Well, that is Jens Lehmann’s post football career sorted out, a Teutonic Norman Wisdom impersonator. God alone knows what was going through his mind as he miscontrolled the ball; I am too polite to tell you what was going through mine.

It seemed to be an afternoon heading in the same direction as so many others; game plan out of the window following on from a sloppy goal being conceded with chances spurned. Had not a winner been found, there would no doubt have been a deluge of comments that post-Henry Arsenal were simply not good enough, no chance of any European football, let alone a top four berth. As it is, three points is two more than were garnered from the opening game last season and with a Premiership free week for the Club, that is the most important thing. This season we will be chasing the pack having played one less game but it is only going to be a maximum of three points behind, unlike last season where the deficit was five upon the return from Zagreb.

The team looked rusty, rustier than they did in Amsterdam in fact. Little things were out of kilter still; occasional passes going astray in the opening forty five minutes. Fulham deserve credit for their performance. They had a game plan and helped by the opening goal, stuck to it. It was not pretty but they were never going to come to The Emirates and play open, attacking football, knowing that if they did, the likelihood would be a drubbing. Instead they played a higher than normal defensive line and compressed the Arsenal midfield and attack into a tight area. The way to beat it was shown often enough, a ball over the top giving a ‘runner’ the chance to sprint in on goal. Only then did the usual opposing Goalkeeping performance come into play. Warner was nothing short of superb yesterday. And when he was beaten, or likely to be, the feet, head and other areas of the Fulham defenders bodies got in the way.

The problem with such a policy is that you spend a lot of the afternoon chasing the ball and conceding possession. Even when your opponents are clearly below par, players such as Fabregas will eventually get passes right, which he did to great effect for the winner. Hleb again played well in the advanced midfield role, hopefully a sign of improved confidence in the player is that he took the shot on rather than laying the ball off to Bendtner, as I suspect he would have done last season.

There were a few positive performances, the defenders did reasonably well, although caught out of position on occasion, but it is hard to judge when meaningful opposition raids are few and far between. The next two games, both away, will give a better standard by which to judge them. In midfield, Rosicky improved as the game went on, being unfairly criticised for his failure to take chances. Yes, he did not score but only one of the chances went woefully wide, the others were saved or deflected to safety. Eboue on the right, in tandem with Sagna, gave an indication of being a more solid proposition defensively than Hleb but Walcott was more penetrative, possibly due to the tiredness of the opposition at that stage of the game.

Up front, RvP played well, perhaps should have scored before the penalty but indications are that he will at least be on track to improve on last season’s goals tally. Bendtner offered the alternative when needed, still young, predictably nervy with his touch on his debut in the Premiership, eager to retrieve the situation. The potential is there and no doubt he will settle down once he scores.

And what of Sanchez’s claims of ’simulation’. The way he spoke of it made it sound so grubby, as if players were running round in dirty, old macs. And he had no clue as to what he was talking about. Sean Davis was apparently blatantly tripped as he was about to the pull the trigger, in much the same way Hleb was hacked when he was to do likewise. But in The Crazy World Of Lawrie, one was clearly a penalty, the other was a significant item of evidence of those cheating ‘big boys’. That both should have been given is neither here nor there; they weren’t and Sanchez will need to think of some answers to give at Soho Square when he explains why five of his team got yellow cards. It took Arsene at least a season to become the butt of myopia jokes. Sanchez has achieved that in one Press Conference, as well as the tag of ‘fool’. Each club has monitors to see incidents on replays, the savvy managers look at them before opening their mouths. Lawrie has a way to go.

The most ridiculous of the lot was in the melee after the penalty. Bocanegra started it all with a cynical block, failing to ensure he was outside of the area when he made contact with Toure. What followed afterwards was a pointless exercise. Yes, Arsenal wanted to get on with the game but the Clock had stopped, restarting only on kick-off. The bookings for Warner, Diop and Flamini being cheap, no reason for the melee to have ensued.

Three points is three points. It does not mask the deficiencies of the performance but with two matches in four days, by next Sunday’s visit to Ewood Park, the rustiness should have been eradicated.