Wenger's refusal to spend has proved so costly for Arsenal

Shortly after 5pm yesterday, when Emmanuel Adebayor bundled them in front, I texted congrats to an Arsenal-supporting friend. "Trust me, we won't hold on," read the instant and prophetic reply. "Haven't all season."

Time and time again, Arsenal have carelessly mislaid winning positions, generally through ineptness in central defence, and most notably at Chelsea in the Premier League and at Liverpool in the Champions League.

Within 30 seconds of that message pinging through,William Gallas inexplicably handed Manchester United the penalty from which Ronaldo scored.

The irony was then delivered by United's winner. That it should be Owen Hargreaves shone a halogen lamp on all the criticism of Wenger's mulish refusal to add to his squad, despite the millions apparently available for the purpose.

If Alex Ferguson had shared this complacent outlook, Hargreaves would not have been on the pitch at all to zip that free-kick into Arsenal's net with such delicious precision.

He arrived from Bayern Munich at the end of last season when, as new league champions, United - according to Wenger's smug philosophy - had no need to bolster an already stellar squad.

It has to be admitted that once again yesterday the Alsatian had cause to indulge his penchant for self-pity, because Arsenal dominated a riveting, pulse-quickening game with their speed of passing and imagination of move-ment. On the balance of chances they clearly deserved to draw, and very possibly to win. Had Wenger aped Fergie's purchase of Carlos Tevez and spent a fortune on a world-class striker last summer, they would probably have done so.

Instead, for the second time in a week, his disinclination to buy proven quality returned to kick him in the cobblers.

Interviewed on radio in the days between the twin failures at Anfield and Old Trafford, he whined about the media "slaughtering" him (absurdly so; his press remains, as it should, warmly admiring), and said that he has no plans to unleash his cheque-book in the summer beyond a single high-profile acquisition.

The race for the title isn't quite over yet (technically Chelsea still have a chance), but it would surely have been Arsenal's had Wenger bought a seasoned central defender, in the crude but effective manner of Tony Adams, and a reliable goalkeeper in January.

More than ever today his intransigent refusal to spend money looks less like justified self-confidence than misplaced arrogance, and his future place in the coaching pantheon may rest on whether he learns from Ferguson's example that continually extending and improving the pool of available talent is imperative even when things are going smoothly.

His insistence on relying on cheaply purchased young talent, and moulding it according to his ultra-attacking principles is, in its way, rather magnificent, but history teaches us that this is not how trophies are won.

Or, as his compatriot Marshal Canrobert once put it, with an elegance that almost justifies the frequency with which I quote it, and of an earlier team that sacrificed itself on the altar of reckless attack (the Light Brigade): "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre."