It was the void of nothingness. We’ve got used to the Gunners playing meaningless games at the end of recent campaigns, although to break the tedium, they tend to win them when the pressure’s off. However, yesterday’s match at Ashburton Grove was unusual for two reasons. Arsenal didn’t score and… Arsenal kept a clean sheet.

The latter was unquestionably assisted by the visitors being content with a draw. There were a few attempts on goal I remember, but the atmosphere was largely subdued, except for about ten minutes when Adebayor made his entrance. The most entertaining thing about what followed was Robin Van Persie’s hack at him that led to the yellow card. And what was it with the City striker’s decision to wear his hair in schoolgirl bunches?

I digress. I was seated next to the Highbury Spy on this occasion. He’d been in the pub since 12.30 and was not a happy camper. On the customary PA announcement of the Arsenal players’ first names before the match, instead of responding with their surname, the Spy chose to send his message to the players with a loud ‘boo!’ to every single individual in the team. As more and more boos were issued, the greater the irateness of others in the stand. It concluded with a couple of face to face ‘conversations’, in which those who took issue with the Spy’s displeasure at the Arsenal first teamers could probably confirm Abbot’s real ale as the Spy’s drink of preference in the run-up to the game. He claimed it was the only way to let the players, manager and directors know what we really felt about the performance at Wigan, and that everyone should have joined in.

I have to say that the only way the message will genuinely get across is the non-renewal of season tickets. Some stayed away and didn’t attend yesterday, but they’ve paid for their seats, so the gesture’s an irrelevance unless half the stadium joins in, and even then there’s no financial cost to the club aside from lost programme and burger sales. The bottom line though, is that come renewal time, people are going to pay up. So booing the players, not turning up, writing critical articles… all these things are ultimately meaningless. Withdrawing custom is the only way that the dissatisfied will really achieve any change.

My main concern for the early part of the match was that someone would lamp the Spy from the aisle, as we were on the edge of the row. He would duck and I would end up with a broken jaw. Fortunately he calmed down in terms of vocally abusing the team, but we moved on to a conversation about why people attend such matches, especially when their team has little chance of winning trophies. I ventured there was always hope, and that Orient fans, for example, attend in the hope that, in each individual match, they will see their team win. The Spy ventured they turn up for the despair. In truth, I’m not sure why he was at the Arsenal game yesterday. I suspect it was more to do with the pre-match social and, having paid for a ticket, he went along to see what would happen, even if, as he declared the day before, he was rooting for the opposition.

He was unquestionably a very angry man. So angry, I feared for his wellbeing. People have heart attacks getting worked up in the way he does about Arsenal sometimes. Ultimately, for me, it is only a game. I feel disappointment and joy, but I never feel I get so wrapped up in it that it takes the emotions to the type of extremes that will damage your health. However, it’s true there are many who get more worked up about things they cannot control – such as the performance of the players in the team they support, the way they are managed and the way their clubs are run. The kind of abusive emails I receive for posing such questions as what is the point of Theo Walcott or expressing the belief that the club are unlikely to win another trophy under the current manager indicate that there are supporters out there who would readily thump someone for expressing a view they don’t agree with. Fortunately, there was no violence in the upper east yesterday, but at one point, the differing views on the message to send to the team promised exactly that.

I’ve kind of avoided talking about the game as really, I have very little to say about the 90 minutes. City lacked ambition and Arsenal lacked the ability to change the visitors’ gameplan. It was turgid fare. Actually, turgid is a very good word for it. Arsenal had a mathematical chance of remaining in the title race, but given the nature of their performances at White Hart Lane and the DW Stadium, to expect an improvement yesterday was always going to be an unlikely request. Yes, the team were shorn of some important players, but creatively, Fabregas and Arshavin were the absentees.. It comes to something when the squad is not deep enough to cover two players. It certainly shows how vital a fit and fully flying Fabregas is to the side.

The Spy has promised/threatened to write for the website in the coming days, although if it doesn’t happen, it will probably save a heap of abuse being dished out by himself and, in turn, those reading it. But another issue he did raise was why the formation has been so inflexible this season. The visit of City certainly gave the opportunity to field a 4-4-2 with Bendtner partnering Van Persie up front. There is nothing wrong with being able to adapt to the individual demands of a particular fixture.

A further point of discussion was Inter’s performance against Barcelona in the week. We agreed that although Barca probably enjoyed as much possession as they did against Arsenal, it was significant how their threat on goal was minimised in comparison with the quarter final matches. It was down to tactical organisation and discipline by Mourinho’s team, and you’d have to fancy them to get the required result at the Nou Camp on Wednesday. It led me to think that what I was actually watching in front of me at the Grove was a collection of disparate individuals rather than a team. At times it looks as if the unity shown in victory doesn’t seem to exist when things are not going so well. That isn’t the mark of a great team in the making.

Next week Blackburn and the week after Fulham. More nothing games. The end of the season can’t come soon enough.

This season’s final issue of The Gooner, including an A3-sized World Cup wallchart, can be bought online here