love is a losing game, one i wish i'd never played.

eighteen hours later and i'm still not sure what happened. no one expected us to go up to old trafford and win, not even our own supporters. that line up, plagued by injuries and suspensions, couldn't have won at the home of the champions but i don't think anyone had predicted what would happen between the hours of four and six o'clock yesterday evening. a massacre, a spanking, a thrashing - call it what you want but arsenal were destroyed yesterday at old trafford.

we were overwhelmed and our players just couldn't cope - rooney and young running riot, highlighting arsenal's ever present defensive woes. the away support in manchester was terrific but the players themselves, gave the fans nothing to cheer about. a performance which lacked passion, aggression and spirit: they seemed resigned to the fact that united were the better side. of course this was a young, depleted arsenal side but a team said to be competing for the title should have faith in the whole squad to deliver results home and away.

where was the commanding centre back in vermaelen's absence? johan djourou and laurent koscielny were woeful. and with our first choice left back injured, we need a decent replacement - armand traore has been seeking a transfer out of the emirates all summer and yesterday played like a man who couldn't wait to jump ship. jack wilshere, emmanuel frimpong and alex song were unavailable due to injury and suspsension, arsene was running out of options. he turned to the impressive arsenal youth side and decided to give a premier league debut to francis coquelin, who had previously been on loan at french side lorient. he himself did not nothing wrong but on the rare occasion we had the ball, the midfield created virtually nothing - a total contrast to manchester united who were toying with arsenal all afternoon. everytime the likes of young and cleverley were on the ball, the crowd sensed something special was about to happen. arsenal were given a route back into the game at 1-0 united but van persie's penalty was saved by de gea. not many teams manage to score two at old trafford but then again, not many concede eight in a game either. wojciech szczesny was helpless as he had the perfect view of a devestating masterclass from manchester united. the sending off of youngster carl jenkinson just added to arsenal's suspsension list and an all round miserable day for everyone associated with arsenal football club.

after that horrendous afternoon in manchester, we're already eight points behind the two manchester clubs and six points behind chelsea - can this team win the league? no is the simple answer. a full strength arsenal team would have struggled yesterday, what we need is quality signings. players with experience and determination who can turn this around.

a knee-jerk reaction from the mindless minority claim this is the time to 'sack wenger'. how could that benefit arsenal in any way? yes arsene wenger can be stubborn in the transfer market but most of the players, past and present, have been attracted to our club because the opportunity of working alongside arsene wenger is something they simply couldn't pass up. after yesterday's horror show, arsene knows improvement is desperately needed. two and a half days left of the transfer window, and i hope we shall be active right up until the deadline.

i have been an arsenal supporter my whole life and have never known arsenal without arsene wenger at the helm: i wouldn't want it any other way. let's get behind the team - come may, we could be looking back at this with a long awaited trophy in the cabinet.