Stoke 3-1 Arsenal

"We have four very important games now in a short space of time, that is what we are focusing on.

- Arsene Wenger, like me, has other priorities than the FA Cup

I didn't sleep well last night and spent a few hours lying in bed, playing Snake on my phone and listening to my iPod. The thought came to me that, since I couldn't sleep anyway, I might as well get up and watch Arsenal play Stoke. But then I thought, fuck it, it's only the FA Cup.

Seems like I wasn't the only one who thought that. Wenger put out an inexperienced team, and we played like an inexperienced team would play. 3-1 to Stoke on the night, and I must say that it's a bit of a shock first thing in the morning. It's like pouring sour milk over your cereal, or waking up in a puddle of your own drool.

As Wenger explained:

"The game was more physical than technical, and physically they were stronger than us in a very simple game. We were exposed to a fight and some of our players were a bit young and could not cope with it. I do not regret the side I put out, I did not have much choice. We had 10 injuries and a very difficult programme coming up.... I can only stand by the team I selected in the circumstances, we lost but there was not much room for manoeuvre in terms of players available."

I hope it doesn't mean anything. People have said that we're a confidence team, and we play best when we have wind in our sails. This is a bit of a puncture in that sail, but hopefully we'll get by. We're a bit more mature than two years ago, when throwing a Man Utd FA Cup tie really knocked the stuffing out of us. We've got a few hardened pros who can prop up the spirits. I think that's the difference between this side and the 2007 side. That one was fuelled by adrenaline and enthusiasm, and it was held together by Flamini's little pumping legs. This one is fuelled by an all-out commitment to attack because we've a crap goalkeeper, and it's stabilised by experienced players like Gallas, Vermaelen, Arshavin and Rosicky. There's a subtle difference between the two.

I really fucking hope that's true because as Wenger mentioned, we have a really fucking difficult programme coming up, and we really need to be on top of our game. Oh, and I really, really hope we get a new goalkeeper soon - someone starting with "A" and ending in "kinfeev" would be nice.