Arsenal insist Arsene Wenger was on top of their busy transfer deadline day.
The Daily Mail says Wenger was finally forced into making four transfer deadline signings in Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos and Yossi Benayoun by the humiliating 8-2 defeat at Manchester United three days earlier.
But it was a sign of Wenger's reticence to enter the last-minute market that he still spent the final day of the window at a European coaches forum in Geneva.
An Arsenal spokesman said it did not stop him staying in touch through phone and email and that a lot of other people were working on the deals.