Scott Heavey/Getty ImagesArsenal's Theo Walcott and company hope to evoke the spirit of their comeback versus Reading earlier this season on a more regular basis starting Monday night against the Royals.

It might seem strange to think back to the Capital One Cup after the embarrassing week that Arsenal that have had (and if you weren't embarrassed by it, Arsene Wenger, the fans certainly were), but ahead of the game with Reading on Monday night, thoughts inevitably turn back to that balmy night at the Madejski Stadium in the fourth round of the competition.

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It was one of the few occasions in the season where there some real team spirit on show as the team fought back from 4-0 down to win 7-5 in extra time, with late goals at the end of 90 minutes and at the end of the extra half an hour.
From an Arsenal point of view, there were numerous things wrong with that game. Jason Roberts gave Johan Djourou and Laurent Koscielny the run around, the first half performance was the worst I'd ever seen from an Arsenal team, and some of the youngsters looked out of their depth for much of the game.

However all of that was forgotten when the team finally showed some spirit and turned that match into an epic that will live long in the memory of those who watched it. Apart from the North London derby, that spirit has been badly missing in the last few weeks.

After the Reading game, Theo Walcott and Carl Jenkinson said that the first half performance from the Gunners that night hadn't been the 'real Arsenal', and that the second half was what the team are really about. By that judgment, what the fans have been watching in the last few weeks hasn't been the real Arsenal at all. Reading on Monday night wouldn't just be a nice time to get back to being the 'real Arsenal', but rather it's essential if Arsenal are going to improve the mood among supporters.

I'm claiming it to be coincidental to the defeat on Tuesday, and not consequential of it, but I've felt a bit under the weather since Tuesday evening. As a way of cheering myself up and trying to feel better, it just so happened that I ended up watching the Arsenal season review DVD from 2003/2004. Having not watched it for a while, it hit home just how good the team were that season, and the aura that they had when they went into a game.

It's stating the obvious to say that team had better players, but they were much more of a collective unit compared to the current Arsenal team. A lot of the players spoke about the spirit within the team and how it got them through games when they were in trouble. However they were such a good team, and the spirit was so strong, that being in trouble was a rare occurrence.

The current Arsenal team only seem to show the same sort of spirit when they're in seriously dire situations. Last season it appeared when 2-0 down against Tottenham and when 4-0 down against AC Milan, and this season it obviously resurfaced at Reading. While these individual shows of spirit and comebacks make for exciting matches, the team need to look at the wider situation of the season and realise that playing like the 'real Arsenal' only occasionally isn't good enough.

I'm not being a Wenger apologist by focusing on the players needing to get some spirit, because they need to have leadership from the manager as well in galvanising them, and the manager is responsible for bringing the players into the club that have the big characters to drive the team forward. But the current players have to look at themselves and make sure they're collectively giving everything for Arsenal.

Having done it already at the Madejski this season, Arsenal need to start consistently showing the same spirit to avoid having to rely on occasional showings of the 'real Arsenal' in dire situations because it can't drag a team out of every sticky situation in which they find themselves.

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