The desperate jauntiness of an orchestra fiddling away for dear life on a sinking ship.

“Don’t spoil the ship for a ha’porth of Tar” a man, wise or otherwise, once said and in the modern football world the cost of Tar is relative but can be imperative to avert a shipwreck.

We saw in the Summer that inadequate crew members were bought on board and it seems that in the January Transfer window, with eight League defeats trailing in our wake that the Captain and no doubt the Admiralty have decided to skimp on the Tar.

At Midnight January 31st as the transfer window, that had only creaked open a fraction closed, we lay adrift in the Premier League table; 18 points behind the joint leaders,13 behind the third placed team, 6 points behind fourth with Liverpool 2 points above and goal difference the only thing seperating us from Newcastle. Yes we welcomed young Mr Eisfeld and welcome he is indeed, but Arsene himself has spoken about the famous adjustment period. What was needed, both in the summer and last month was players (plural) that didn't need to adjust. Just look at how well Arteta has done; he came straight in.

And so we now sit 7th in the League after an away midweek draw at Bolton; under certain circumstances this would have been a decent enough result, something that is part and parcel of the relentless tide of games in a congested fixture list. When you are trying to claw back points it is not too clever though. You can drown in a sea of fixtures when things aren't going well but a better squad gives you options; lifelines.

Investing in the squad at the right time with the right players does not neccesitate extravagence but it does take self realisation and it can take humility.

If the ship does indeed go down; which I guess is viewed as failure to qualify for the cash cow of The ChampionsLeague even more so for the board than another Trophyless year, let it not be because of failure to invest, and indeed reinvest at the right time. Financial prudence is one thing but killing the goose that layed the golden egg could be the danger of not qualifying for Europes Premier Competition.

Ok that's enough nautical euphemism but you get my drift (drift! sorry)

http://youtu.be/6bpubhZbewE

when the ship goes down