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"You can spend money and still have a bad team," said Arsène Wenger, after Saturday's 2-0 defeat by Liverpool, and indeed the Gunners' opponents yesterday are a classic case of a club that in recent times have fallen precisely into that category.

The problem is that if he doesn't spend, Wenger will still a bad team - or certainly not one that is not up to finishing in the top four (you can lay that finishing position at 2.4) let alone win the title 21.0. The Frenchman is being attacked from all quarters at present for his side's disappointing start to the season - and before we all jump on to the anti-Wenger bandwagon it should be remembered that the season is only two matches old. Alarmingly, though, this is the first time in 42 years that the Gunners have not so much as scored in their opening two matches - and two could become three with Manchester United away up next weekend.

Wenger has not been assisted by good fortune of late. He may well feel perturbed at Gervinho getting sent off last week after he should have been awarded a penalty, and he may consider that his side were on the brink of a breakthrough against Liverpool before a freakish own goal set them on course for defeat.

But Wenger's complaint that "every single decision in the last three or four months" has gone against his side rings hollow, and smacks of self-delusion. In the same way that his flagrant flouting of UEFA's touchline ban demonstrated an embarrassing disregard for authority, so his side's failure to keep their heads, is unhinging their season before it has begun. Arsenal are showing all the on-field maturity of the In-Betweeners - and the price for that may well be finishing in between fifth place and tenth this season.

Last term Arsenal came second bottom of the disciplinary table with 68 yellow cards and six reds in the Premier League, and they blew their Champions League chance when Robin van Persie got himself red carded for shooting after the whistle had gone at the Camp Nou. This season, they have effectively reached half of last season's tally after just two matches.

At Newcastle Gervinho was dismissed for allowing himself to be provoked by Joey Barton, Alex Song was retrospectively red carded for stamping on Barton off the ball and, yesterday, Emmanuel Frimpong received the first of his two yellow cards for squaring up to Jordan Henderson over a throw-in. Such ill-discipline is undermining any prospects Arsenal have of competing at the top - and the fact that the same mistakes continue unabated reflect a lack of leadership from the top.

Wenger is a great manager and the man to ride Arsenal out of their current storm, but he must recognise his side's, and his own, shortcomings. Instead of continually defending the indefensible, he should publicly criticise his players when they let the side down and do something about their appalling disciplinary record instead of whingeing about life being unfair like some irritable teenager - and hold his hand up when he has done wrong instead of using a mate to phone up the bench when it is obviously against the rules to do so.

Part of the problem, of course, is that many of Wenger's charges are so young. Frimpong's mistake is the sort of price you pay for inexperience. But this is why ready-made top drawer players are more expensive: you wouldn't see Raul Mereiles or Charlie Adam getting sent off like that.

Another reason Wenger needs to buy is his team's dearth of quality. How the club has allowed itself to get into the position of losing its two best players so late in the summer without locating replacements is bizarre - but what was clear on Saturday was that in the absence of Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Gervinho and Song, a lineup dependent on the abject Andrey Arshavin and Theo Walcott was only ever going to suffer one outcome against a side with a superior roll-call of players.

Liverpool, by contrast, are a side on the upward curve. Their recruitment campaign has been exceptional and is beginning to serve them well. José Enrique looks a snip at £6m after making an accomplished debut in which he shackled Walcott with ease and raided down the left like Gareth Bale. Stewart Downing was a menace on the flank, Andy Carroll a perpetual aerial threat and Luis Suarez is beginning to look like Liverpool's best signing in years.

The Reds are getting back to their very best and under Dalglish might just surprise a few people this season. Much depends on how much time it takes for the component parts to synchronise but in King Kenny they boast an underrated tactician. Bringing on Raul Mereiles and Suarez to waltz through a midfield and defence that had wilted following Frimpong and Laurent Koscielny's departure was a shrewd move.

With no European commitments and Steven Gerrard yet to return, the Reds' are a value bet at [13] to spring a title surprise (possibly to lay at a later date). As for Arsenal, back a red card against United next weekend at any price.

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