After the heroics of the extra-time win at the Reebok a few days earlier had given our team new impetus in the FA Cup, I arrived for the early kick-off at the Grove anticipating a decent cup match with Blackburn (eventually) put to the sword. I suppose I expected a bit of a let-down given both teams had tiring mid-week games, but what I wasn’t ready for was the turgid, yawn-inducing and soporific fare that was served up to us as a poor imitation of football. At least those who stayed home to watch it on the Beeb (and there were more than a few judging by the swathes of red seats left vacant) had the option to turn it off, knowing that their only investment in the game was an emotional one. I can’t imagine how short-changed those who actually attended must have felt having shelled out in excess of £40 a seat for the most awful Arsenal game in recent memory.

You can forgive the team an off-day. You could even forgive them a bit of physical and mental lethargy given the exertions of Wednesday night, but what I can’t and won’t forgive is lack of effort and commitment evident in both sides. You are never guaranteed entertainment in football, that we know, but having asked 50-odd thousand people to make the effort to pitch up at lunchtime on a Saturday, they at least have the right to expect that the professionals on the pitch will endeavour to do their jobs to a reasonable standard. This is the first time in a long time that I have left a game feeling, frankly, cheated.

At least in the Carling Cup, the club have the honesty to tell supporters up front that the competition is peripheral to the main objectives of the season – has the FA Cup started to go the same way? If so, as with the cup junior competition, perhaps its time Arsenal gave us season ticket holders the option of attending, rather than automatically deducting the game as one of our pre-paid cup ties.

As an aside, what is with the bogus attendance figures being reported at every match. Anyone with an ounce of spatial awareness and counting ability could clearly see that there were no more than 45 to 50,000 people at the Grove on Saturday afternoon, so it raised a few eyebrows when the official attendance was put at over 55,000. The club seem to be counting seats sold rather than bums on seats – and by any definition of attendance, which for clarity is “the persons or number of persons present” – the figures given are blatantly misleading.