11 Men - 1 Cup

And then there was one. The single. The onedruple. We can now officially concentrate on the league. Hands up who's confident. Both my hands are down typing this. Sorry to be negative but I just can't see it. This side has pushed my faith to the limit and broken it. Indeed if anyone would like to keep my faith please do as I can't be trusted not to lose it.

So in the last 2 weeks we surrendered to the second best team in Birmingham in a cup final. We were all set to bounce back after results went our way but could only manage a 0-0 with Sunderland at home. We felt cheated against Barcelona but on reflection we had no shots and only touched the ball twice in their area so not great but we will bounce back again against our bitter rivals in the FA Cup. It's a perfectly arranged fixture. They have injuries and a big Champions League night around the corner. We have a week off. We can go out all guns blazing while they save something for Europe. We name a decent balanced team while they have seven defenders playing. Bounce back Arsenal, show us the desire and mental strength and courage you need to be a success.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why this season is done and dusted instead of won and polished. We had more shots than them! We had more possession than them! We tippy tapped the ball about more than them! They scored 2 more goals than us. Game over. I'm too tired of it to actually pick on players like Diaby. I won't pick on anyone like Diaby. All I'll say is there are one or two who played today, like Diaby, who should give their wages to charity just so they can sleep at night. Jack, however, can keep his money with bells on. I feel sorry for him as he gives everything and keeps ending up on the losing side. He doesn't deserve it and he certainly doesn't need to keep apologising on Twitter.

Today's game was important for so many reasons. We have now given the mancs the upper hand in the league. Their confidence in beating us at our place will be sky high. We needed to return to Wembley as soon as possible to prove we could win there. We needed this win to win over the Wenger doubters. I still won't join that bandwagon as I can see no alternative. Who could we have in his place?

After what I saw today this could be a long post but I'll keep it short. It's late and nobody really enjoys a moany blog so I'll end on this (and feel free to disagree.) I really think we are done. The injuries have killed us again. Djourou's sickeningly painful injury was no surprise. We get one every game. It leaves us with Kos and Squillaci for 10 league matches with Almunia behind them. That's 900 minutes of football where one mistake could be too many. Confident? Cesc is always injured and without him we are average. There, I said it. Average! And that needs addressing in the summer. We need to clear out the dead wood and bring in some winners and leaders. Defenders who can defend and midfielders who pass and move rather than pass and stand like Diaby. We need more than one goalscorer as our best one has at least one big lay off a season. The experiment, Arsene, has failed.

4 then 3 then 2 then 1. What's next?