A bizarre game of football

I've just watched that Man U v Arsenal game, and what a surreal experience it was.

Man U - a team injected with youthful players who, quite honestly, look as if they've been playing together for years.

Arsenal - how would you accurately describe that team/performance today?

I make no bones about it... I've been a Man U fan for as long as I can remember. However, I didn't find myself gloating over today's result, and the only real satisfaction I took from it was the fact that it's another 3 points in the bag (especially after City's demolition job over Spurs).

Since I was a lad this fixture was always the one I looked forward to. A few of my mates were Gooners and this only added extra spice to things, before and after (I vividly recall not being able to show my tear-streaked mug after the '79 Cup Final). I can't remember a time when the outcome of a bout between these two footballing legends was ever a certainty... until today. Yes, I predo'd this one to be 3 to no in favour of the home team, but I never expected to see such a scoreline.

Man U's future looks bright and I hope for the sake of pure football that they rub their precocious, big-spending neighbour's noses in it by the end of the season, but what's in store for the Arsenal and weary old Wenger?

I'm only an observer of the game - by no means an expert - but it's hard to see how things were ever going to work out okay given what's gone on over the last couple of seasons. Fabregas was always going to be on his way out and you would've put your house on Nasri following suit (a couple of assists today for his new outfit wouldn't have made Wenger feel any better). Relying on jaded figures such as Arshavin and Rosicky might be alright against lesser oppostion but they're never going to win you a league title. RvP is a quality striker but he's only as good as the service he's provided with, and Walcott never seems to play two good games in a row. Include the fact that they haven't signed anyone of note and the the transfer window closes on Wednesdsay then even the most casual observer will conclude that this is going to be a very long season for Arsenal fans.

One fan wrote into the BBC to say that what is going on at the club is nothing short of "footballing negligence." I haven't got a clue what's happening behind the scenes but I think that statement is a fair one to describe the situation.