Attitude-wise, it was a huge improvement on last weekend. However there were a few things that the matches against United and Chelsea had in common. Arsenal lost them both, and were given a lesson in both finishing and defending by their opponents. And remember that Drogba bloke – in the eyes of Le Boss – doesn’t do much. Wouldn’t be worth blowing the club’s profits on such a waster.

It was a beautiful dream. To win silverware with the purity of your attacking and possession football. Defending? Pah! Who needs it? Why get your hands dirty with such a tawdry and uncouth thing? This is art, not sport. Well, Arsenal certainly served up a load of Jackson Pollocks at the key moments as their title challenge was declared over for another season at Stamford Bridge.

I don’t know whose responsibility defensive coaching is at the club these days. Pat Rice? Boro Primorac? Whoever it is should have been sacked a long time ago. It is sad to see Arsene Wenger’s reputation amongst the supporters continue to decline. But the aim of a football club is to compete for trophies. Of course, Arsenal only bother with two of the four they can win, so the raison d’etre of the club is already being heavily compromised. And the benefit of resting so many players in the FA Cup 4th Round is… answers on a postcard please. As in previous seasons, defeat in the competition led to a subsequent loss of momentum. Never mind, eh. Third place is more of an achievement than winning some pithy domestic cup.

There’s no point in having a go at individual players today. They tried their hardest, but weren’t good enough. All you can ask is that they play as well as they know how to. Abou Diaby has never been shown how to physically challenge his man at a corner, Alex Song has never been taught how to mark his man rather than ball watch and Gael Clichy has never been coached about the positional play of a full back. No, what matters is passing the ball quickly and accurately. Unfortunately, the basics when possession is not theirs have never been addressed. The real question for the directors of the club now is whether the current manager is the best man to right the wrongs. Given that he is largely responsible for creating them, the answer sadly has to be no. However, the board haven’t got the gonads to make any changes because the club is in reality being run by one of its employees.

I think many of us have been wanting to pretend otherwise, due to the sometimes fantastic attacking football the team can play, but ultimately, I suspect Arsenal will not win the title again while Arsene Wenger is the manager. So really, it’s a question of whether you’re are happy to watch such entertaining football, knowing that the tactics employed will – at best – reward the club with consistent Champions League football, or would prefer to see the side lose a little of the flair in return for the chance to genuinely challenge for the title.

Some texts. After the second goal went in from Simon Rose: ‘We’re really showin’ em. There, take that Chelsea! Arshavin up front while Bendtner stays on the bench. We’re an embarrassment to the name of our great club.’ At half time, from Ian Henry: ‘Useless clueless defending unacceptable at this level. Wenger’s explanation will be interesting.’ Full time from Simon Rose (again): ‘Chelsea have organised teamwork, we have disorganised guesswork. Spineless hopeless pathetic shambles. Never a chance we’d beat any of these teams and we knew it.’ Actually, today’s game did feature one surprise. John Terry didn’t score. Something of a rarity going by the papers recently.

So it’s all on the Champions League now. Is Arsenal’s defence good enough to win a tough two-legged tie against a European giant? No. Might squeeze past Porto to the last eight, but I wouldn’t even stake too much on that. It’s going to be an interesting summer. But will anything change? Not unless the manager buys experienced players who have been coached to defend already, because one thing’s for sure. There’s F.A. chance of it happening at London Colney.