Ok, comment first, report after.

I've received several text messages on the way home from the match from "friends" who support other clubs, gloating and taking the piss and saying "oooh that must hurt". Well, if any of are reading this, I'm wondering why you didn't send those messages after our drawn with Portsmouth on Saturday. Because that hurt a hell of a lot more than this did!

Tonight we were beaten by a very good side, and we knew it was over pretty early in the match. Of course, one can never really enjoy a match like that when on the receiving end, but it'd take a very blinkered supporter not to admire it.

It could have been a bit different. Arsenal dominated the opening spell and had enough half chances that we were feeling frustrated at not having scored. Henry and Ljungberg had shots from the edge of the box which they sliced wide, and when Freddie hit his he missed Henry making a great overlapping run into acres of space. Just after the 10 minute mark Lauren hit a splendid cross towards Freddie at the far post which was very well intercepted just before it reached the Swede. Then Freddie burst in from the right wing and fed Wiltord, who took it deep to the goal line and tried to chip to the far post but couldn't get it over the enormous presence of the keeper Toldo at the near one.

It started to dawn on us that Inter were actually defending extremely well, and despite what some people had said, Toldo was not past it but still clearly one of the best around. They were drawing us forward and sounding us out, and as it went on they started to try to hit us on the break. Toure had to make a couple of massive tackles on the Nigerian striker Martins.

Freddie, playing more of a free and central role than usual, was in the thick of things, and got our next chance when a cross came to him just forward of the D. His first touch was excellent, wrong-footing a defender to get past him. ut he kind of wrong-footed himself too and tried to poke it home without having fully recovered his balance. Toldo looked hard to beat if you hit the shot right, never mind when you hit it straight at him.

On 21 minutes they took the lead through summer signing Julio Cruz - his first goal for the club. We gave the ball away for a throw on their left just inside our half, and they caught us sleeping. It was nodded forward for Cruz to run onto unmarked, coming into the box on the left. Lehmann came out for it and very nearly got there, but the striker just made it to the ball first and clipped it over the keeper from a narrow angle.

3 minutes later it was 2-0, thank you, and goodnight. A cross from their left (again) was falling to Ashley Cole on the far side of the box but Campbell got a head to it first (no shout?) and it went to van der Meyde, unmarked outside the box level with Ash. He hit it first time, a sublime volley which Lehmann might be disappointed to have let slip inside his left hand post, but which probably deserved to go in. People might say Lehmann should have saved seeing as he got so close, but I'm wondering why the goalscorer was in so much space (particularly when there was no-one else on the side of the pitch Ash was covering).

Of course, with a 2 goal lead Inter did just what a decent side should do. They got behind the ball, and they didn't give us any time on it. Actually, the most worrying thing about this game was the way that, for the 3rd home match running, the away team came and hustled us in midfield and it worked. It seems at the moment that if you make sure the Arsenal midfield don't have time to relax, they'll give the ball away more often than not. As against Villa and Portsmouth, one lost count of the times that an Arsenal player simply passed the ball to an opposition player. If other teams are watching and learnign from these games, they may well all start coming to Highbury feeling that they know how to get a result against us.

Still, 5 minutes after their second Freddie won a penalty when Materazzi barged him over in the box - a silly thing to do as Freddie was wide of the goal and facing away from it. Henry stepped up and hit a poor penalty, far too soft. Still, it was heading for not far inside Toldo's left hand post, and it took a good save to stop it.

Gilberto had a free header from the resulting corner, which went just wide.

A few minutes before the end of the first half, Pires gave the ball away in the middle of the pitch. It came to the ever-buzzing Turk Emre, who skipeed around a few challenges before slipping the ball forward to Martins in the D. Campbell was marking him but committed himself too easily, without getting the ball. And with Sol on the ground Martins had plenty of time to turn and slam it past Lehmann right down the middle, beating the keeper with power.

The second half was really more of the same. Inter defending in depth but not sitting back so much as hassling us constantly. We had a few half chances and a few decent ones, but so did they. They were well organised defensively but with a 3 goal cushion they weren't scared to come forward either. Halfway through the half Dennis and Kanu (both former Inter players) came on for Bob and Gilberto.

A great clearance from Toure (who's starting to look not just a decent centre-back, but possibly our best centre-back) came to Henry in an advanced position. He skipped round a dfeneder but Toldo came out to meet him and once again the shot went went to him like he was a magnet. At the other end, I thought Cole was lucky not to give away a penalty with a challenge on Cruz.

12 minutes to go and (at last!) Ray Parlour was brought on to replace Wiltord. He did create more openings on the right, but it was too little too late. Kanu had a very good chance unmarked in the box, but the Toldo magnet was working again. A good save, but the Nigerian should have scored.

But the best chance of the second half fell to Inter in injury time, with the sub Kallon hitting the post and the ball bouncing across the face of goal.

So, not the best of weeks so far. And there's the little matter of a trip to Old Trafford on Sunday. Let's hope that the last 2 matches have shaken the squad up a bit, and they can make sure that this is just a brief intermission in an otherwise glorious season. One thing's for sure: the Champions League is far from over. Anything can happen if we get through the group stage (Arsenal are good at knockouts). Second behind Inter may be the best we can realistically hope for now, even this early in the competition, but it is a realistic hope.

And if people compare our result with those of Man Utd and Chelsea just remember: there is no comparison. Inter were easily the best team in the second group of seeds when the draw was made.