Mark Hughes came to Highmirates on Saturday and played a 9-1 formation. One could see the value/logic/patheticness of it in a league game where a dogged draw would be worth a point to beleaguered relegation battlers, but that wasn't the case. This is no longer Blackburn Rovers circa Graeme Souness. This is a Blackburn side that is challenging for Europe, and has been scoring goals and beating teams. Yet they came to Arsenal on Saturday with absolutely no ambition, and made no attempt to win. It was 90 minutes of defending from Rovers, and the closest chance they had was a flukey looping cross-shot from late substitute Matt Derbyshire with his back turned to goal. I can't remember Almunia having to make another save of note.

I don't really understand how the papers get away with describing them as "Gutsy Rovers", and how they "earned a deserved draw". HELLO! Football is about attacking, and defending, and even though you might be better at one than the other, you at least TRY to do both. This was not the case, because if anything, Rovers were completely gutless. And it's an FA Cup tie for f**k's sakes... what have they got other than a replay at home where they've already been outplayed 2-0 by a 10-man Arsenal side? Are they going to attack over there? And if so, why didn't they try attacking in London? The 7 players being out injured for them is a poor excuse. There have been far worse Blackburn sides, that have beaten far better Arsenal sides. Ok, they were missing Gamst and Benni McCarthy, but there was enough attacking talent in the team for them to have a go.

Nonda was playing alone up front, and he scored twice against Arsenal in Blackburn's 6-2 defeat at Ashburton Grove earlier this season. There were also two strikers on the bench - Jason Roberts and Matt Derbyshire. Roberts has scored against Arsenal before, and given our defence loads of problems when he was at West Brom and Wigan, and Derbyshire is a young striker in fantastic form, who looked dangerous in that same 6-2 defeat. It was header that bounced of the bar for Nonda to score from, and almost scored later but miskicked his shot. Both of those could have really troubled an Arsenal defence with a tired Kolo Toure and Philippe Senderos - who is very prone to pace.

In midfield, they might have been short of options, but they still had Brett Emerton, David Dunn and David Bentley. Ex-Arsenal boy Bentley has been one of Blackburn's brightest attacking talents over the last two years. Dunn is a player of oustanding talent who was instrumental in Blackburn's 3-2 victory at Highbury in 2001/2002, and even in a 4-5-1 he could have easily driven forth from midfield to provide an attacking threat. Emerton, although he's been deployed at right-back this season, is a player who can dribble, cross and pass, and made his name as an attacking right-winger.

The point is that Blackburn could very easily have put their injury excuses aside and tried to win. They were WOEFUL. It was an Arsenal side without Rosicky, Hleb, Gilberto, Eboue, Adebayor and Baptista, and with Aliadiere and Flamini filling in, and a rusty Freddie Ljungberg putting in his first start since December. Arsenal were vulnerable today, but Blackburn didn't try to counter-attack, didn't try to put in crosses... they didn't try anything at all. Arsenal played their part by not testing the Blackburn defence enough. They were, as Arsene Wenger described - "flat", and with all the changes made there was a little sharpness lacking. Henry was absent, although Aliadiere was tidy up front, and they didn't really test Blackburn until the end, but unfortunately Brad Friedel was more than equal with a couple of stunning saves.

I think the root logic behind Hughes' strategy was this - he knew that Arsenal didn't want a replay and another game on their already hectic schedule. They have already played in excess of 40 games this season, and they will be well near the 70 mark by the end of it. Be assured that with Premiership and Champions League commitments, there will be another "rotated" Arsenal side out there, but there was one of those at Bolton, and two of those against Tottenham, so I don't think the Arse will be too fussed. Here's to hoping that the replay ends in normal time and that there's not another 120 minute extravaganza - if there hadn't been one at Bolton, Baptista, Denilson, Diaby, Adebayor and co would have quite likely have impacted the game against Rovers.