Arsenal

Today's defeat means another season without trophies. The performance was a metaphor for their season: thrilling at the start, but never quite converting the beautiful football into concrete results. Eventually, fatigue and a lack of experience combined in the form of unforced errors and the promise slipped away.

Given how much emphasis Wenger puts on this unit of players as a collective (hence his unwillingness to buy big name players), they show striking mental frailty. Contrast this with Chelsea, who have a reputation as both mercenaries but also mentally tough. And Wenger's commitment to this project is so inflexible that he can only offer 'more of the same'. I hope the progress continues, but I'm not sure it will be sufficient to match whichever improvments Manchester United make.

The thing is, I'm not sure how much that really matters. Matt Dickinson said on Setanta the other day that people remember Keegan's Newcastle team better than Dalglish's Blackburn Rovers. Gabriele Marcotti made the same point about Arrigo Sacchi's Milan team having a more prominent place in the collective football consciousness than Capello or Ancelotti's equally successful eras. It is quality of football, rather than trophies, which imprints on our mind. And as long as Arsenal remain such a joy to watch they will be celebrated, trophies or none.