For the first time in my life, I applauded a team that just beat my team. It has never happened before even though a few teams have sliced and devoured Arsenal in the past with such class that it was hard not to appreciate. But with Hull, it was different.

Hull did everything that should be encouraged in English football. They did not rely on "clubbering" Arsenal off the pitch, being totally defensive or naively ambitious. They were controlled, played to their strengths and most importantly, played collectively with a hint of style. The week before, a memo from Wenger to his boys had been leaked. It talked about collective spirit, team and desire to win. It talked about what Hull did. Well done to them.

So here's how I started my last piece here ", The loss at Fulham reminded us that Arsenal team still has vulnerabilities – not least its own mental strength and defending high balls. Arsenal and Liverpool are the only top 4 teams that you can't bet on with confidence against a bottom team yet you can't bet against them if they were playing Real Madrid either".

Sure enough, Arsenal got beaten by Hull and won against a vastly superior Porto (compared to Hull). Sometimes it looks like Arsenal think that if they just pass the ball and play football, they will win. They seem to forget that the desire to win and mental strength are essential to winning. These characteristics were not displayed at all against Hull and unfortunately, neither was our defending of set-pieces.

I called the Hull game our best defeat because the opposition forced Arsenal to re-examine their desire. If we had been beaten by Chelsea 2-1, nobody would have called it sensational. Because it was Hull, everyone had to take stock. Wenger described himself as "physically sick" after the game. Hull made us realise things we should have learned at Craven Cottage.

Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Eboué were just lazy against Hull. Theo Walcott was ineffective, and even Bacary Sagna looked like Eboué at right-back. William Gallas was the only Arsenal player to show real desire to win. Wenger threatened changes but he only dropped Eboué.

We expect that Walcott is going to have up and down games so it was right to keep him. He was right to keep van Persie and Adebayor to give them a chance to show their reaction and he was right to drop Eboué. Eboué has worked hard to create competition on the right and as soon as Samir Nasri got fit, Eboué screwed up his chance to keep his place. The manager dropping him should make him think about his consistency – he's old enough, he's not Walcott and most of his problems are down to concentration.

Porto was a different game. The first 5 minutes of a game tells you a lot about how Arsenal are going to do. In the first 5 minutes Arsenal got in there so purposefully that they got an early warning from Porto's fantastic counter-attack. It told the players that absolute concentration was necessary.

van Persie's response was also good. He applied himself well as a support striker and took risks. He played like a 25-year-old.

Most interesting about the Porto game was the difference between Walcott, Vela and Nasri and the old Eboué. Nasri slows Arsenal down because he did not grow up with Arsenal football and because he has the technique to hold the ball in tight areas – pretty much like Hleb – so he does. The good news is that Nasri will score more and he's much younger than Hleb so he can still learn a quicker passing style.

Unlike Nasri, Walcott and Vela attack the smallest space available. They have no time for patience, if they see a gap, that's where they are going. Eboué has been good this season because he did precisely that. Walcott and Vela are annoying to defenders because like Ronaldo at Manchester United, you are guaranteed they will run at you every time they get the ball. When Walcott and Vela are on the pitch, the defenders work full-time. It is especially potent when Nicklas Bendtner is there too because the combined movement is too much for most defenders.

In Carlos Vela and Bendtner, I can foresee the best striking partnership ever at Arsenal brewing. Bendtner is infinitely cleverer than most people realize. Vela has got better movement in the final third than anyone I have seen at Arsenal for 12 years!

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HULL were not fantastic in that match, and that was not in anyway GUNNERS BEST DEFEAT, check out ARSENAL -LIVERPOOL FA CUP FINALS!!