And the one-upmanship going on is ridiculous – frankly, anyone who falls for it and buys the paper in question is a fool. Arsenal to bid for Benzema? Oh yeah, we’re sure to outbid the likes of United for a £30m striker. Okay, well how about £30m plus Bendtner for Ribery? I hope the editor cries himself to sleep at night.

Unfortunately, we live in the Sun generation, a world where the vast majority seem to believe everything they read in ‘the nation’s favourite red top’ (or more accurately, as beautifully described by Tim on 7amkickoff, ‘an open sore on the anus of society’).

And in these times of instant access to news, both accurate and bollocks, fickleness is taken to the extreme. Take a glance at many sites and comments from this week, and you’ll see Cesc and Arshavin ripped apart by ‘fans’ who worshipped them just days ago but now consider them ‘overrated’. The reason? Oh, that’ll be the Sun again, who suggested (subtly, as ever), that both wanted to both to Spain.

First Cesc explained his frustration at not winning trophies at Arsenal, but not in a ‘I want to leave’ way, but more like a genuine Arsenal fan, desperate for success. Of course the media world went bananas, but for a more rational view, check out Arseblogger’s post on the day the story broke, cutting through the crap with typical finesse.

And then this week, we have Arshavin, who wanted to move to Barcelona before he ever joined us, at a time when even joining Spurs was preferable to staying where he was, and on a very slow news day (after all, who wants to write about the Under 21s getting thumped by Germany last night?), the Sun decided to reprint his quote. Nothing like context to a story.

One consolation is that this idiocy isn’t restricted to football. I was at Wimbledon yesterday, sat in front of the big screen before Murray played another match on the road to being thumped by Federer in the final. The atmosphere was superb, and full of optimism, but ten minutes into the game, the plank behind me starting spouting more nonsense than I’ve heard down the pub in a long time. Here are some of his quotes, and bear in mind they were made after a whopping two games, with Murray 2-0 down in the first set.

“He’s bottled it, totally bottled it, it’ll be over in an hour”

“Write this set off, might as well just start playing the second now”

“Useless, I could’ve won that point, he’s not even a top 100 player really” [said after Murray had played a quite extraordinary shot that just missed]

“He’s getting hammered by an amateur!” [Wawrinka, his opponent, is in the top 20 in the world, and on yesterday's evidence, a damn good player]

“Scottish wanker, never liked him” [yeah, that's why you paid ticket money and are now sat on the hill, watching earnestly]

More and more, people around me were despairing. It was the equivalent of Villa coming to the Emirates, having a decent chance in the first minute, and the entire crowd writing our lot off as useless in the blink of an eye. It made absolutely no sense.

But then, very little does anymore. How does it make sense that the Sun has such a massive readership when their stories get more ridiculous by the day? How does it make sense that one voice of reason gets drowned out by twenty fools on Newsnow?

But fools are everywhere. Just look at the latest ramblings of the man in charge of our game. According to him, big spending=bad. But Real Madrid big spending=good, and Arsenal being frugal=bad.

Run that by me again, Sepp?

*sigh*

One long clean up later, and we’re back on track, with a major increase in the protection level around here. If you’re a genuine commenter, don’t worry, you won’t notice the difference.

Ironic that the bots were so interested in the site at a time where absolutely nothing was happening. Perhaps they too were Arsenal fans, idly flicking through Newsnow, only to get bored of reading recycled, rehashed or just plain made up stories.

Because, in truth, nothing has happened, unless you count Fabianski signing a new contract or the announcement of the fixtures for next season. In a surprise twist, we play everyone….twice. Shocker.

It says something about the boredom that sets in over the summer that we actually get interested in the order we play games next season. Sure, it has some impact – you want easier games after Champions League weeks, and it’s always good to make sure you’re not going away the weekend of a Big Four game, but in reality, it doesn’t matter all that much. Anyone think we lost the league because we played the top three in a batch at the end of the season? Or perhaps it had more to do with our poor performances early on.

Honestly, this time of year I am amazed that bloggers manage to do daily posts. A few times over the last week I’ve sat at the keyboard, but decided not to bother until something actually happens. Sure, Ronaldo and Kaka have moved to Madrid for stupid money, but how much effect will that have on us? United will probably end up stronger with some astute signings, but otherwise not one bit.

The papers, however, have taken Madrid’s ridiculous spending spree and inflated the transfer market in their minds. The quoted figures for ‘rumours’ have doubled from this time last year - suddenly £10m doesn’t seem so much. So now Cesc will cost £45m, Villa £50m, and so on. It’s nonsense. Hilariously, this happens at a time when Newcastle’s asking price drops by the day.

As for us, apparently we could be signing any of Sakho, Toure (yeah, him again) or Chamakh, and selling any of Cesc, Van Persie, Clichy, Eboue or, in everyone’s worst nightmare, Bischoff. Strangely, no word on Ade. The vast majority, if not all, of the stories are lies.

The reality is that we’ll get rid of Bischoff, Senderos when he returns from loan (probably), and perhaps Ade if anyone gives us enough cash. If not, he’ll have to stay and fight for his place – maybe that would give him the drive to prove himself all over again.

And in a real news shock, one transfer link might actually be true – Ajax captain Thomas Vermaelen really does seem to be on his way, and is apparently having a medical tomorrow. Whether he will be a success in the Premiership is a moot point at the moment - the fact that Wenger is spending around £10m on a centre half is recognition that he really can see the deficiencies in this side. As for the Dutchman, he is certainly making the right noises:

“I feel so proud, Arsenal is a fantastic club and one that, as a child, I enjoyed watching play. Arsene Wenger stands for nice, attacking football and dares to work with young talents. That appeals to me enormously.”

“A lot will change in my life. Next season I will come up against the best strikers in the world. I am not scared by that, I will give all my body can give. This is one of the most beautiful days of my life.”

Can’t say fairer than that. Although at 23, he might not realise that he’ll actually be an elder statesman, not the young player he considers himself to be.

Over in Sweden meanwhile, Stuart Pearce is toying with Walcott’s confidence, first publicly backing him to shine, then hauling him off at half time, and then only introducing him as a sub in tonight’s win over Spain, in which he looked leagues above many of his peers. Still, I guess it’s good news for us – we don’t want him coming back exhausted.

And that’s it – the sum total of nine days of news. One signing probably on the way, a whole bunch of lies, and some highly exciting fixtures.

Isn’t June fun?

Irritating as Alan Green, the usual presenter, can sometimes be, he does bring a certain level of wit that adds entertainment to his acerbic comments, whether or not his points have actual merit when fully considered. At the other end of the scale, there is Tim Lovejoy, the worst of the worst ‘local down the pub’ sort of football fan, the sort that feels compelled to shout his baseless opinion above those he is debating with, as if drowning out reason makes him more credible. It makes him more painful to listen to.

But as depressing an experience listening to Lovejoy can be, he is not the worst. That dubious honour goes to Steve Claridge, a man so out of touch with the game he comments on, one who has never held an opinion that stands up to any sort of analysis, and whose mannerisms often leave me wishing for David Pleat’s voice. Yes, he really is that bad.

With a fairly average performance nevertheless resulting in a 4-0 victory, and a trivial match against Andorra to come on Wednesday night, the subject for the full hour was the uncompetitive nature of international football. Nothing wrong with that – a pundit claiming that qualifying matches are, for the most part, dull and predictable affairs will get no argument out of me. What will provoke a reaction is suggesting idiotic solutions.

With the breakdown of Yugoslavia and certain Russian states, plus the invitation to some of the tiniest nations in Europe, such as Andorra, there are now around twice as many UEFA members as there were only a couple of decades ago. Naturally, with the talent pool no bigger than before, the quality among some of the smaller nations is no better than lower league domestic football, and certainly not a spectacle for the neutral, less so when a giant of the game hands out a routine hammering whether or not they actually play well enough to deserve it.

The trouble is that there are so many poor nations out there that more than half of our qualifying games are meaningless one-sided affairs. Croatia and Ukraine provide the challenge in England’s group, and those games at least raise an eyebrow, but elsewhere we have to put up with six matches against Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra. Does anyone care about these games?

Claridge is adamant that the bulk of these nations should be placed in pre-qualifying, with only the cream of the crop allowed to face the elite of European football in the full qualifying stage, thus reducing the matches and the boredom. Reading this, you might think I’m in agreement, but I couldn’t be more against the idea.

There are so many reasons why such an idea is unworkable. Firstly, to have it make any difference, you effectively have to split the continent in half – the automatic ’round 2′ nations, and the pre-qualifiers, otherwise it’ll make little difference. But with so many nations, this means a massive tournament has to take place before the big nations even begin their qualifying campaigns. When can this happen? Some have suggested during the summer tournaments, but the FAs of these nations rely on gate and TV revenue – how much money do you think will be made in a Luxembourg v San Marino match during a major tournament?

And what next for the losing countries? Two years of friendlies? Oh, that’ll help them.

Leaving practicality aside for a moment, let’s look at the morals. The whole point of putting all countries together is that they all start from a level playing field. A few shock wins, and you might get in. Conversely, a few bad results from a major nation puts them in jeopardy. But the minnows would have to perform well in two campaigns, which seems highly unfair.

Perhaps more importantly, it stifles their opportunity for progression. Turkey used to be absolutely hopeless on the international stage, but after years of hammerings their game improved to the point where they are no longer a pushover. Latvia, a country who would be in the bottom half and therefore the pre-qualifiers, made it to Euro 2004 on the back of a few surprising results. Northern Ireland nearly qualified for Euro 2008 and beat England in the previous campaign, but may never get the chance to compete in the finals under these circumstances. With the cyclical nature of national strength, each pre-qualifying country may get through to play ‘top half’ nations every 12-16 years. How does this help them improve, or promote their game?

The real problem is not that we play the minnows, it is not that they have an equal chance of progression as we do, it is not that there are so many of them, and it even isn’t that Kazakhstan, along with Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the more dangerous Turkey, Israel and Cyprus are geographically more in Asia than Europe and should therefore be elsewhere. The real issue is the mechanism of qualification chosen by UEFA are designed to suit the powerhouses of European football.

Years ago, qualification groups were much smaller – four teams in a group was commonplace. As we know from tournament finals, groups of that size massively increase the magnitude of individual games – one poor result and you could be in real trouble. In qualifiers, it is slightly expanded because each team plays each other twice, but even in six games one or two results can have an enormous impact.

Compare that to the current model – say the unthinkable happens and England draw with, or even lose to Andorra on Wednesday night. Would it matter? To the gleeful press, yes, but to the bigger picture of qualification, not one jot. There are so many other games in the group that we would not be punished for our slip, and nor would the result give Andorra a prayer of qualification.

Now imagine the groups were smaller. We have 53 nations in Europe and 13 places up for grabs in the World Cup. Why not have 13 groups, nine of four teams, and five of five. The winners qualify. Simple? Thought so.

Picture England in a group of four teams, knowing second place was nothing. While seeding would still mean a minnow would be in their group, would a poor result against them be so meaningless? Of course not – one slip and you put yourself in massive danger.

Moreover, it promotes the idea of football as a worldwide sport, where every country really does have a chance of getting through. Take Northern Ireland or Bosnia, two countries never in major finals, both of which are having terrific campaigns. Over the course of 10-12 qualifiers and a playoff, they will surely be found out and will, once again, fail to qualify. But under a shorter system, those few excellent results they have achieved would take them to the finals. Seeing Latvia dominate Germany in a Euro 2004 group stage match was memorable for me, and certainly for them – why not increase the chances of this happening again? It doesn’t devalue the main competition as that is also set up to be open – look at how Greece eventually won the same tournament.

The positives are numerous – there would be fewer internationals exhausting the players during the season, each match would actually have significance, the chances of producing a more diverse competition are greater, and the stature of the international game as a whole would improve, which is surely good for UEFA and FIFA.

So why aren’t they considering it?

Simply put, it would annoy the bigger nations by making their qualification trickier. But surely that is what it is all about – one of the stories of this campaign is how Portugal may not make it, with Denmark and Hungary currently comfortably ahead of them. Neither would be embarrassed at the finals, so neither would detract from the competition. But you get the feeling, with the length of the qualifying process, that Portugal will probably come back. But with only two wins from six games, they should be gone.

It seems such a simple plan. But it will never happen, not while the big countries hold all the power. So don’t listen to the likes of Steve Claridge bleating about the lack of strength of international competition, but only suggesting changes that marginalise the smaller nations, instead of giving them a fair crack. It is not our place to dismiss them into their own competition. We should instead not design a system that suits us, only to complain about it later.

This is not the Champions League, where forcing automatic entry to weak sides who will inevitably get hammered devalues the competition. This is the World Cup, where performing well in 4-5 qualifiers should give you a chance to perform on the biggest stage.

The co-efficient process has not changed, and it is still a table topped by the Premiership, unsurprising given how it delivers a Champions League finalist every year. But whereas first or second in the Premiership used to put you in the group stage, and third and fourth into a qualifying match against fairly weak opposition (our sides are always seeded), the process is now overly complex. Time to decipher the madness.

The basics of the new format

• The 32 teams in the group stage used to be comprised of 16 automatic entrants, and 16 qualifiers. Now, there are 22 automatic entrants from a wider variety of nations (some of which might not even have played in the group stages last year) and only 10 that come through the qualifying rounds. UEFA’s theory is that big clubs always get through qualifiers at the expense of champions from smaller nations, so they’ve given more free passes to those that would normally exit in the qualifiers. Incidentally, the extra automatic entrants are the third placed sides in the top three countries (England, Spain, Italy), and the champions of countries ranked 10-12 (Scotland, Turkey and Ukraine – champions of the top 9 countries qualified automatically  anyway).

• One of the 16 automatic spots always goes to the holders, which this season is Barcelona. Since they qualified through the league anyway, the holder’s reserved spot goes instead to the champions of the 13th placed country (the next in line) – Belgium.

• The remaining 10 spots are for everyone else to fight over, and this time, instead of piling everyone together, UEFA have put the remaining national champions (of countries ranked 14th and below) into one qualifying competition, and all other teams who didn’t win their league (such as Arsenal) into another. Each qualifying competition will supply 5 of the 10 qualifying places. Note – this is bad. In fact, this is very bad. Previously, all non-champions that found themselves in qualifying rounds had 16 places to fight over, and had the opportunity (as seeded teams) to play the champions of Luxembourg and cruise through. Now, they have to play other non-champions for only five spots, and since only the top 15 of  53 countries in Europe have sides other than their national champions entering the Champions League qualifiers (rather than the Europa League), this means they will all be drawn against each other in a series of tricky ties.
  

So who has qualified for the group stages already?

• The 16 sides that would have qualified under the old system still do, and they are: Man United, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter, Juventus, Bordeaux, Marseille, Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich, Rubin Kazan (champions of Russia in 2008, apparently), CSKA Moscow, Unirea Urziceni (Romania), Porto, AZ, and, since Barcelona qualified as champions, Standard Liege.

• In addition, the 6 extra automatic places go to Chelsea, Sevilla, AC Milan, Rangers, Besiktas, and Dynamo Kiev.

How does qualification work for everyone else?

• 5 of the 10 remaining positions are filled by qualifiers from the ‘Champions Path’, a competition for the league winners of nations ranked 14th-53rd in Europe. This is the easy route, because quite frankly there are barely any decent teams in the list. By definition, if your country is ranked 14th or below in Europe, it is because you haven’t had any tangible success, and that’s probably because all your teams are rubbish.

• The full list of clubs in the Champions Path is: Olympiakos, Slavia Prague, Grasshopper Zurich, Levski Sofia, Stabaek, FC Copenhagen, Red Bull Salzburg, Partizan Belgrade, Maccabi Haifa, Kalmar FF, Sloven Bratislava, Wisla Krakow, Debrecen, Dinamo Zagreb, APOEL Nicosia, Maribor, Inter Turku, Ventspils, Zrinjski, Ekranas, Sheriff Tiraspol, Bohemians, Makedonija, FH Hafnarfjorour, WIT Georgia, BATE Borisov, Levadia, Baku, Tirana, Pyunik, Aktobe, Glentoran, Rhyl, EB, Dudelange, Hibernians (of Malta, not Scotland), Sant Julia, Mogren and Tre Fiori. Scared by any of those? Even heard of most of them? Thought not.

• The other five places are filled by qualifiers from the ‘Best Placed Path’, which has far less teams in it, but is much harder, both for the reason that only the top fifteen countries have such teams.

So, presumably, Arsenal are in the ‘Best Placed Path’ section. How does it work?

• There are 2 rounds to this particular competition:

1. The first round comprises of 10 sides – the third placed side from the sixth ranked country (Russia) and the nine runners up from countries 7-15. This round does not include Arsenal.
2. The five victors from the first round are then joined by five more teams – fourth placed sides in the top three nations (England, Spain and Italy) and third placed sides in nations 4 and 5 (France and Germany). The ties are drawn randomly (there is no seeding), with the 5 victors going through to the group stages. This is where Arsenal come in.

So who are the teams we could face?

• The 10 teams in the first round are: Dynamo Moscow, Dinamo Bucharest, Sporting Lisbon, Twente, Celtic, Sivasspor (Turkey), Shakhtar Donetsk, Anderlecht, Panathanaikos, and Sparta Prague. Clearly a much stronger set of teams than those in the Champions Path, and it includes UEFA Cup holders Shakhtar, and a potential Battle of Britain with Celtic.

• 5 of those teams will get through to a second round draw with Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Fiorentina, Lyon and Stuttgart. The draw is entirely random.

• Clearly this is a potential nightmare – Lyon always win the French league, but had a bad season and finished third. They would be difficult opponents, as would many others. There aren’t many easy teams there – the weakest will have gone by the time we come in.

What’s the verdict?

Our season could conceivably begin at Celtic Park, in Lyon, Madrid or Florence. Alternatively, we might be facing Jens Lehmann in Stuttgart.

There is no doubt that Platini has made it far more difficult for non-national champions to get into the Champions League, which in fairness is something he always said he would do, but I’m not sure many people realise just how tricky it could be, and won’t until the draw is made later in the summer. The knock on effect (and I’d say this whether Arsenal were automatically in or not) is that the group stages are going to be monumentally dull – this season it was obvious who would get through them, next year that will be the case even more.

Why? Put simply, the reason national champions from smaller countries don’t normally qualify for the group stages is because they aren’t good enough, and get stuffed in the qualifiers. This year, more of these teams are going straight into the group stages to get beaten down every other week. I realise that the point is to get the money distributed to a wider variety of clubs, but the reason the Champions League can offer such huge sums (of TV money, mainly) is because it is a tremendous spectacle. But a competition is only a spectacle if it is competitive. Does anyone really think Rubin Kazan, Unirea Urziceni or AZ have a chance of making it through? The romantics will say that it’s great to see the smaller teams in the group stages, but is it really? The tournament is great to watch when matches are evenly balanced, not when it is patently obvious who will qualify as soon as the draw is made (and that will be the case – seedings dictate that decent sides will be paired with no-hopers). Once again, it won’t get interesting until the knockout stages, once only the decent sides remain to have meaningful games against each other at last.

What is bizarre is this – it will be more difficult for teams to navigate the first qualifying round than the group stage that follows it, because the standard will actually drop once you get there thanks to the low quality automatic entrants. And it won’t help the Europa League either – if we draw Lyon in the qualifying round, the loser will drop into the group stages of the secondary competition and proceed to hammer everyone in it. The standard of the rest of the Europa League is so poor that you can be sure the final will be contested by two Champions League drop outs.

This is, of course, Michel Platini’s design, based on his election promise of supporting the smaller countries (of which there are more, hence his successful election in the first place). Unfortunately, he is contriving to devalue what is so enthralling about our continental competitions.

See you in Lyon in August.

Other weeks, you ignore the football world for a day, come back to see what you’ve missed, and find precisely nothing. And no, I don’t count the repetitive creation of transfer stories when a player refuses to insult an interested club. It is truly tiresome.

That isn’t to say the world of football has been without its stories this week, but they just haven’t involved Arsenal. We’ve had Barcelona comprehensively beating United in the Champions League, Chelsea unfortunately winning the FA Cup despite Saha’s 25th second opener for Everton, while today’s confirmation of Ancelotti leaving Milan probably means he’ll be presiding over a Community Shield game in August.

Elsewhere, Portsmouth and Sunderland now have hugely rich owners, surely putting paid (no pun intended) to the theory that billionaire = success. There are now simply too many of them involved in the Premiership for them all to be successful. Another reason to keep Usmanov way away from our board, as if there weren’t enough already.

What else? Ah yes, Van Persie’s muscular problems are all down to his wisdom teeth, apparently. No, I promise you that isn’t a late April Fool. What I loved most about the story was the Dutchman’s comments:

“Three of the four specialists I chose were rejected by the club”

The accepted one wasn’t Eileen Drewery, was it?

In all seriousness, that a root cause of his injuries is being searched for is good news, but given that the only other recipient of this treatment is Rosicky (remember him?), I won’t be holding my breath.

There may not be much news at the moment, but that is likely to change – Wenger had already indicated that changes will be made this summer, and with boardroom issues to resolve as well, it should be a busy few months. There is also plenty to write about – I will be recapping the season this week and looking at a number of issues, namely Adebayor and the complex Champions League qualification process.

Until then, enjoy a sunny weekend.

One of the hallmarks of the Invincibles side was the ability to end games in the first half. In the great unbeaten season, I’d estimate 8-9 games that were over by the 25 minute mark, such was the explosive nature with which we began games. I even distinctly remember turning on Sky Sports News at 3.05pm to see us already two up on Charlton.

Times have changed – the Premiership is a cagier league than it was only five years ago, with half the division setting out to spoil rather than attack whenever they play the big teams. But also, we don’t start with the pace and urgency that we used to, preferring to tire the opposition out playing making them chase the ball, before hitting late sucker punches.

And in fairness, it is a tactic that often works – we’ve scored countless late goals in the last two seasons, but not only does it exhaust the opposition, it is harder work for us.

In 2009, we had played fifteen leagues games before Saturday, and scored the grand total of eight goals in the first half. Three of those were against West Brom. Contrast that with 23 second half goals scored in the same period.

It may seem like a statistical anomaly, but it isn’t – this has been going on for some time. The knock on effect is that the players have to be mentally tuned for longer, opposition fly into tackles for longer instead of giving up a lost cause when 3-0 down early, and our players have to fight until much later in the game. Is it any wonder we’re picking up so many more injuries?

Saturday was an example of what can happen when the opposition fail to defend as manfully as the lower half of the Premiership usually do. In a way, it was a throwback to how the league used to be, and having received a first half pasting, you can understand why sides like Stoke normally have such a cautious approach.

So, given that we know our opposition won’t even be trying to score in the first twenty minutes, why can’t we start games at a higher tempo? Occasionally, flying forward may mean we concede the first goal, but I’ll take that if we’re a couple of goals up at half time in six other matches.

Because when we do get the first goal early, the rest of the game can become a breeze. Sure, this was the last day of the season, so isn’t the best example, as Stoke had nothing to play for, but we’ve seen it before – score early and the opposition have to change their tactic of defending physically, and come and play football. When they are forced into that, we can really make them pay.

Stoke were hammered on Saturday, but it could have been a humilation. Beattie sliced home to give us an early advantage, which was doubled when Van Persie dusted himself off to convert a penalty he had himself won. The Dutchman then delivered a beautiful free kick that Diaby glanced home. Fuller reply from the spot was a blip, before Van Persie intercepted Delap’s dreadful back header to chest and volley home in style.

Aside from the goals, Van Persie smacked the bar with a free kick, Toure hit a post, while Diaby and Walcott missed great chances. Overall, it was a nice way to end a disappointing campaign.

After the game came the lap of honour, with Adebayor sporting what seemed to be an exaggerated limp – I’ve had groin injuries before, and after a couple of weeks it is generally tight and stops you from playing, but it doesn’t cause that much of a problem when walking. I’d hazard a guess that he was backing up the official reason for his dropping, and in reality I’d be surprised to see him at Arsenal come the autumn. A real shame, that.

Wenger himself was treated to an afternoon of fan support, fully deserved after the flak he has received recently. Don’t get me wrong, he has made mistakes this season and is not above criticism, but a little perspective is needed from some – I can’t name another manager who would have taken this group of players, at this age, to fourth. What he does now is, of course, paramount, but the noises that have come out recently suggest that he recognises the weaknesses and is prepared to sort them out.

So that is it for another season. We’ll be back in action for Champions League qualifiers in August, until then we’ve just got a lot of transfer speculation to get through. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a positive summer.

Enjoy the rest of your bank holiday.

As we all know, Phil Brown changed his story quite dramatically after the game, whilst making easily disproven accusations of our manager not shaking his hand, so he was discredited from the start. But that hasn’t stopped the FA taking a whopping ten weeks to sort this out, and decide that there was no case to answer. Ten weeks??

Amusingly, Brown himself has to face an FA hearing next week regarding his conduct in the same game, and there would be some beautiful poetic justice if he were to be found guilty days after his club go down. It is clear that he was attempting to deflect attention away from his ailing team, a tactic that backfired badly, and if it weren’t for the complete hopelessness of Boro and Newcastle, they would have been relegated long before this weekend. As it is, survival is still in their own hands.

I’m really torn about what I want to happen on the final day – I like Boro as a club, so I wanted them to stay up, but realistically that isn’t going to happen, so only one of Newcastle or Hull can drop. I think I’m leaning towards the Geordies going down, and Hull sticking around to get annihilated next season and get relegated with a points tally Derby or Swindon would be ashamed of. How quickly the popular ‘plucky small club’ fall from grace.

Elsewhere, as expected, Wenger has confirmed that he will not be joining Real Madrid. It baffles me that the media could all be fooled into believing this to be a story, when it clearly had no legs from the beginning. Wenger, incidentally, seems perfectly happy to burn his bridges with the Spaniards, clearly not wanting to be involved with them any time in the future, by digging at their recent record:

“You speak about Real Madrid – they waste a lot of money and they have gone out in the last 16 of the Champions League for five consecutive years.

Ouch.

So we’re nearly at the end of the season now, just a home game with Stoke left that I can’t get excited about even though they beat us earlier in the campaign. The summer has effectively begun already. Unfortunately, that also means the traditional transfer rumours have been restarted – give it until the end of the weekend before we’re linked with Yaya Toure.

This could be a long three months.

But it is also a story that, when you actually look at it, has no credence whatsoever.

The story stems entirely from comments Wenger made on French television, when asked about Perez’s plans to return to Real and revive the galactico culture he was famous for during his previous stint. Wenger was quite evasive on the subject, as he often is when talking about other clubs:

“With Florentino Pérez in charge, the project he has put forward would be ­interesting for any coach”

A sentence that has sparked a thousand rumours. But since when can ‘interesting’ be replaced by ‘appealing’? Having Perez as your boss is certainly interesting, but not for the right reasons – the manager’s job becomes that of a head coach only, as the president often supercedes him on transfers, arranging the arrivals of world stars every year, often those that do not fit into the team structure or ethos. By the end of his time at Real, the dressing room was an unmanageable mess of egos. Already, he is claiming he will bring stars with him if elected, and while these promises are always lies, it confirms that once again he intends to drive the deals.

All of this is against Wenger’s entire working practice. He nurtures players, encourages the development of young talent, and thrives on turning a rough diamond into exactly the sort of player Real themselves then seek. What’s more, he does this irrespective of whether money is available to capture more established talent. Combined with Perez’s penchant for taking control of matters he should leave to others, Real are about as far down the list of clubs suited to Wenger as anyone.

Wenger has consistently pledged his future to Arsenal, and he is aware that leaving now would be perceived as a failure, or at best a half success. He has come under unprecedented fire in the last few years, and it would be in his character to prove the masses wrong before he takes his career in a new direction. He knows this team is not a million miles away, and he will be keen to complete this incarnation before considering any other options. He is a proud man, and he does not walk away when he has such unwavering support from his employers.

We are entirely the summer, and that means the papers need to fill column inches with stories that are increasingly based in fantasy. Unable to cover much actual football, every sentence uttered is scrutinised in greater detail, and often, as in this case, completely misinterpreted.

It is only May – we have months of this to come.

In the end, it was a day that suited both teams – United got the point they required to seal their third successive title, and we avoided the continuation of an appalling run that has seen both United and Chelsea embarrass us in recent weeks.

In the Champions League, we looked nervous as United swarmed over our midfield in both legs, but this time, with all but one finger on the trophy, they were the ones seeming apprehensive, unsure whether to go for the statement win or protect the point. In the end, they chose the latter and defended well enough to ensure they got what they needed.

And ultimately, as Wenger has said, that has been the difference this season. When we’re defending a delicate match position, we’ve all too often been caught out, but United are a different animal, able to seem comfortable repelling even potent attack strength. Barcelona will have taken note.

And fair play to them, they have been the strongest side (read: squad) all season and deserve the league. And they remain the benchmark we have to strive for. Much has been said already about what we need to get there, but I won’t be going over that ground just yet.

As for the match itself, there were few chances – Ronaldo’s free kicks were the closest United came, and ours were restricted to a Van Persie header from an Arshavin cross, and a late Cesc effort that struck the outside of the post. 0-0 was probably the right result.

More pertinent than the match itself was the team selection, on two fronts. As you may have read over at Arseblog, Silvestre appears on his way out in the summer, which explains the preference of Song to the Frenchman in central defence, but another surprise was more critical to the future of this side. Adebayor, fresh from giving one of the most ‘everyone’s against me’ interviews I’ve ever seen on Football Focus, did not even travel with the squad, with the usual citing of a ‘groin problem’, Wenger’s favourite public way of dropping someone.

I’ll cover the Ade situation in another post, but the interview and his recent behaviour hints at a major issue between him and Arsenal Football Club right now, and one that is likely to be unresolved until he leaves. Sadly, I would be surprised to see him at the club come September. More on that tomorrow, probably.

For now, we can start reflecting on a season that has had ups (yes, really) and downs – no disrespect to Stoke, but next weekend’s curtain call will not be much of a meaningful affair.

Over the coming days, I’ll begin to look back on recent events, and then at the season as a whole. And it won’t be entirely negative, despite the ultimate disappointments with which it ended.

Recriminations for this defeat are already being heard, far and wide, as so many seek to write off at least five players, and the manager himself. I’m not sure I’ve seen so many ‘Wenger out’ posts since I began this blog over two years ago.

And while a painful and embarrassing defeat this undoubtedly was, the anger is strange given that, by and large, the performance was so much stronger than Tuesday night’s outclassing by United. In the opening half an hour, this was also one-sided, but in our favour, and if Walcott, who was as lively as he was subdued in the Champions League, had his shooting boots on, our dominance would have resulted in a two goal lead.

On at least two occasions, Walcott missed glorious chances that, in fairness, he played a good part in creating himself, but the worst miss was Diaby’s, taking the ball from Cesc’s foot and poking badly wide. While opportunities kept being created and spurned, you had a horrible feeling that Chelsea would make us pay, and they duly did with their first real effort on goal, Alex outjumping a static defence to head in Drogba’s cheaply won free kick.

After the week both sides had endured, the first goal was always going to be crucial, but to their credit, the players did not lose their heads. But by half time, the deficit had been doubled – Anelka turned away from Nasri too easily in midfield, Silvestre stood off him, and he lashed past Fabianski, who was beaten by pace and swerve.

The players looked shell shocked, and Anelka could’ve made it three before half time, but for once Chelsea were less than clinical. It didn’t take long for us to gift them the conclusive third after the interval, however – Cole crossed, Fabianski charged out, and Toure’s attempted clearance trickled tamely into the unguarded net. It was a shambles.

Walcott then missed the easiest chance he had all night, when a beautiful Song chip saw him one on one with Cech, only for him to fire horribly wide, but it was the introduction of Bendtner, for the hugely disappointing Diaby, that gave us our impetus back. After harrying in midfield for ten minutes, he got on the end of a Sagna cross to head a fairly difficult chance past Cech. Briefly, it looked as if we might get back in the game, but sixty seconds towards the end of the game summed the match up.

Adebayor, on as a sub, went clear on goal, rounded Cech, and collapsed tamely to the ground, looking for a penalty, and then on the counter, an offside Malouda made it 4-1 as Chelsea once again made the most of their breaks. It was the story of the night – we had at least as many clear cut chances as our opposition, but wasteful finishing combined with slack defending led to a heavy defeat.

The irony was that the performance was far improved from Tuesday night, but being three goals down at home twice in five days is unacceptable. Once again we played creative players out of position – Cesc looked less effective in the Bergkamp role more suited to Nasri, who was okay in the holding position while clearly being out of place. Meanwhile, Diaby has never played well on the wing, and his good games are becoming worryingly infrequent. Everything he did today slowed the pace of an attack down.

That said, some of the oft criticised players did well, an odd assessment in a 4-1 home defeat – Walcott was excellent apart from his woeful finishing, Song was superb while adding some lovely touches to his offensive play (his chip for Walcott’s chance was fabulous), and Bendtner sparked the team into life after coming on. It certainly was interesting that the Dane, in the doghouse after his midweek antics, still came on before Adebayor, who is looking increasingly on his way out this summer. More on that in another article coming up.

The defence were collectively poor, even though Gibbs and Sagna were solid again. In the centre, we are consistently beaten in the air, and too often stand off opposition, as if top level Premiership players can’t hurt us from twenty yards. They can, and they do.

The truth is that although the match was even, Chelsea took their chances and we didn’t. Cech wasn’t even called into action for many of ours. We are so close to having the right team (put Arshavin in for Diaby and it is difficult to argue against the front six), but we need strengthening defensively (literally strengthening) if we aren’t to be found out again next season.

But that doesn’t mean we need a complete overhaul. Most of the pieces are already there, and we all know what the missing ones are – they are largely the same as a year ago. Fix them, and we’ll be in business. Time to get it right.

Wrong. Meaningless as far as our positional finish they may be, but the next two games are against Chelsea and United, who are responsible for us failing to reach either of the two cup finals we were chasing. And it goes beyond that – a win over Chelsea on Sunday would see us complete the double over them, and at the same time finally confirm their exit from the title race, mathematically. As for United, they may have won the league by the time we play them next weekend, as they play their game in hand during the week, so wouldn’t it be great to spoil the party? If they do slip up against City or Wigan, three points against us would confirm their status as champions, so either way we need to ruin their day.

After that, perhaps we can start taking stock of the season and moving forward – Stoke on the final day is truly meaningless, but until them, it would be foolhardy to say we have nothing to play for. As much as anything, we need to prove to ourselves that we can compete against the best teams after the fortnight we’ve had.

Chelsea will be angry after their exit to Barcelona on Wednesday – our defeat seems kind compared to the frankly hilarious circumstances they went out in. It was almost as if the football gods were determined not to let them have another shot at the trophy they want to buy crave the most. Having made John Terry slip while taking what would have been the winning penalty last year, they had to make this one hurt even more:

“Hmm, last year was good, how do we top it? Has to be a late winner this time, and away goals helps us there, we can make them go through until the very last moment. But that’s still not painful enough, what else can we do? Maybe make the goal Barcelona’s only effort of the match, yeah that’s good. Oh, and as Chelsea are the bad guys of the story they have to have an advantage, maybe a man up? Maybe Barca have had someone unfairly sent off by that stage, so the comeback is even more unlikely? Yeah, I like it. Think I’ll chuck in a few denied penalty shouts as well, just to really wind them up.”

In all seriousness, it would be infuriating to be on the wrong end of a result like that, but any sympathy I might have had for them disappeared as soon as I saw Drogba, Terry and Ballack behaving so despicably (it is amusing, incidentally, that Chelsea feel so hard done by that Drogba being fouled wasn’t given – the boy who cried wolf story obviously never made it to Stamford Bridge). Add to that trio the likes of Anelka, Malouda (what it with the tiniest ponytail in the world?), Cole and Essien (who managed another of his ‘rake the back of the legs’ tackles), and it just becomes impossible to do anything other than laugh.

Yes, that is childish, but this does lend favour to the notion that karma does exist. At the end of the day, the only side in that tie that tried to play football went through, and Chelsea learned the hard way that if you don’t even try to score an away goal, you’ll be vulnerable to it yourselves.

Anyway, enough gloating - after all, we haven’t exactly had a good week ourselves. But I’m just not sure I could’ve taken another United-Chelsea final, so I guess I’m relieved as much as anything.

So both sides have a point to prove on Sunday. We will still be without Clichy, who misses the final three games, and probably Arshavin, who has flu, so our side may look very similar to Tuesday night’s, which at least gives those players a chance to put things right.

Bendtner’s behaviour in the week, that saw him stumble out of a nightclub with his pants down, probably ruins his chance of starting ahead of Ade, but after receiving a fine I don’t expect any further repercussions, nor do I think there should be any. He apologised immediately, and who hasn’t reacted to a defeat by sinking a few beers?

Another who was quiet against United is Theo Walcott, but we got the excellent news that he signed a new contract today, described as ‘long-term’, which I guess means four years. Now if we can just secure Van Persie’s future, we might get some much-needed stability around the club. That is, apparently, the priority.

There is a big summer ahead, but first, we have a couple of big matches to play. Let’s end this season well.

The temptation today is for many to point the finger at a fourth consecutive season without a trophy, and demand immediate wholesale changes. It is easy to label four or five players as substandard, and insist on a Championship Manager-like overhaul. It started minutes after the game last night – Jens Lehmann, providing stiff punditry on ITV, was asked whether Wenger’s methods now had to completely change.

It is clear to all and sundry that there are flaws in this Arsenal side – not even the most optimistic fan would claim otherwise. In the big games recently, we’ve been outthought, outfought and outclassed, and ultimately both Chelsea and United deserved to go through. And unlike the Chelsea game, where we were missing 80% of our backline, we can’t even blame injuries – last night we were without only Gallas and Clichy from our first choice XI.

So my defence of this group of players is not borne out of myopia of the frailties they have. But it would be an unravelling of great progress to ditch the younger players in favour of established stars, and an impractical process given the price of the players we would be seeking. No, instead Wenger needs not to change his approach from recent times, where he has added the likes of Eduardo, Sagna and Arshavin to his emerging crop of youngsters – players who can make an immediate impact. More than anything, he needs a summer without an exodus.

In truth, most of this talk can wait until the summer, but it is instinctive to look forward when the last flame of success is extinguished from your season. And that is what happened so early last night.

The irony is that the early stages were promising. The team selection was as we all hoped, the atmosphere was electric, and the team started with pace and positivity. But when Gibbs, so impressive in the first leg and generally over the last month, slipped at a crucial moment, Park nipped in to convert Ronaldo’s cross.

Deflation. The side were rocked, you could see that immediately. Poor Gibbs looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up, but we could still progress with a 3-1 win. I predicted that exact score yesterday, but realistically that relied on us scoring first, and quite possibly second.

If Park’s goal made it unlikely, what followed killed the tie. The referee (who gave soft free kicks all night) bought a Ronaldo dive, but the free kick was still forty yards out, and good as Ronaldo’s strike was, Almunia should’ve saved it. So cruel that our two best performers from the first leg had contrived to gift United a two goal lead.

Some will criticise our lack of fight after that, saying we should’ve gone for it, but ask yourself this – did you believe the tie was over? Of course you did, and the players aren’t stupid – they knew the game was up too. We huffed and puffed, but it was Almunia who was making the saves, two great stops from Rooney and Ronaldo saving us from further embarrassment.

Ronaldo did get his second from an excellent counter attack in the second half, after I imagine he got a rollicking from Ferguson at half time. It was noticeable that from the second goal to the break, he was treating the match like his own personal show boating session, a mocking that stopped after the interval, and rightly so.

We did get one consolation, but even that was fortunate – Fletcher clearly got the ball before bringing Cesc down for a penalty that Van Persie converted, and the red card (which cannot be appealed) was particularly harsh, in truth. In the context of this match, it mattered little – we didn’t look to have the numerical advantage at any point.

At the end of the day, we were thoroughly outplayed over two legs – Almunia made all the saves, Van der Sar was a passenger except for routine stops from Van Persie last night and Cesc at Old Trafford. And ultimately, we have to accept that at this moment in time, we are not as good as United – these matches showed it, as does the league table.

But that does not mean we tear the teamsheet up and start again. We need more power, more numbers, and perhaps more leadership, but we do not need a whole new team.

Many have harked back twenty years ago, when we needed a two goal win to pinch the league from Liverpool, but this is different – this match is on our patch, our territory. Highbury was often criticised for being too quiet, tonight our players should expect nothing short of a cacophony of support.

It doesn’t matter whether you think we should’ve signed midfielders last summer. It doesn’t matter whether you think Ade is a great striker or a clumsy fool. It doesn’t even matter that Silvestre won this trophy with United last season. The eleven in red are the eleven we have, and they need every decibel of support this great new stadium can give them.

The team, unlike the first leg, picks itself, and should look like this:

Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Silvestre-Gibbs
Walcott-Cesc-Song-Nasri
Adebayor-Van Persie

Van Persie’s return is huge – without him Wenger might be tempted to play Cesc in the hole again, but tonight we need our midfield maestro pulling the strings in his best position – central midfield. I am slightly concerned that Wenger may start with the Dutchman on the bench and play Diaby (who was rested at the weekend), but the above team is the strongest we have, and if we are to progress they need to put in their top performance.

United will look to compress our play into the middle third, and use Rooney and Ronaldo to get around us on the counter, so Sagna and particularly Gibbs have important nights ahead, while Walcott and Nasri need to offer protection.

But tonight is about scoring. I have a sneaking suspicion that United will get the away goal they think will kill the tie, but if we are aggressive enough we can get the three we need. Adebayor, Van Persie, Cesc, Nasri, Walcott – that should frighten a defence that may yet be without Ferdinand.

I read ‘holic’s preview earlier and was struck by the price bookies are offering against us going through – 3/1. That includes a 1-0 win leading to penalties. We are only 1-0 down and at home. That price is almost insulting, and as a result that’s where my pound is headed too, with a sneaky extra one on a 3-1 win, at 22/1.

The odds against us qualifying show how much everyone has written us off. Remember that not too long ago Villa were overwhelming favourites for fourth, and we clawed that back. We are at our best when no-one gives us a chance.

A little over three hours to go. If you are there tonight, make as much noise as you can, and more than anything, enjoy the experience – we will probably not appreciate how good these times are until we’ve lost them. This is a Champions League semi at home to United. It is beyond huge.

If you aren’t there, turn your phone off, settle down from 7pm and let nothing distract you from the most important night Arsenal have had in three years.

It promises to be a barnstorming night. COME ON YOU REDS!

But on to cheerier things, and a quick recap of the past few days. The match away to Portsmouth on Saturday turned out to be surprisingly routine for a Carling Cup-like outfit, the 3-0 result not flattering in any way. Bendtner had a good game, scoring twice and showing lively touches throughout, but the star of the show was once again Arshavin.

Having already set up the opener with a delicious cross, and after having a penalty claim denied, he did win a spot kick only to tell the ref the tackle had been fair. Much like when Fowler did the same for David Seaman all those years ago, the official ignored him, but it was another admirable moment for the Russian, who seems to be winning over everyone, including the more anti-Arsenal side of the media (here’s looking at you, Daily Mail).

Lee Mason actually had a generally poor game in charge, getting all penalty shouts wrong, including when Vela was blatantly dragged down. But the Mexican had time to score the third, and confirm that we are now safe in fourth. It is strange to think that not so long ago, Villa were on the brink of leading us by eight points, but in the end it has been a cruise into fourth for us.

With Chelsea six points ahead, we are unlikely to catch them even if we do beat them at the Emirates, so realistically, the league season is as good as over. But a new story developed over the weekend, with Stan Kroenke upping his stake to over 28%, very close to the point of triggering a takeover. Usmanov, smarting from losing most of his fortune in the credit crunch (an amusing three quarters, estimated), has complained to the Takeover Panel, based on the perceived preferential treatment Kroenke is receiving.

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding of a share ownership is that it is an asset that one can sell to anyone they choose, for whatever price they choose. If I own a share, Kroenke offers me £8k for it, and Usmanov £10k, I am under no obligation to sell to the highest bidder. To raise a football analogy, would we rather sell Cesc to United to £30m, or Milan for £29m? Greater offers do not necessarily secure a purchase.

Expect this one to run over the summer, but I have to admit that I’m relieved the Uzbeki is no longer our major shareholder.

What else is there to talk about today? Ah yes, the small matter of a Champions League semi final tonight. I’ll preview that shortly.

The only thing any Arsenal fan can feel this morning is relief that, against all odds, we are somehow still in the Champions League. On the balance of last night’s first leg, the semi final tie should be comprehensively beyond our reach.

It wasn’t just that we played badly (we did), it has to be said that United were superb. They played at a tempo that seemed to surprise us, as if we were expecting a cagey affair, and tactically they were perfectly set up to nullify our attack – with Fletcher, Anderson and Carrick outnumbering us in central midfield, the only way was around, and crosses were either blocked or dealt with comfortably by Ferdinand and Vidic.

Up front, Adebayor cut a lonely figure, and his isolation seemed to take away his motivation, so easily was he brushed off the ball all night. Meanwhile Cesc, playing in the advanced midfield role he is less suited to, struggled to get into the game while Nasri, behind him, mopped up well but was too far removed to be a creative influence.

The goal itself was a horrible one to concede, everyone being sucked to the near post from a corner, and three players being left unmarked at the back stick, O’Shea firing home. Gibbs, on the line, could do nothing.

The youngster, along with the rest of defence, actually did very well for the rest of the night. Gibbs had a tough ask, being assigned to mark Ronaldo out of the game, and Rooney when they switched wings. Ronaldo’s frustration was evident with a trademark second half dive. But the man of the match from our point of view has to be Almunia, who made great saves from Tevez just before the goal, Ronaldo afterwards, and a few others that single handedly kept us alive.

Even some of the maligned individuals were doing well. Silvestre showed his experience to spot danger and had a good night, Song is growing into his role, while Sagna looked better than he did against Chelsea. But going forward, we offered nothing, bar a tame Cesc shot and a late Bendtner header that could’ve given us the least deserved away goal in history. Walcott had no service and got no change out of Evra.

United had plenty of chances – Giggs had a goal disallowed for a very close offside, while Ronaldo thumped the bar with one of his specials. To be frank, 2-0 wouldn’t even do justice to their dominance, 3-0 would have been fairer.

But it is a credit to our doggedness (and yes, to our luck), that the deficit is only one. Can United play as well again in the second leg, and can we be as toothless? You would hope not. The news that Ferdinand may miss the second leg is huge – United are weakened dramatically when either he or Vidic is missing, so dominant are they as a partnership.

In five days time, our season gets defined. We cannot play like we did last night, we have to have a real go at them. If we’re going out, let’s go our fighting, but with more luck like that we enjoyed last night, we may yet reach the final.

Who knows?