on that.

The excuse that there are no top strikers available is absolutely ludicrous, and Arsene Wenger’s argument that none can be bought is farcical. Olivier Giroud is a limited striker who does a certain job but isn’t a top class finisher. There are top strikers all over the world, playing in leagues all over Europe – so don’t even pretend for a second a club like Arsenal couldn’t lure a decent striker for around £25 million, because if you believe Arsene Wenger then you are delusional.

The next question you’re going to ask me is “well, who could we have bought then?”. My answer to that is I’m not a well paid football scout employed by Arsenal Football Club – Arsene Wenger has a hell of a lot more information and data on players around Europe (and the world) and can make a much better judgement on strikers that I can.

But off the top of my head, how about Charlie Austin or Javier Hernandez? Would have cost £15 million or less and they have a proven goalscoring record. And they are players (unlike Giroud) who you would be confident in scoring a chance when presented to them, instead of needing 6 opportunities to score.

So far this season we’ve “scored” 3 goals in 4 games, and two of those were own goals. That means Arsenal have scored 1 goal in 4 games, which is very poor considering the number of chances we create.

Arsenal desperately needed a striker and instead of getting one, Arsene Wenger went on his jollies in Paris.

And how frustrating is that?

Arsene Wenger has been lauded as a genius for bringing in Petr Cech. Finally, Arsenal had a world class goalkeeper since the days of David Season (and Jens Lehmann of the Invincibles season). The era of Almunia, Fabianski and Szczesny making mistakes which would cost us valuable points was over.

This was a new dawn, a new chapter in Arsenal’s history.

But then Petr Cech made his debut for Arsenal and it quickly became apparent that he wasn’t the messiah, the man to come and save us.

He was actually an ageing goalkeeper who was past it and nowhere near being at the world class standard we all thought he was.

I wrote way back in June that Chelsea only sold Petr Cech because he was past it, and yet again I have been proved right when all others thought otherwise.

I hate being right all the time.

Look, everyone makes mistakes. But yesterday was an utter shambles, a disgrace and if you’re not disgusted then you just have to laugh. After debating whether Szczesny or Ospina were the better option we brought in Cech and suddenly the problem was solved and those two goalkeepers were regarded as squad players.

The fact is Arsenal are now in a worse position than they were before they signed Cech! Szczesny has moved to Italy and is on loan at AS Roma for the 2015/2016 season. Ospina is still at the club and after his performances last season you would like to see him back in the team – while unspectacular, at least he didn’t make two glaring mistakes in a single game.

The performance from Petr Cech has been played down as simply a bad day at the office. But the mistakes aren’t just mistakes. The first mistake from Cech was simple decision making. There was no way in hell he was going to win that aerial battle and he was in no mans land.

The second was amateurish and you can cover it up however you like, it was a howler of epic proportions. A nothing shot managed to go in at the near post from 20 yards out. It wasn’t struck particularly well or had so much power that Cech didn’t have a chance to react – it was a poor shot that should have been saved.

Petr Cech is a goalkeeper lacking in confidence after being on Chelsea’s bench last season and I’ve already mentioned that Jose Mourinho wouldn’t let him leave unless he thought he was past it. Yes, publicly Mourinho is always going to “oppose” his departure – he’s hardly going to give him his blessing is he? Mourinho has played the media to his tune and all the watching crowd (Arsenal fans in particular) have lapped it all up.

If Petr Cech was that good, then they wouldn’t have brought in Thibaut Courtois last season. If Petr Cech was that good they would have kept him at Chelsea (remember, no-one leaves Chelsea unless they want them to).

Is it completely outrageous to think that Arsenal have been duped? Petr Cech wants more regular football and Chelsea want a direct rival to “weaken” so what’s the ideal solution? Jose Mourinho is many things but he’s not stupid – he’s seen Petr Cech in training God knows how many times and let’s for a moment consider that he believes Cech is past it.

Selling him to club like Arsenal would be perfect – Cech gets a big new contract and is financially secure for the next 3/4 seasons, Chelsea get £11 million for a goalkeeper they consider surplus to requirements and a direct rival is weakened in a position they have never really looked strong in.

Only time will tell but before the season started the “experts” said Petr Cech was worth an extra 10/15 points to Arsenal. Well I’m not sure how true that is going to turn out to be as he’s already cost us 3 points already.

Arsenal’s only signing of note this summer is Petr Cech, the 33 year old goalkeeper from Chelsea. While he is definitely an upgrade from Ospina and Szczesny, who has now departed for AS Roma on a season long loan.

But apart from that, we’ve been quiet in the transfer market. It doesn’t mean we haven’t been linked with a plethora of players though.

There’s no doubt the Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez will be even bigger players for us this season, and fringe players such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will (hopefully) make a bigger impact if they can stay injury free. I would have included Jack Wilshere to that list but today it was revealed he’ll be out for 6 to 8 weeks.

Olivier Giroud is a player who divides opinion, and I’m in the camp that thinks that he is just not good enough to win the Premier League. He is a top striker, and a great player to have on the bench when Plan A isn’t working, but he shouldn’t be our first option. He’s brilliant against the lower sides in the league and can be used in a rotation system, but he’s just not good enough.

Look at the title winning teams of the recent past. Chelsea have Diego Costa and used to have Didier Drogba – who was a phenomenal striker, he really was. Strong and powerful but also quick and deadly – he was a real allrounder. Manchester United have had Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Ruud van Nistelrooy and even Berbatov who was decent. Manchester City have had strikers such as Carlos Tevez and Kun Aguero as their main man, with the likes of Edin Dzeko waiting in the wings who were also decent players.

We don’t have that striker who is world class, that player we need to win the title. We need that special forward who can create something from nothing in the big games. Against Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and even Tottenham Hotspur, Giroud can’t make that difference. His goalscoring record against the top teams is very poor indeed.

We’ve been linked with Karim Benzema, but it’s unlikely that he will be leaving Real Madrid and doesn’t seem keen. So who can we get?

We’re finally in a position where Arsenal have the funds to spend big money, like we did with Özil and Sanchez. But this summer we’ve been distinctly quiet when signing a top top striker would be the final piece in the puzzle. With a world class striker, you’d even fancy us to do well in the Champions League as well. Remember the home game against Monaco when Giroud missed a host of sitters?

The transfer window doesn’t close for a couple of weeks but I’m hoping and praying that Arsene has an ace up his sleeve.

Otherwise it’s another season of finishing in the Top Four.

So finally, Petr Cech is an Arsenal player. #WelcomeCech

But what do you Arsenal (and Chelsea fans) think of the move?

From what I understand, Jose Mourinho (and the majority of Chelsea supporters) were against the move, while it was a conversation with Roman Abramovich that paved the way for a move across to the red side of London.

On the surface, it does seem like a very strange one.

Most pundits and fans alike accept that Petr Cech is still a top goalkeeper who has something to offer a top Premier League side, although the number of years he can do it for is debatable – some say he can last another 2 seasons, some say he could play at the top until he’s 40.

Either way, the move makes no sense from a Chelsea perspective. Even if Cech was in decline, his move strengthens Arsenal in a position we have struggled to find a solution to for the last 10 seasons – and again, even if Cech lasts 2 seasons then the wealth of experience and knowledge about the game would give Szczesny invaluable tutoring.

Szczesny is not a bad goalkeeper. But he is young and needs guidance from a world class goalkeeper, and that is what Petr Cech is. Over the next 2/3 seasons, while Cech is Arsenal’s Number One, Szczesny will be improving at a rapid rate under Cech’s wing, at an age where the Pole will look to reach his peak.

So again, the move is fantastic for Arsenal on a number of levels.

There’s also rumours that Cech’s goalkeeping coach will join Arsenal as well, which is another plus for the young and developing Szczesny.

Szczesny came out in support of Petr Cech’s arrival (although I appreciate he can’t really do much else) but you can be sure that Arsene Wenger has sat the young goalkeeper down and said something along the lines of that he needs to knuckle down, work hard and learn from the best. And then when Cech does hang up his gloves in a couple of years he will be ready to be Arsenal’s Number One for the next 10 years.

It’s a win-win scenario for Arsenal which ever way you look at it!

So what do you think? Leave your thoughts and comments in the section below!