After Wigan I deliberately waited until after the Bolton match as I thought there was a good chance of repeating myself, you know, Arsenal go out to North West team, blah, blah.

Unfortunately I was right. Trouble is I was also right about Campbell and Senderos not being able to communicate, and just like London buses, three came along all bunched up together if you count Everton as well. So what to say....

Against Wigan I could scarcely believe we went out. Not because we over-ran them or they played badly, but with a minute to go conceding a route one goal like that is almost unforgiveable, it was elementary to say the very least. Schoolboy mistake. Obviously I hope Wigan win the final.

On to Bolton. Did I expect us to win before the start? Nope. I just hoped we wouldn't lose too bad. As it turns out, it wasn't, but I ended up disappointed we didn't win. The first half proved that football is not necessarily a game of two halves. Should have not bothered really, there were so many players in the centre of the pitch it reminded me of those games you see between two towns at the end of local news programs where everyone piles in and you see the ball pop out occasionally.

Second half, much better. I had hoped that 'the new Vieira' wouldn't be a let down and would put the bite back into our midfield. As it turns out, he did. I was pleasantly surprised with Diaby, he could be just what we are looking for. I was also pleasantly surprised with Freddie, who played like a man possessed and showed the commitment which we know he has, but which has been so sadly lacking. Other high points were Gilbert and Djourou at the back and van Persie up front. Unlike some, I also thought Reyes had a decent enough game, not outstanding, but decent. In fact the way such a young team held it's own, and even came close to winning, was a tremendous relief. I had been resigned to losing before the game, but in the end I was gutted we lost, such was the industry and quality of our performance. Seems like our Plan A (hit it to Thierry, he'll do something miraculous) is only lacking a Plan B because of our reliance on him in the minds of the players, not because of a lack of quality elsewhere.

What does it tell us about the future? Well Djourou is a pretty good central defender already, and can play with either Sol or Senderos, bonus. Quite how Kolo fits into this I don't know. I suppose he could be pushed forward as a defensive CM, or we could actually have some strength in depth even though Sol is getting ever more injury-prone. We also now know Diaby and Flamini can play together and both have motors that won't quit. I still think Cesc could be pushed up a bit further and use his vision and passing ability in a similar way to Dennis. Perhaps the best thing that may have been learnt was by other teams. If we can keep this level up, it will no longer be able to boss our midfield by putting the frighteners on us.

It seems quite likely we will not win anything this year, but I don't feel as bad about it as I thought I would. The future may be closer than we think.