The summer football break is a bleak place at the best of times invented stories, transfer 'sagas', and the endless sight of Harry Redknapp on Sky Sports News. But some things rise above these mild irritants and become truly infuriating, and while it takes a lot to rile me, I've been finding myself getting increasingly annoyed or disillusioned with some of the goings-on.

I'm going to deviate from Arsenal for a little bit today, mainly because I'd only be covering old ground if I talked about spineless defeats and potential exits. Instead, I'm going to take a look at the doomed Respect campaign, which has been so woefully implemented both by the FA and officials since it was introduced.

What a game. What a night. For an hour it was difficult to understand how any team in the world could live with Barcelona, but through sheer resilience and refusal to give in, we hung in and eventually wore them down, before scoring two brilliant goals to turn the tie around. In the first half Barcelona were at their mesmerising best, and despite not being able to fault a single Arsenal performance, we were playing the apprentice role predicted before the contest.