Arsenal end of season

Finally, the season we'd all rather forget has finished. Arsene Wenger has been so successful in his 10 years at Arsenal that a cup final appearance and qualification for the Champions League are seen as a failure.

All the way through the season we showed great inconsistency, and never quite got a good long run going. Of course, there are positives to take from the season. Diaby and Clichy both returned from serious long term injuries, and both, but Clichy in particular, showed great form. Diaby suffered a bit at times from being played out of position, but plenty of times he showed his class. Both Denilson and Justin Hoyte emerged as good players - Hoyte returning from a season long loan at Sunderland showed that it is possible to come back from a loan spell and get into the team.

Unfortunately, the negatives outweighed the positives. Our defence showed great fragility at times, and it seemed to become almost inevitable that we would go a goal down in every game. What a transformation froma year ago when the went through most of the Champions League without conceding a goal. Our inconsistency cost us points against teams that we should easily turn over. We only lost once in the league to one of the other top teams, which shows we can compete at the top level, we just need to carry that form through in every game. Our finishing was woeful at times, and highlighted how badly we missed Henry and Van Persie for the second half of the season. Also, it showed how we haven't been able to replace the goals we could rely on from midfield players in the form of Ljungberg and Pires.

As for summer transfers, the inevitable speculation has started. Likely departures include Flamini, Baptista, Almunia and Aliadiere. Youngsters Lupoli and Muamba have already gone. Players coming in seems to be dependent to a certain extent on how much money Wenger can generate from player sales, although there must be some money in the pot. When Arsenal refinanced the stadium loan, one condition was net transfer spending per year of £14 million, so don't expect real big money signings. Hopefully we can get a goal scoring midfielder. Bendtner will come back from his loan at Birmingham, so that is almost like a new signing, albeit an unproven one.

Hopefully the summer will be without too much speculation on possible takeovers. The last couple of weeks has seen a marked slow down in share trading since the board announced they would not sell up, with only the occasional trade of a couple of shares being reported. I was a bit curious as to why the board (who without David Dein own about 45%) were not raising their stakes to over 50% to ensure they remained as the majority share holders, but they have since spoken of 'friends' who own enough shares to take them over the 50% mark.

Hopefully as there are no dull International competitions in the summer, most of our players can get a good rest and come back fighting fit for the new season. It would be nice to have a season not plagued by injuries and see everyone back to their best.