The thing I ask myself is who would have really made the difference yesterday?
We were weak in defence, and the injury problems we have at fullback weakened the back line everywhere, but that's through unfortunate circumstances and will improve without intervention. When you look at what we have Sagna-Koscielny-Vermaelen-Santos, we look good, and the options behind them look decent, too.
We were solid in midfield, but maybe lacked something really special in there - Song, Arteta and Ramsey (currently) are no Vieira or Fabregas - I know that's judging them by an incredibly high standard, but it's a very important area of the pitch and we don't have the quality we once did there. Wilshere will make a big difference though.
Walcott was hopeless, a bad day maybe, but he was very nearly City's best form of attack on the day. Nearly every time the ball went near him it resulted in a counter-attack for City. Would a top player, a proper wide player, have made us more threatening with the ball, and more stable in possession? I think so, Theo had chances to take on Zabaleta or to drive into open space with the ball, but he simply wasn't good enough to take advanatage.
We can ask the same question of Gervinho. He was incredibly tentative in the first half, seemed to want to do his best Samir Nasri impression and kept passing the ball instead of committing players and trying to make something happen. He was much better in the second half though, and involved in nearly every threatening situation we had. He's not perfect, but he's a threat with his penetrative dribbling and he keeps the ball much better than Theo does.
What about van Persie? He's a brilliant goal scorer, he's proven that beyond any doubt in the last 12 months, and his chipped finish for the offside goal that embarrassed Hart was further proof of just how deadly he can be. But what about his play outside the box? When there's space to exploit by carrying the ball at speed or a quick, clever pass on? There was one point in the first half where he failed to play Theo in on goal, it was a simple pass, but he failed to spot it - on such margins games are won and lost. I felt he struggled to get the ball under control at other times and missed the opportunity to play in runners into space. My point is I think he's a brilliant striker, a world class scorer of goals, but not the outstanding all-round player that many say he is, and I think the fact that he often drops deep and looks to 'playmake' means we too often see the ineffective and inefficient side of his game. As brilliant as he is at scoring goals, he is no Dennis Bergkamp outside of the box, not by a long shot. Maybe the solution will be Ramsey really dominating that Number 10 role in the way that Cesc did and in the process stopping Robin from assuming control there?
The subs could have been game-changers, too. It goes without saying our chances of winning plummeted the moment Arshavin shuffled onto the pitch. Chamberlain as the first sub in situations like yesterday would be a great improvement and genuinely improve our chances of changing the outcome of the game.
So, when I look at it all, I think the addition of what we have on the treatment table, in the form of Sagna, Gibbs/Santos and Wilshere - mean we instantly become a much better side, one at least capable of matching City stride for stride in defence and in midfield, but our play just isn't dangerous enough when space is found in the final third. When Ramsey, Gervinho, Walcott or van Persie get the ball and there's time and space to hurt the opposition, they're just not efficient enough. Goals change games and yesterday there were so many occasions where a better weight of pass or a better touch in the certain situations could have resulted in a goal scoring opportunity. In the last 10 minutes alone, Arshavin should have had a goal and an assist. He had an easy cross for either Ramsey or van Persie to tap in, but he failed. That's a goal if he plays it across, instead he shanks it to the 'keeper, and if it wasn't him failing with the cross it would have been one of the other four. And it's just not good enough if you want to win big games and, in the end, big trophies - I know it sounds obvious to say, but those moments win or lose you games, and too often we don't make the choice or take the touch that is necessary to put the damn ball in the back of the net and it costs us dear.
That's the biggest difference a single player can make to us, someone with outstanding efficiency in the final third. Someone that can consistently play the right pass, make the right run, take the right touch, and apply the right finish - what's Bobby Pires up to these days!
