The upside of last night’s defeat? At least we won’t have the fixture congestion that would have flowed from moving the Birmingham game had we won!

More worrying:
1. Another injured player – how long will Denilson be out for?
2. Why were Bendtner and Gallas arguing?
3. How knackered (mentally more than physically) will the players be for the double-header vs. Newcastle?

And two important questions:
4. Should Wenger buy a defender and another striker?
5. Assuming Chelsea get through v Everton (which I think they will), who would we want to win? Or do we care?

An acquaintance who didn't see the game sent me an email this morning asking ‘Was it painful?’

My response….

No, I didn’t find it painful; the hoodoo over the Spuds had to end; does it matter? Not that much really (except it did for Bendtner who got a clip or punch or a headbutt from Adebayor from what I’ve read).

Spurs wanted it more, they played better, they had the luck (the OG, we hit the bar, but they did hit the post as well), they had the benefit of a couple of off-sides
Diaby was crap
Walcott worse than useless
Fabianski arguably at fault for goal 1, definitely at fault for goals 3 and 4
Gallas had a stinker
Bringing Adebayor and Eduardo on at 4-0 was pointless and simply led to Adebayor’s record of Arsenal never losing when he scores going out the window, him getting a yellow (which should have become a red when he slapped a Spuds defender) and he and Bendtner having their spat (over what I don’t know).
We have to hope that none of Gallas, Sagna, Fabregas, Hleb and Adebayor are too knackered mentally for the weekend/Tuesday double header over the Toon army.

A couple more thoughts…
Diarra could have been told – stay until the Carling Cup semis are over and then go …
Had Kerrea Gilbert’s loan deal with Southend been specified so he did not play in the Carling Cup he could have been used.

On balance, the lesson of the last three years in this competition is: if you get to the semi final, play the first team, get to the final, play your first team and win that. Use the first three rounds (assuming you get through) for the kids and then take it seriously.