Firstly, Porto away, what an utter disgrace. No pride, no passion, and no thought for the 1500 fans who made the trip at considerable expense. Many of the players couldn’t even be bothered to come over and thank the fans for their support. And what do we get from Wenger? A load of rubbish about resting overworked players and minor injuries restricting his options. What he should have said, was that it was an inconvenient game that would not affect our qualification, and I don’t want to risk my star players. At least that would have been an honest assessment of the game, on an otherwise abject night.

The upshot of the defeat is that we will now be at home for the first leg of the knockout stage. This fact obviously has no bearing on Wenger’s thinking, and I’m sure many people will quote the Milan game last year as an example of playing at home first not mattering, but how many of them really believed that after the 0-0 draw we could go to the San Siro and win? The fact is that the stats heavily favour the team playing at home in the second leg, and to willingly throw away this advantage, may well come back to haunt Wenger, and us, in February.

Secondly, it’s easy to blame the players for the performance, and many people have, but the seemingly indifferent attitude of the club to matches such as this must impact on the players. Not one of the starting eleven did anything to enhance their reputation, surely they can’t all have become bad players overnight. All they managed to do was confirm the thinking that they are becoming comfortable playing second fiddle, happy to pick up their huge wages for the occasional first team game. And who can blame them when the manager makes it so obvious that they are playing not on merit, or as an audition for a first team spot, but because he is not bothered about the outcome of the game, and does not want to risk the health of one of his preferred players.

It must be hard for one of these players, when presented with a genuine first team opportunity, to change his attitude to the game. The inconsistent performances from the fringe players when called upon this season seem to bear this out. If we are to be genuine contenders we need consistency not just from the first team regulars, but from every player at the club. For this to be achieved all the games need to be treated with the same importance, and the players who play in them, whoever they may be, made to feel as though each game is the most vital of the season.

For me, the worst thing about Wednesday night was not the awful showing on the pitch, but the fact that everyone expected it to happen. It has become a Wenger trademark to dismiss games such as this, and if I can see it I am sure the other teams in the Premiership, and abroad can as well. A full strength Arsenal would beat a full strength Porto every time, but an unmotivated second string were made to look like a bunch of amateurs, by a very average Porto side, who had been well beaten at the Emirates in the opening game. If we approach the first knockout game with one or two injuries to key players, the opposition will not fear the replacements.

I fear we are in danger of becoming a two tier club. The first tier being a fantastic team capable of beating anyone playing breathtaking football, the second tier a collection of so-so players not really rated by the club, and not able to step up into the first team when required. Until Arsene changes the importance he places on these so called meaningless games, and gives the fringe players back the belief they are so clearly lacking, I cannot see us staying the distance in any competition this season.