The Aston Villa match is being used as a stick with which to beat the team in the papers this morning but Cesc is having none of it,

When you are so young and if you do not have this spirit, it is very difficult to do something. If a team is weak mentally, you do not come back from these games – because these are matches when everything is against you, maybe it is not the best game of your life, but still you come back and get the points. That means something. We have to be strong and at least we have come back fighting until the end…We are young and we are there, so we have to look at the positives, not the negatives

Which you have to say is the right attitude to have. However, we cannot look at the Villa result in isolation as it is either the end of a poor run, or worst case, in the middle of one. The question that needs to be answered on the pitch is when they will respond. The question should also be asked of us as supporters as well. The relationship between the pitch and the stands is a vicious circle; if one is not working, it is often the case that the other fails as well.

Talking to people about this, the most striking thing is the change in supporters’ attitudes over the years. There is a more marked split now between those who believe in getting behind the team and those who sit and want to be entertained, responding accordingly. Is this because of the changing demographics of the crowd or a reflection of a less ‘involved’ society? Whatever the case, The Emirates needs to be more intimidating for opponents. Forget artificially created terrace anthems, people do not respond to them. It comes from the collective desire to build a fortress. Visiting players like to come to the stadium because it is one of the best in the country but it is the team that force them onto the back foot, not the crowd at the moment. Perhaps we need to do more to reinforce the fear that they have of the team?

Milan would be the ideal game to come out of this rut, for the confidence that a positive result would give, achieved at one of the toughest venues. Arguably this is a season when in the games away from home against the big teams, Arsenal have been found wanting. A win in the league at Tottenham, an unlucky draw at Anfield are the best whilst there have been defeats at Seville, Old Trafford and White Hart Lane. It is reminiscent of the form in the lead up to the match in Madrid which was something like 4 defeats, 3 draws and 4 wins. That match produced possibly the most complete Arsenal away performance in Europe on the back of indifferent domestic results and gave the team an incredible amount of self-belief. For the same to happen at the San Siro would be an ideal response.

Arrigo Sacchi does not think it will be the case, believing Arsenal blew their best chance through being too young a side although age appears to be Milan’s greatest enemy according to their former manager although Fabio Capello thinks the tie is evenly balanced.

In the papers this weekend, not sure about the Mail as I did not read it or look at their website. Emmanuel Adebayor has an in-depth interview in The Sunday Times in which he talks about his improvements over his career and how his motivation is to prove everyone wrong, particularly where goalscoring is concerned. Bacary Sagna speaks of his brothers’ untimely death.

‘til Tomorrow.