Thomas Vermaelen. What a signing! One of Wenger's best! Or is he?

In recent weeks he's started to get a bit of criticism. The first leg against Barcelona, in particular, showed that on occasions Vermaelen goes a bit gung ho and leaves a gaping hole at the back.

Then there were yesterday's defensive stats on Sky Sports. The best defenders for blocks and headed clearances were the likes of Michael Dawson, Ledley King and John Terry. There was no sign of Vermaelen anywhere and that surprised me.

It makes me think that like everyone said in the summer, Vermaelen is not the commanding centre back we needed.

Vermaelen is a very good defender, of course. A defender who scores goals. A defender with a lot of ability. But alongside him should be a player like Sol Campbell...except 10 years younger.

Wenger has to address that problem and stop trying to paper over cracks in the team.