IT IS WHAT IT IS

Let's be honest, this season feels like a false start and the redeeming feature is that (Man City aside) the other teams that we would be expecting to be competing with have also had stuttering starts. It's the home form that is the immediate issue and beating Stoke may have been a pretty good opportunity to get back n track.

The disappointments, realistic criticism and hysterical over reactions to the transfer window situation all have to be put on hold as this is the squad we have and thats that.

The key thing, until January at least and probably after, will be injuries and specifically injuries to Giroud, Walcott and Coquelin. Until an effective crystal ball is invented we just have to keep our fingers crossed. Of course some would say that an educated guess would have helped a couple of weeks ago but as I've said, whats done (or not done) is done.

The first real test will be at Stamford Bridge: that hive of scum and villainy, next week and to an extent there will probably not be a better time to play them if we go into the game off the back of a victory. As much as we are not clicking, neither are they and more so than us they seem to have deeper issues at present.

Those voices that say "get behind the team that we have" are stating the obvious and often confuse criticism of the manager with criticism of the players. No one I know boos our players or slags the off from their Emirates seats and those that do need a reality check.

We have the squad that appeared in the recent Squad photo and for better or worse they now need to get on with it with our full support. What is also true is that the manager we have, we have for better or worse and supporting him may be a tough call for many: that's where we are at the moment, let's see what happens.