Where to begin? Well, let’s start at half-time, when I had reached a state of relaxation and acceptance of my team’s fate. The tension was gone. We weren’t going to qualify. Arsenal had already created enough chances to have won the tie and the failure to convert promising positions into goals confirmed a truth all too familiar to regular Gunners watchers. If you don’t take your chances you will pay the price.

Even when we went 1-0 up, I thought, if we manage to somehow squeeze through, this team is not good enough to progress all the way. So in reality, the only thing at stake was a further round of frustration. The guys I sit with often meet up in the West End for an afternoon of eating and drinking before Champions League home matches. They regarded yesterday’s gathering as their ‘end of season party’ well in advance of last night’s kick off.

And in their heart of hearts most Gooners were pessimistic about our chances. And the concession of goals on a regular basis was probably the reason. Sure, we could score against PSV, but many realised that clean sheets have become an issue both home and away. With the away goals rule, that would necessitate a 3-1 victory.

In truth, PSV were no great shakes away from their own stadium. The Gunners breached them easily enough, but a mixture of poor final balls, one footed players drifting across the area trying to engineer a shot onto their shooting foot and a general reluctance to pepper the keeper’s goal were all too familiar and predictable.

A piece on the Guardian website I read yesterday stated the contrast between Arsenal as the modern day equivalent of the great total football Ajax side and the very functional Dutch team that PSV are. The difference was that Ajax had Cruyff, Neeskens and Rep banging in the goals. They also had a defender – Krol - who could make a telling final pass if he got into the opposition third. Wenger’s Arsenal 2007 have an unfit Henry, Adebayor, Baptista and Kolo Toure. It’s more an act of total faith than total football.

Toure’s use as a right back was successful up to a point. The home side had to find a way to breach the PSV backline and targeting the left back position worked well until the moment for Toure to find a team-mate. The decision to play Gilberto in central defence created three clear and needless moments of panic in the first half. I wasn’t aware that Johan Djourou was injured, but his not even being on the bench suggests he must have been. With the probably justified belief that PSV would not attack a great deal, the fielding of two teenagers in central midfield maked sense of sorts, given the lack of resources.

But let’s face facts. The squad at the moment is one that suits the budget of Arsenal as they face the first few difficult years in their new home. Like a young couple with a big mortgage, the initial years of repayments are the ones that hurt the most. Some luxuries go out the window to make sure the roof remains over the head. To lower the wage bill, the club have moved on experienced players who reach the age of 30 as a policy. They are offered one year deals, one suspects sometimes as lower levels than they have previously been earning. A Flamini is a damned sight cheaper than an Edu, a Diaby certainly less so than a Vieira.

I can’t be too hard on Wenger given the injuries he has had to cope with this season. There has been a lot of chopping and changing, not least in defence where historically, Le Boss always tried to resist rotation if at all possible. Reaching Paris last year was a real bonus, and although the defence that got us there was pretty makeshift, it was consistent in line-up until the second leg of the semi-final. That certainly has not been the case this year.

Alexandr Hleb has had a poor run of form since the Bolton replay and was indirectly responsible for both the goals conceded over the last five days. In a way he is the perfect symbol of this season. Occasionally outstanding, bewitching, inpossible to play against. And sometimes so lightweight you wonder what the point of him being there is. And as for his goal tally, Robert Pires he ain’t. It’s all promise and no delivery.

Yes Arsenal’s football is entertaining, but some steel is needed to go with the silk. And it should manifest itself in discipline rather than the scenes witnessed in Cardiff when what was required were cool heads and experience. And that is was Kolo Toure who lost it at the Millennium should worry us all. If he cannot channel his anger appropriately, what chance his younger team-mates?

Where to go from here? There is no point I ruing the lack of signings that might have made a difference this season. The one who did arrive that might - Rosicky - was injured again last night. Henry’s season has been one to forget and as of now, he should be wrapped in cotton wool until 2007-08 with a message to Raymond Domanech to take a long walk off a short pier. Julio Baptista should be returned to Madrid as of tomorrow because he has become a beast of burden. I’d rather have Lupoli or Bendtner up front for the rest of campaign. Robin van Persie has been a huge loss.

The season must be put down to experience, and most of all, the lessons need to be learned. Rotation is all well and good for the domestic cups, but Wenger must decide on a settled first eleven in a formation that suits. 4-4-2 in England and 4-5-1 in Europe. Defence in Europe is key and an aggregate total of four scored to none conceded in the six knockout matches that took the team to Paris last year demonstrates why a defensive formation is justified there. The margins between qualification and exit are wafer thin and goals are the currency. Concede them at your peril.

If the players at his disposal are not capable of converting dominance into goals, then fresh faces must be brought in. When everyone is fit, Arsenal have a good enough team to win the Premiership again. When they are not, the back-ups are simply not as good as those available the last time the title was won. That’s a situation brought about by the stadium move. It was always likely.

Seven other sides exited Europe this week. Barcelona, Inter, Real Madrid, Lyon and Porto were among them. It’s a tough competition to do well in consistently, and better equipped sides with far more in the way of spending muscle have bowed out. Arsenal did incredibly well to make the final last year. The formation worked, injuries were coped with, luck was rode. It became a fitting climax to the final season at Highbury with great European nights before the amazing day of the Wigan game.

This season is already tapering off. But with no distractions, the team has to start doing the right things as a prelude to the next. Convert dominance into goals, defend with discipline - especially from set pieces - get points on the board even when they are not playing well through discipline. There’s always room for some quality one and two touch football. But Wenger’s charges have to get back to the basics if they are to fulfil the predictions of becoming Arsene’s third great Arsenal team. If they learn the lessons of this season, the frustration of the last fortnight will not have been in vain.