I felt Saturday afternoon’s game was fairly predictable from the off. 4-5-1 against Man U I understand, but Villa? Why not play Vela and take the game to them? Beyond me.

More significantly, I notice this morning that there are a few tickets on general sale for the Kiev game. I find this very interesting and a sign of the times. Supposedly the new policy is that 2,000 tickets are held back for each match for red members. I hadn’t been planning to be in London in the week of the Kiev game until recently, so when my plans changed and I could go, I was surprised I could get quite good tickets on my red memberships around a week ago. The fact that they are available on general sale 10 days before the game means that red members and indeed silver members are either not so committed or not so flush or a combination of the two. I would have thought this would sold out to members. How long before general sale tickets are advertised?

In my day job I pore over production and sales figures; they do not make pretty reading. The economy is heading downwards and fast in 2009-2010. Watch for increasingly empty stands at certain grounds, especially in the “industrial” north. But London is not immune and there will be a massive cull of jobs in the City and related areas – with this, Arsenal are facing an interesting problem, given that a large proportion of season ticket holders are City/Professionals/Owners of small and medium sized businesses – increasingly these people will be feeling the pinch.

To keep the ground full the teams needs to win; with this team, they won’t win the league – as we know – but can they win a cup or two? And if so is that enough to keep season ticket holders on board? I sat in club level on Saturday with a friend; he told me he has noticed a wider and wider variety of people using the seats around him and is aware of a growing informal market in Club Level tickets, like the normal one that you and I know; he knows of two or three people who won’t renew next year and will take their chance in the informal market to get to enough games.

So will the board tell Wenger to spend? Not just to give the team a boost, but to give the fans something to latch onto in terms of renewed excitement in the squad? Personally, I can’t see Wenger spending unless there is a complete collapse in form and/or we get some serious injuries, although even with the latter I am not sure he will change.

These random thoughts are a leading to a series of questions in my mind. What if we don’t get 4th place? What if we don’t get win a cup or two? What if Barca come calling next summer with a large cheque for Cesc? What if season ticket renewals are greater than actual take-ups? What if the housing market collapses further? How many of the remaining flats at Highbury will be sold?

On the up side, the one positive for me in the team’s “decline” is that I get more offers of tickets, often at less than face value or even free!