I dreamt about the Carling Cup Final last night. The memories are already fading, but it went to a penalty shoot-out. Fat Frank Lampard missed Chelsea’s fourth, giving Arsenal a great chance to win it. Then, Jens Lehmann – yes Jens was playing in my dream and took a spot kick to boot - hit an embarrassing grass cutter as if he’d lost his nerve. It was easily saved. The sequence changed then as Cesc put the next effort high over the bar and Didier Drogba struck the winning pen for the Blues. I guess the upside is that even in dreamland, I was not under the illusion Arsenal had won the trophy, so waking up to reality hurt less.

In a sense, Drogba’s finishing and Arsenal’s inability to put the ball into the net tell the story of the day. It was a little like Paris last May and the replay against Bolton. Chances created but not enough converted. There were times in the first half when the Gunners were handing out a football lesson to Mourinho’s millionaires and even in the second, two gilt-edged chances went begging. But ultimately, the way Chelsea went mad in celebrating their victory pays a lot of credit to the boys. This was nothing like – on paper – it should have been. A £150 million starting line-up against Wenger’s second stringers (Toure and Cesc excepted) should have given us a Millennium final reminiscent of Man Utd’s destructions of Millwall and Wigan.

But Arsenal played so well that they could have won this game. And maybe that is why, despite being totally relaxed about the occasion before the kick-off, by the time of the final whistle, the defeat hurt. The chances to bury the opposition were created but not taken. Unlike the Bolton replay, this time the wanton finishing cost. I predicted the starting eleven last week and was one out. I gave Johan Djourou the nod over Senderos. We’ll never know but if Wenger had done this too, it might have made a difference. Djourou has proved he can play in big games at the World Cup finals and acquit himself well. Swiss Tony has never shone against Didier Drogba.

Talking of World Cups, is it any wonder that our representative teams of officials invariably leave the tournament in disgrace and never get the big matches at the conclusion of these and European championships. Poor officiating allowed Chelsea’s first goal, gave Adebayor offside when he only had Cech to beat, failed to give Michael Essien an obvious second yellow and somehow mistook the lanky beanpole Emmanuel Adebayor for the stocky and shorter Manu Eboue. Well, they all look the same don’t they? So much for kick racism out of football.

Arsenal suffered from some poor calls and the praise I heard for referee Howard Webb on the radio afterwards was not totally justified. Granted he was mislead by his linesman on three critical calls, but Essien’s continued presence was all down to him. The fracas at the end was unfortunate, although inevitably, the fans were flamed by Lampard pouring oil on the fire of Toure’s clash with Obi-Mikel. Cesc was attempting to separate the two when Fat Frank bounded in like a rottweiller and all hell broke lose. Eboue was stupid to chop at Bridge, who went down in instalments, but given that Eboue was the perpetrator that reaction was appropriate. I have a feeling he might be sold during the summer as one thing the manager doesn’t normally indulge is frequent and needless indiscipline. Good player and all that, but he already has a reputation that would make him more at home in a Chelsea shirt and I am tiring of it.

There were of course some massive performances. In the midfield both Cesc and Diaby were immense and the loss of Diaby seemed to affect the team for the worse. Theo showed hints of what he is capable of and there can be no criticism of his personal finishing. Traore also did well until Robben came on and exposed his weaker right side. The combined transfer fees of Chelsea’s three subs pushed the value of the players they had on show close to £200 million, doing even more credit to the Gunners’ display. However, the difference between experience and potential is the ability to keep a cool head come the moment of truth, and Arsenal’s final ball and below par finishing did not compare well. The hard work of creating opportunities and making the opposition defence look ordinary was achieved. But no cherry on the cake.

Every time I see players lying on the floor in agony in an attempt to illicit the attention of the referee and get the game stopped for tactical reasons, I remember the death of Marc Vivien Foe in a Confederations Cup Cameroon v Columbia match in France. And I think, by doing that they are as good as urinating on that man’s grave. I often find myself thinking this when watching Drogba and Robben, and it was a salient reminder when one of their own colleagues quite obviously needed urgent attention after putting his head in where it hurts in an attempt to put Chelsea ahead in the second half. It was also telling that the first man on the scene to treat the fallen John Terry was Arsenal physio Gary Lewin. I am not sure he even waited for the referee’s approval before racing on – from further away than the Chelsea dugout. A cynic might suggest that the Chelsea physio was accustomed to seeing his players fall down as if they had been struck by a fatal bullet and saw no great urgency to respond. They probably practice it in training along with shirt pulling, blocking off the keeper and harrying the referee. Fortunately, the life-threatening danger of Terry swallowing his tongue was avoided by the more responsible thinking of the Arsenal man. A victory for either side in this match would have been meaningless if anyone died as a result of it. But I hope the behaviour of serial actors improves, because if no-one pretended they were unconscious when such events happen for real, there would be no margin for doubt and treatment could be administered at the first possible instance.

Ultimately, when one considers Chelsea were short of only one of their ‘untouchables’ whilst Wenger chose to field only two of his first choice starters, all Arsenal fans can hold their heads high with pride this morning. The final was lost, but on a showpiece occasion, the Gunners played in the right spirit and entertained, forcing Chelsea into a game of football with the early score and opening up the match to provide what must have been a thriller for the neutral. But then again, Arsenal’s ultimate triumph may be that there were probably no neutrals watching this game. I’d say it was a fair bet that you were either a Spurs or Chelsea fan, you wanted the Blues, and everyone else was backing Arsenal – and that would not have only been because of the ABC (anyone but Chelsea) factor, also the way Wenger’s teams play the game now.

I’m sure a lot will be made of the shenanigans at the end. The FA will use the opportunity to throw the book at the club. They don’t like Arsenal because they consistently expose the poverty of the FA’s own coaching ethos, and by extension how p*ss poor the national team is. Whatever happened to Lilleshall? But you know what – Arsenal fans will be pleased to see how much it meant to the players. That passion could yet serve us well. Equally, the ability of these youngsters to give Chelsea such a tough game augurs very well for the more long-term future. Establishing their ability and giving them the necessary experience was Wenger’s aim in fielding them throughout this tournament. Mission accomplished. The trophy would have been fantastic, but the benefits could be a lot more substantial than an evening of celebration in Wales.

Three footnotes. 1. Transport. The original plan for my crew – to avoid the crawl out of the Welsh capital - was to park up at Newport and get a local train service in and out of Cardiff. Many others do this. We paid £2.90 each for the return ticket, the 10.23 finally arrived around 10.43, and then sat in the station for 15 minutes, packed to the rafters. We got word that we would be waiting another 30 before starting the 15 minute journey to Cardiff, at which point we got off and got back in the car and drove the rest of the way. A decision vindicated by the news that an hour and a half was added to the 15 minutes the journey should have taken (once it did actually leave the station) due to problems with the tracks. If nothing else, it was a convincing argument for the return to Wembley. I don’t think anyone will miss the travel aspect of Cardiff and this probably capped it once and for all. Many doubtless didn’t make the kick off and having lost the final, I dread to think of the journey Arsenal fans had getting home by train as it seems all services were affected with a 90 minute delay on the way back.

2. Laughter. I was not in the best of moods after the final whistle. Although my thanks to Ian for his text message that put the first post match smile on my face and made the crawl to junction 26 of the M4 and some flowing traffic that much more bearable. Remember that in the Premiership Tottenham v Bolton kicked off at the same time as the final. I quote – “As I was walking to the pub at 2.50 a car full of Spurs fans asked me for directions. I sent them the wrong way round the North Circular. Well, they wouldn’t have made kick off anyway!”

3. Doing the email rounds (in case it hasn’t hit your inbox yet) - A visibly shocked member of the Chelsea staff described the sickening sight of a man in dire need of medical treatment in yesterday's Carling Cup final. 'When we looked at him,' he shuddered, 'his face was blue, his tongue was lolling and his eyes were rolling. We thought he had brain damage… but his many decisions in our favour like allowing us that offside goal and getting their players sent off made us keep our mouths shut about the linesman.'