There was only one team that wanted to win tonight and it wasn’t the men in yellow.

Arsenal were completely useless. Arsene obviously values the Carling Cup (we think) from the team he selected but the players were shockingly bad.

I feel for the Arsenal fans who travelled to Ipswich as I was at the Wigan game and the trip home isn’t fun when the team just hasn’t performed.

But where was the urgency? Where was the motivation? Where was the respect?

The performance was slow, sloppy, lacklustre, lazy… Basically the players turned up and expected a walk over. And we got exactly what we deserved, nothing.

Arsenal will still be favourites to progress with the second leg at the Emirates, but if Ipswich manage to nick a goal then our task is made much harder. And you just wonder with the terrible result tonight that it might come back to haunt us.

Arshavin yet again was pitiful. I don’t know what is going on with him and it’s got to the point where you actually feel sorry for him now. Maybe some support from the crowd might help, at this stage it’s worth trying anything. But he wasn’t the only poor performer as his form and effort seemed to be contagious as the rest of the team did exactly the same.

Anyway, there’s not much else I can say is there?

I’m currently travelling back from Wigan and what a disgrace that was.

From the 60th minute, it was clear as day that Bendtner and Arshavin should have come off. Despite scoring the goals, they contributed absolutely nothing. Arshavin lost the ball time and time again, which lead to most of Wigan’s dangerous moments. He was absolutely awful, and Bendtner was the same.

Sagna had no defensive help whatsoever and with Eboue filling in at left back, you would think Wenger would have played Theo or Nasri who would have helped defensively. Wigan attacked at ease at times and the last ditch defending from the two central defenders was a sign that they were poorly exposed.

The fact was Wenger got it badly wrong. Every Arsenal fan in the ground could see that once Wigan went down to 10 men and we were still leading 2-1 it was time to change things and bring on Theo or Nasri to put Wigan on the back foot. Instead, Wenger chose to leave things as they were and the inevitable happened – Wigan scored. After it went 2-2 then Wenger brought the two substitutions on with only 10 minutes left – too little too late!

His substitutions have always been poor and this game was there for the taking. Two pointless points dropped. I can’t see how he fails to see things all the fans are talking about during the game. What was the point of leaving on Arshavin or Bendtner? They were clearly a burden on the team during the second half!

On the positive side, Rosicky, Wilshire and Denilson were excellent in midfield. Chamakh also did well in holding the ball up but time after time Arshavin and Bendtner would needlessly lose possession. Theo and Nasri looked bright when they came on but you can’t give them 10 minutes and expect miracles.

I know rotation was necessary after the Chelsea game but the fact was there were too many changes. Arshavin has been poor recently and to get 80 minutes is shocking. At 2-1 it was obvious what needed doing and it never came. The points are the most important thing and with last seasons debacle you think we would have learnt our lesson. Last year the Wigan fans chanted “Two nil and you fucked it up” and tonight it was “Two one and you fucked it up”. 

What a disgrace.

I don’t know why I bother with Manchester United v Arsenal matches. Afterwards I end up feeling utterly shite.

Alex Ferguson has used the exact same game-plan for the last 5 seasons now and it works. While the “experts” at Sky were “stunned” that Berbatov wasn’t playing, I, like a lot of Arsenal fans I suspect, wasn’t at all surprised.

It’s the same old story, and Arsene Wenger either hasn’t realised it or doesn’t have the tactical knowledge how to deal with it.

It’s always Rooney up top, and two quick players either side to hit us on the break. These days it’s Nani and Park, and several years ago it was Ronaldo and Park.

If we know what United are going to do, then shouldn’t Arsene?

The sad thing was that Manchester United were there for the taking. Don’t get me wrong, they deserved to win tonight, but a big part of that was because we didn’t perform. We had glimpses here and there but there was no belief at all. I haven’t seen a team that was top of the league play with such a lack of confidence.

Is it the stadium? It is the team? Or was it the game-plan?

Whatever it was, Arsenal ran out of ideas, and lacked any kind of urgency.

Throughout the game and even at the end I had the belief that we could nick a goal so it was a shame that the players didn’t. Words to describe the performance are lethargic, tired and uninspired. And from a side that should be full of confidence it is frustrating and depressing.

This Manchester United side is the weakest for a long time. Yet we gifted them the victory and they didn’t find it very hard. I’d like to see what kind of spin Arsene puts on this performance.

The goal when it came was fortunate, or genius, depending on how you look at it. Apart from that, and the ridiculous penalty decision, United never really put Chesney Hawkes under any kind of pressure. Unfortunately, Van Der Sar have virtually nothing to do as well.

United sat deep and soaked up all the pressure with consummate ease. We never got in behind and while we had good spells of possession it was tame and it was almost playing at The Emirates.

Clichy was badly exposed time and time again and did well to cope with Nani on his own. As I’ve already mentioned, the penalty decision was farcical and for the linesman to gesture that he moved his arm towards the ball was completely ridiculous! Replays clearly showed that Clichy was on the floor and Nani poked the ball onto his arm. Clichy’s face wasn’t even looking where the ball was at the time.

As the second half went on you just hoped that someone in an Arsenal shirt could create that special moment but it never came.

People compare Arsenal to Barcelona but everything they do is incisive and dangerous. They ripped apart Real Madrid a couple of weeks ago and we are light-years away from that. We need to be far more clinical against the top teams and so far against Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and now Manchester United we haven’t been.

Maybe we can do what Manchester United did a couple of seasons ago and win the title against the other teams in the league, and almost write off the games against the Top Four. They managed to hammer everyone else in the league and lift the title, so I guess that’s our biggest chance.

Player Ratings:

Wojciech Szczesny: 7/10
Bacary Sagna: 7/10
Laurent Koscielny: 6/10
Sebastien Squillaci: 6/10
Gael Clichy: 7/10
Alex Song: 7/10
Jack Wilshire: 6/10
Tomas Rosicky: 6/10
Andrei Arshavin: 5/10
Samir Nasri: 6/10
Marouane Chamakh: 8/10

Substitutes:

Cesc Fabregas: 5/10
Robin Van Persie: 5/10
Theo Walcott: 6/10

Manager Ratings:

Arsene Wenger: 5/10