Joe Fitzpatrick 
To all of our collective Gooner relief, Manchester City saved us from having to witness the horror of Ryan Shawcross,Tony Pulis or the javelin thrower getting their paws on the F.A. Cup. What we all had to actually bloody sit through on the other hand on Saturday was hardly one for the purist, that's for sure.
In a hard fought contest Manchester City won the first of what might be many trophies to come due to a solid defensive display and a scrappy goal from the imperious Yaya Toure. Oh God! How we could use a Yaya Toure right now! And to think that we could have had him years ago...
I hope that Arsene Wenger forces his team to watch the cup final footage over and over again because this final shows us all the cold hard reality of just what the Premier League in 2011 is all about. Aggression, athleticism and dogged defensive determination. It is not about a team full of dwarves passing it sideways for 90 minutes and clocking up meaningless statistics of vastly superior possession while curiously not gaining a proportional increase in our number of shots on target in comparison to our supposedly technically and tactically inferior opponents. Shots on target can now surely be the only real statistic that us Gooners can rely on to definitively determine the comparative competitive effectiveness of two football teams?
Stoke and Manchester City gave a masterclass in some of the tougher, harder and uglier aspects of the beautiful game, battling hard and contesting every ball. The challenges were flying thick and fast as we witnessed two teams playing tall, strong, athletic and hardworking players in a compact unit, utilising wide players (of varying degrees of talent) as their quick counter attacking outlet when the ball was won back. We witnessed set pieces that were both threatening and well worked albeit that the two sides did cancel each other out, due to the fact that they happen to be two very tall, aggressive teams. We witnessed players like Huth and Kompany practicing little moves that would have made Adams and Keown proud. The sneaky little fouls and shenanigans at set pieces or basically whenever the referee has his back turned might not be pretty to watch but are undoubtedly effective.
We witnessed everything that Arsenal simply no longer bother doing anymore and it might sound far fetched to some of you but we actually once had a back five to put even Manchester City's to shame.
Arsenal this season have been found out. They lack heart, passion and character and they have been found wanting defensively on numerous occasions and are constantly labelled as too lightweight and weak for the Premier League and our recent defeats against Bolton and Stoke would lend some weight to those claims.
I think it was David Moyes who referred to Man City as "The New York Knicks" due to their physical size and presence. In using David Moyes' analogy then, Stoke must be the L.A. Lakers, Chelsea must be the Chicago Bulls and Arsenal must be the equivalent of a Women's N.B.A. team, in terms of the height differential.
The whole of the Premier League except for Arsene Wenger seem to subscribe to the theory that you must have tall, physically strong, athletic players who can win games through determination and sheer Herculean effort alone, regardless of how well they are playing or what form they are in.
The arrival of Jack Wilshere into the Arsenal first team has given Arsenal fans a good opportunity to compare and contrast Denilson, Diaby and Jack Wilshere. We were all delighted to see how a very talented young lad can force his way into the Arsenal side due to sheer willpower and effort because those ahead of him were just not as aggressive, effective or hardworking as he is in central midfield. It's funny to see how Wilshere has improved more in a single year than Denilson and Diaby have in three years. Does that tell us anything about Wenger's coaching? I think it's probably due to Jack’s superior mental attitude and the testicular fortitude of the young Englishman more than anything else, to be honest.
We can only expect to see more of the same Stoke / Birmingham / Bolton tactics against us on most weekends from most opposition as more and more managers have cottoned on to the fact that this style of football is the most effective antidote to Arsenal's indirect passing game. How many more times will we see a side pack the midfield, drop deep, force us out wide and try and nick a goal from a counter attack or set piece against us? The answer is every week and Arsene Wenger needs to find a solution and he better do it fast.
Alex Ferguson has also figured out that this is the best way to play against Arsenal and this was shown to be the case when his Manchester United side full of second stringers knocked Wenger’s team out of the F.A. Cup back in March by using effective counter attacking football while Stoke and Bolton again exposed the lack of spirit, lack of determination and inability to defend from set pieces. Arsenal's strengths and weaknesses are there for all with eyes to see them again this year and because Wenger always insists on playing in the same way, other managers are finding it increasingly easy to prepare for a match against Arsenal.
If Arsene doesn't mix up his tactics for next season, I can see a situation where every team will try and use the same tactics against us therefore meaning that we could be facing more points dropped against supposedly technically inferior football teams.
Almost every single manager in the Premier League makes it a priority to sign the best goal keeper they can afford, the best centre half they can afford as well as the best defensive midfielder and the best target man that their money can buy. That is their job. Most managers understand that it is their job to oversee the most effective use of funds made available to them in order to get results on the football pitch. It only seems to be our Arsene that does not believe that it is important for him to buy the best players that he can afford, with all the money that he has available to him, along the spine of his team. He will instead make do with diabolical French centre halves, inadequate goalkeepers, mediocre midfielders and shot shy strikers. Arsene Wenger believes (or has been instructed) that it is his job to produce young players that he can then sell on for profit at a later date. He should instead be 100% concentrating on winning trophies for Arsenal F.C. and leave the business side of things to the suits upstairs.
Teams like Stoke and Birmingham made it to cup finals this year because, what they lack in technical ability, they more than compensate for in work rate, aggression, determination and excellent defensive coaching. By imitating Chelsea these sides are building from a solid goalkeeper and gritty defence, they are the direct antithesis of Arsene Wenger's Arsenal and we are starting to suffer because of it.
Arsene Wenger should watch the 2011 F.A. Cup Final over and over again and Remember how Arsenal once had the tallest, meanest, toughest and most athletic players in the premier league? And we were getting to Cup finals and winning titles then too.
