The last remaining member of the invincibles squad has a nasty habit of making costly errors.

Clichy has a superb work rate, commendable attitude and searing pace but, as painful as it is to admit, he has never reached the heights that Ashley Cole was capable of.

Clichy should be one of the senior members of the squad but he still makes mistakes that you would associate with a rookie and he proved this again on Saturday when he was guilty of a double error which led to Sunderland's last gasp equaliser.

Firstly, he and Laurent Koscielny were caught napping when we cleared the corner and played three or four Sunderland players on side as the ball was played back in by Zenden. Then, as he panicked to recover his position, he appeared to become disorientated and, as the ball fell to him, he could only swing wildly at the ball, firing it straight into Koscielny. It then fell to the grateful Darren Bent who gleefully rifled the ball into the back of the net.

It was a shambolic end to an otherwise immaculate defensive display but it is not the first time Clichy has been the cause of our infamous defensive fallibility. It could be argued that the 4-3-3 formation which Wenger adopted last season exposes the full backs but Clichy had also been error prone before last season and Bacary Sagna has rarely been the cause of defensive catastrophes while playing during the same period on the other defensive flank.

On paper, Clichy's mentality is exemplary. He works hard, never complains and in hopeless situations he refuses to give up. However, he still produces mistakes like the slip at home to Spurs last season, which led to their ridiculous come back, or the foul which led to a penalty during Birmingham's infamous comeback on the day that Eduardo broke his leg. It seems that when the pressure is on, he is liable to make a mistake. He could get away with them if he was a midfielder or an attacker but, just like Almunia, our defenders have to cut out every single error to ensure that we stay in the title hunt.

Cesc Fabregas had been critical of our performances in the big wins versus Bolton and Braga and that is because he knows players like Clichy are never far away from a costly slip. Wenger has already given Gibbs a chance against Bolton but perhaps it is time to give the youngster a prolonged run in the side, if only to try and instil some mental toughness into Gael Clichy. 

Photo: Action Images

Southampton Polls