No accounting for genius

The Arsenal team that destroyed us today has quite literally taken football to a new level. Frankly I'm wondering why we're bothering to pay good money to watch a hard-working but utterly average Charlton side, when the game can be played with such stunning fluency and beauty. It was humiliating and yet I knew deep down that we had actually performed as well as one could expect given the enormous skills gap. For most of the first half we did not look like threatening the Arsenal goal, but we had harried them enough to suggest that a 0-0 result was not out of the question until Euell and Kiely's errors of judgment confirmed our fate.

What exactly is it that they have that Charlton (and let's face it, most of the Premiership) lacks? Their players look supremely confident on the ball; agile, pacy and balanced. It sometimes seemed like we required three touches just to bring the ball under control whilst Henry (for example) would control and move the ball in one graceful motion.

Arsenal have achieved greatness thanks to the brilliance of their manager, and thanks to discipline and team spirit throughout the club. With Charlton now seen (rightly) as an established Premiership club, it is clear that the gap between mid-table mediocrity and the best is much larger than that between the lower leagues and the Premiership. It almost makes you think back fondly to the Nationwide when we were the Arsenal-equivalent and winning game after game.