Auzerre took the lead on 8 minutes thanks to an incredible low left-foot shot from the corner of the box. Seaman dived to his right but was a unsighted and only just got a touch on it (did pretty well to do that). Once again there can be no blame, the pace on the ball was amazing and it curled just inside the foot of the post.

Kanu was unlucky with a couple of efforts from the edge of the box which went past the right hand upright, the second grazing it.

Then Fadiga got a second before half an hour was up. This time a midfielder was allowed to power into the D with the ball, but got a lucky break when tackled as the ball popped sideways into the path of Fadiga. Seaman was coming out for it but the striker clipped it over him skilfully. One has to ask why Fadiga had been allowed to get into that position unmarked. Perhaps the error was Campbell's, trying to play offside when he was playing Fadiga on. But someone should have tracked him, surely?

Arsenal came out a lot better at the start of the second half, and may have changed their boots because they were keeping their feet a bit better. Just a bit though. Can't help wondering why it was only the Arsenal players (pretty much all of them) who were falling over all over the place in the first half. Ok so there was a lot of surface water but it didn't seem to bother the opposition so much.

This better spell culminated with Kanu pulling one back 7 minutes after the break, a tap-in from Henry's cross from the right.

But from then on Arsenal went off the boil again, and before long had reverted to pumping hopeful long balls forward. Fair enough for the last 5 minutes of a match (perhaps), but not for the last 35 minutes, surely? This problem was slightly rectified by the introduction of the craft of Robert Pires, but not for long.

Seaman made a terrific double save after Cole's air-shot on the edge of his own box gifted Auxerre a chance. He got a slight but telling touch, but it fell back to the striker. They passed it around our box with little trouble, and could really have passed it into the net at any point. But full credit to the keeper for keeping his eye on things, spotting where the shot was coming from, and charging out to block it.

A pretty disappointing result and performance. Arsenal's passing was terrible and they had a lot of trouble with the weather conditions. But one has to say that Auxerre were very impressive. Their tails will be up and they could well be contending for a place in the next round. PSV managed a draw with Dortmund tonight, by the way.

Leaving the ground I heard a few peoplesayign we missed Bergkamp tonight. I'm not so sure he'd have enjoyed this match any more than the players that were out there. Perhaps the man we missed most was Ray Parlour.

Those who have been waiting for Arsenal's runs to end will be enjoying this week. But let's keep it in perspective. We're still favourites to top this group (and how often have we been able to say that after 4 games in recent years?), still favourites for the Premiership. Keep the faith... Bobby's back!