'I'm not saying that Tottenham didn't deserve to win. It's just pathetic that they believe they beat a full or near full-strength Arsenal side'

Let's look at the facts of the Carling Cup semi-final second leg. Arsenal were missing  from the starting line-up Manuel Almunia, Tomas Rosicky, Mathieu Flamini, Emmanuel Adebayor and Eduardo, all rested. Plus Robin van Persie, Johan Djourou, Philippe Senderos and Gael Clichy, through injury.

Kolo Toure, Emanuel Eboue and Alexandre Song were also missing through the African Cup of Nations (ACN). The counter-claim is that Tottenham were missing Didier Zokora (ACN) and Gareth Bale through injury.

To be fair, let's just compare the two missing Tottenham players to two missing Arsenal players who perform similar duties. Zokora at his best is a decent midfielder who gets the job done, not of the same importance or ability as Flamini, who has rightfully taken his spot in the Arsenal midfield ahead of a sluggish Gilberto Silva.

Bale, however, is an undeniable talent. I don't and will never understand why he didn't end up at Manchester United as the heir-apparent to Ryan Giggs, or at Real as the replacement for Roberto Carlos - or even at Arsenal as it is a proper left-footed winger in the left-midfield position that we lack. However, Arsenal have Clichy at left-back, who this season has been the best in the league along with Patrice Evra.

I could mention that we were also missing Toure, who is without a doubt one of the best centre-backs in the world, a far cry from the sixth-choice Justin Hoyte (after Toure, William Gallas, Senderos, Djourou, Song and maybe even Gilberto Silva), along with Rosicky, who is a much classier and effective player than Abou Diaby.

Finally the missing strikers such as Van Persie,  who borders on world class and, given a run of good fitness, would achieve that status. In the league alone, he has five goals and an assist from seven games and a substitution appearance.

Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott are fourth and fifth-choice strikers at Arsenal, unlike Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane at Tottenham. When the proper uninjured strikers did come on, it took only five minutes for Adebayor to score, showing the vast difference between him and Bendtner or Walcott, though Eduardo admittedly was ineffective.

I'm not saying that Tottenham didn't deserve to win. It's just pathetic that they believe they beat a full or near full-strength Arsenal side. Furthermore I have seen and heard and scoffed at Spurs fans' remarks that this game is the cornerstone to some Tottenham 'revolution,' similar to what was said when Thierry Henry left.

The fact is you played a near full-strength Arsenal side twice this year - and lost 3-1 and 2-1.