A disappointing but not entirely surprising result. Arsenal have been nervy in the competition virtually all season, and the pressure of needing a result, against a top side, was just a little too much for us. Add to that the weakened Arsenal defence and, well, like I said, not surprising.

Having said that it is worth noting that despite not firing on all cylinders in this group (except the one game, away in Rome), we only just failed to go through. The optimism in some quarters was always misplaced, but it remains true that if this Arsenal team could have played to their potential in Europe, winning the competition would not have been an unrealistic hope.

Valencia took the lead when Carew ran onto a superb through-ball from Aimar, beating our square defence easily (Cygan looked to be the one that failed to track him), and placed his shot past Taylor.

We pulled one back shortly after the break thanks to a sweet pass to Henry by Pires. Bob was lucky to get it though, Henry's miscontrol lost the ball but it ricocheted to Pires. Thierry made no mistake with a trademark run and finish from the edge of the box: passing the ball, at pace, inside the far post.

Taylor made a superb reflex save from a Carew header. But when we got the ball and tried to break up the wing Gilberto gave the ball away (some reports say Wiltord but I thought it was the Brazilian) and when the cross came in Carew wasn't marked and beat Taylor with another header.

In injury time Pires got himself booked for a blatant dive in the box. Yes there was contact, but only because Bobby left his trailing foot trailing further than was reasonable. He even appeared to have a little kick at the other guy afterwards. Fruttrating times M. Pires, I know, but really, tut tut.

We'll be back in this competition next year, and we need to learn to relax and play. Having a full fit squad, or a bit more cover, would help too. Lauren had a good game and Toure wasn't bad on the whole at left back (although his wing was targeted quite a lot, and effectively at times, he made more big tackles than Gio had done of late). But it seems we have no-one who can cover for Ashley Cole to the required standard. And we have no-one who can cover for Keown and Campbell. Sol played out of his skin, possibly his best game for us so far. But he had to. It boggles the mind to think what the score might have been if he hadn't been passed fit. Wiltord and Cygan had particularly poor games, and Freddie just isn't up to pace yet. Like Campbell, Vieira was passed fit and had a blinder.

The loss in itself wasn't enough to put us out. But with Ajax getting a point in Rome (thanks to a very early opener) we finish 3rd, and out.