In a sense, the defeat at Old Trafford doesn’t change anything. Arsene Wenger needed to use the money received from Manchester City to strengthen his squad in the current window in spite of the excellent start to the campaign. Even if Arsenal had managed to win against Alex Ferguson’s team, that would have remained the case. The only thing that it does underline is that the goalkeeper issue is perhaps more fundamental than many felt before the first loss of the season.

Arsenal played creditably and deserved at least a point from the match. However, individual errors and poor decision-making can often be decisive in the biggest games. So it was this evening.

At half time I received a text: ‘3 yellows v 1 a complete joke. AA was a pen but what an exocet. Can we keep our nerve? It’s 12 v 11.’

I replied: ‘We can as long as Almunia’s involvement is kept to a minimum. He looks like a liability’

The rest is history. Although the blame for Diaby’s own goal lies principally with the hapless number 2, were Edwin van der Sar faced with such a cross he’d have taken out players from both sides to punch the ball clear. Almunia was rooted to his line. His decision-making – even in the first half (as evidenced by my text) – was questionable all game.

What this evening has established once and for all is that Arsene Wenger is handicapping himself with his refusal to purchase a quality keeper. The Almunia experiment is over. It’s failed. Part of the make do and mend strategy that hasn’t quite worked out. He is capable of marvelous performances, but consistency and the confidence of the players in front of him are what is required. I felt sorry for Gallas, Vermaelen and Alex Song – all of whom I thought were immense in this game. They were let down by the Spanish waiter. He waited on his line for the own goal, but rushed out to give Wayne Rooney the penalty that changed the course of the match.

So that’s the shopping list for the next 48 hours sorted. Keeper, central defender with presence and leadership (the current duo will not be constantly available, and the back up isn’t quite good enough) and a combative central midfielder to provide a quality alternative to Song.

There were good and bad aspects to what Arsenal did. Another text received, this one post-game: ‘I may have missed it but did Diaby or Eboue make any positive contribution to our cause? Eboue booked for diving, Diaby the concentration of a goldfish’

Certainly, I was surprised to see Eboue start the match ahead of Bendtner. He has become a cult hero of sorts, especially amongst the away support, but it’s irony, a warped kind of desperation. I applaud the fans for backing the player, but with every successive misplaced pass, the joke wears a bit thinner. Let’s face it, when all is said and done, he’s crap isn’t he? Why do we try and pretend otherwise?

Diaby is a genuine enigma. Spellbindingly brilliant in moments and totally unpredictable, but here is a player who seems to specialize in injuring his team-mates in training and playing lazy, dangerous balls across his own defence. I am afraid the man is too much of a maverick. Another Wenger experiment that hasn’t quite worked out.

Team spirit is a fragile thing, and the danger is that the better players might lose heart if their colleagues continue to give away cheap points. William Gallas lost heart at Birmingham in 2008. It took him a long time to recover. But he knew what he had witnessed that day. He saw a team that didn’t have the players clinical enough to do the business when it mattered. He saw the writing on the wall and saw the title disappear that day, in spite of the side ending that game six points clear of the second placed side. I remember despairing at his reaction that day, but being equally frustrated at the cheap loss of two points, on top of the injury to Eduardo. I think I realized the significance of the result too. I had watched enough league campaigns to realize I had witnessed a pivotal result.

Another text that has just arrived as I write: ‘Good for an hour but alarmed how we faded at 2-1’. That is what happens when players give away a hard won advantage. Their team-mates lose heart. At one point the ball was knocked up to Van Persie and Andy Gray asked why he didn’t knock it in to an in-space Emmanuel Eboue. I’d venture it is because he doesn’t trust him to do anything with it, from bitter experience. Many of the players refuse to pass to Theo Walcott as they consider it will be a wasted ball. Unfortunately, statistically they are probably correct in that assertion.

It’s one defeat. A game Arsenal certainly didn’t expect to win. It’s not the end of the world, but lessons need to be learned. Wenger must reward the players who are capable of winning the club the title by buying footballers better than some of the clowns he is asking them to put their trust in. And, in fairness, the players need to work on basics like crossing the ball into the penalty area a lot better. Some great positions were spurned by such balls going straight to United players, and it happens a bit too often for my liking. The team got plenty of width at Old Trafford, but hardly ever exploited it.

Funnily enough, the international break has probably come at just the right time. The players won’t have time to dwell on the defeat with the change of scene and may come back refreshed. Except for a certain Manuel Almunia…

Kevin Whitcher is the co-author of ‘Arsènal: the Making of a Modern Superclub’. The book can be bought by onlinegooner readers in paperback direct from the publishers with a £1 discount offer on the already discounted price. To take advantage of this offer, Click this link, select ‘buy now’, and on the next page you will have the opportunity to enter a promo code. Enter the word ‘gooner’ here and the amount is recalculated to £4.99. So, a £1 saving. Postage and packing (£2.49 in the UK) will be added before you complete your order.