As I left the ground on Tuesday night I was in need of some positives. I was cold, my shoes had let in snow, ice and slush, I had soaking wet feet, and to top it all Arsenal had just lost to Burnley. My only consolation was that at least we hadn't lost to one of our main rivals in an embarrassing fashion, such as the 5-1 defeat at Tottenham last season. But then I felt down again. Had we just blown our best chance of a trophy this season?

For the last few seasons I have very much sneered at clubs that have taken the Mickey Mouse Cup seriously. Tottenham releasing commemorative DVDs, mugs, flags, scarves, etc after last season's semi-final and final success made me smirk at their level of sadness. Look at them celebrating as if they've won the Champions League I thought.

However, I'm starting to wonder if we should start taking this tournament a little more seriously ourselves. I'm not suggesting playing our best XI in every round, but there must be a case for playing a few of the older heads (should any exist in our squad!) with this promising crop of youngsters. This may be the problem though. Perhaps Arsene just hasn't got the squad to be able to do this in the Carling Cup.

How many useless phone-ins do you listen to where someone will mention that Arsenal haven't won a trophy since 2005? Surely if Arsene took the Carling Cup a little more seriously and actually won it, then it could take the heat off of him slightly? I know he has bigger fish to fry, and obviously we need to see these youngsters in action at some point, but realistically can you see us winning the league or Champions League this season?

That just leaves the FA Cup, and we saw how important that was to Arsene when thousands of us made the trip to Old Trafford last season, only to see an inept performance of grand proportions. I won't be one of those calling for Arsene's head should we fail to win a trophy this season, but you do have to consider has he just squandered his best chance of ending his relative silverware drought.

Personally I have mixed feelings about it all. I'm glad we get to see these kids entertain us, but selfishly I'd also love a trip to Wembley to see Arsenal lift a trophy. That may make me sound like a glory hunter, though surely the reason for supporting a team is because you want them to be successful at some point. It just hit me whilst trudging back to the car on Tuesday night that we probably won't be lifting any silverware again this season.

This may not be the end of the world of course but when I got into bed at 1 in the morning it certainly felt like it.